Dean Barnett has an excellent piece on THE DAILY STANDARD today. It’s the greatest story never told–the recent drop in U.S. casualties that has gone, up until now, largely unnoticed by the mainstream press. Barnett covers a lot of ground, it’s well worth reading. Also worth reading is this story today from the Associated Press titled “Sharp Drop Seen in US Deaths in Iraq“:
October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and Americans commanders say they know why: the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points to what the military calls “Concerned Citizens” – both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he’s signed up 20,000 of them in the past four months. “I’ve never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we’ve made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We’ve said that all along. And now they’re coming forward in masses,” Lynch said in a recent interview at a U.S. base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.
Go read the whole thing.
