Media Follies

So, how are we doing in Iraq? Just how dangerous is it getting to be over there? Some people see to think we're heading into a civil war...that can't be good for our troops over there, right?

Well, check this out...and before you blink, I'll tell you that the numbers come from Brookings....

81, 76, 50, 49, 43, 25
What are these numbers? This week’s Powerball winners? A safe deposit combo? New numbers to torment those poor b*stards stranded on the island in Lost?
No, they’re the number of troops that have died in hostile actions in Iraq for each of the past six months. That last number represents the lowest level of troop deaths in a year, and second-lowest in two years.
But it must be that the insurgency is turning their assault on Iraqi military and police, who are increasingly taking up the slack, right?
215, 176, 193, 189, 158, 193 (and the three months before that were 304, 282, 233)
Okay, okay, so insurgents aren’t engaging us; they’re turning increasingly to car bombs then, right?
70, 70, 70, 68, 30, 30
Civilians then. They’re just garroting poor civilians.
527, 826, 532, 732, 950, 446 (upper bound, two months before that were 2489 and 1129).

Isn't it great that there are so many bloggers out there who will read and check out the countless reports that all the think tanks make, so that I don't have to read them all? It's much easier if we share the load and create a summary...and if you think that their interpretation isn't quite right, well, if they're worth reading at all, they've probably got a link to the actual report....or you can just google the topic and probably find someone else's opinion...sometime the blogger has actually done that already. Since when did CNN ever link to Fox for a different perspective?