Test Patterns

Q4

Tom Shaller takes notice of Glenn Kutler's slideshow...

IRAQ 25K. At icasualties.org, the site which tracks American and coalitional deaths and woundings, there is a fantastic slideshow essay put together by Glenn Kutler for Newsweek to mark the 25,000th American casualty -- about 22,000 wounded, and nearly 3,000 dead -- in Iraq. (Click on the impossible-to-miss graphic in the top-right corner of the site to start the slideshow.) It is sobering to watch.

He also notes that if you divide the months into yearly quarters the total for Q4 '06 look pretty grim...

In fact, if December 2006 does, tragically, reach 106 fatalities, the Oct-Dec 2006 will become the deadliest calendar quarter of the war, with 281 fatalities. During the fourth quarter of 2004, which included the Fallujah counter-offensive, there were just 272 American fatalities.

I've never thought of grouping the deaths by quarter, but here's a quick and dirty graph (click image to actually see the graph):

25,000

Glenn Kutler, who contributes the Weekly Casualty Trends Analysis for iCasualties, has worked with Newsweek to produce this interactive timeline on the major events in the Iraq war.

10 and no place to turn

Today 10 service members where killed in Iraq and as of 6:15 pm there is not a word out of Centcom or MNF about how 10 mortal coils got lost in the sands of Iraq. But they do want to let us know that the Capture of Terrorist Emirs Gives al-Qaida in Iraq Nowhere to Turn

Oh yes, they're on the run now...

Welcome to the new Kurdistan

Kurdish Leader Bans Iraqi Flag
September 1, 2006 -- Massud Barzani, the leader of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, today issued an order not to fly the Iraqi national flag.
Barzani's office said that public offices in Kurdistan flying the Iraqi flag "should lower it and hoist only the Kurdistan flag."

pre Iraq war suicide

Here's an odd one, a pre Iraq war suicide - British soldier kills himself before being deployed to Iraq:

A 19-year-old soldier who killed himself because he feared having to shoot child suicide bombers has been buried in Greater Manchester.

Jason Chelsea told his parents, after an overdose, that as part of training for Iraq he had been warned he might have to shoot children.

The Kings, Lancashire and Border Regiment infantryman was staying at his parents in Wigan when he overdosed.

A military inquest is to be held into his death.

Family tribute

His mother, Kerry Chelsea, paid tribute to her son, describing him as a "kind and generous man".

Jason died on 14 August at St James's Hospital in Leeds - four days after taking the overdose.

He had been facing the prospect of his first tour of duty in Iraq and had undergone pre-deployment training in preparation.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "The Army are greatly saddened by the death of Kingsman Chelsea and the thoughts and sympathies of all the soldiers will be with his family and friends at this very difficult time.

Psychiatric illness

"The tragedy is very recent and there are investigations ongoing and until they are completed we can't comment further."

The MoD did not respond directly to the allegations the soldiers were trained to shoot child suicide bombers.

Earlier this month the MoD released figures showing 1,541 soldiers who served in Iraq are suffering from psychiatric illness.

Last year, 727 cases were recorded, amounting to nearly 10% of the British deployment.

Yet it faded

I found this sentence while researching the wounded...

Yet it faded into the running narrative of Iraq, tallied up as another tragic but unavoidable consequence of war.

Losing by attrition

Here's an interview with Michael Gordon, co-authored of Cobra II, or as I like to call it 101 Reasons Rumsfeld Should be Fired and Tommy Franks Court Marshalled. Gordon says that the generals and majors on the ground talk in terms of not losing the war, winning (whatever that is) is not an option. But even this seems to be an over optimistic appraisal....

Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times, discusses efforts to recruit Iraqis for the Iraqi army, and looks back at the invasion of Iraq. He co-authored the recent book Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. Gordon is also a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine.

Shorter George Bush

Damn it, why don't these people think like me.

Iraq - Top 11 places to die in July

Civilian and Security Force Deaths in July - where they were killed or found...

<>

Top 11

Location	Deaths
BAGHDAD	549
KIRKUK	112
MAHMUDIYA	105
MOSUL	91
KUFA	63
BAQUBA	61
MUQDADIYA	33
TIKRIT	31
SUWAYRA	25
FALLUJA	22
HAWIJA	14
TAL AFAR	14
KERBALA	13
KUT	10
Karmah	10

Suwayra makes the top 11 list because it seems to be a good spot for finding dead bodies in the river Tigris.

July -found bodies

Here's a list of bodies found in Iraq during July

Date	Incident	Bodies
7/1/2006	BAGHDAD - Police said they had found six bodies dumped inside a house under construction in the violent southern Baghdad district of Dora.	6
7/1/2006	KIRKUK - Police found the bodies of four Iraqi soldiers near Kirkuk, 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad. They had been kidnapped on Friday during an attack on a military checkpoint in which five soldiers were killed.	4
7/3/2006	HAWIJA - Iraqi police found a beheaded body in the town of Hawija, police said.	1
7/3/2006	Mandali - the bullet-riddled bodies of five Iraqi soldiers were found by a sanitation plant in Mandali, on the Iranian border 100km east of Baghdad, police said.	5
7/5/2006	Baghdad - Iraqi police in eastern Baghdad found the body of a man who was shot in the head, Lt. Raad Abdul-Hussein said.	1
7/5/2006	KERBALA - The bodies of two people with gunshot wounds were found near the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, 100 km (68 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.	2
7/5/2006	Kirkuk (south of) - [Police] reported finding the headless corpse of a man in a black tracksuit lying in the river Zab.	1
7/8/2006	BAGHDAD - The bodies of six Shi'ite rag collectors were found in the mainly Sunni Baghdad district of Doura, apparent victims of sectarian violence, Interior Ministry sources said. They had gunshot wounds to the head and chest.	6
7/8/2006	BAQUBA - Police found two beheaded bodies in the religiously mixed town of Baquba, 65km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police sources said.	2
7/8/2006	KHALIS - Two bodies with gunshot wounds to the head were found in the town of Khalis, just north of Baquba, police said	1
7/9/2006	BAGHDAD - The bodies of four people shot in the head were dumped blindfolded and handcuffed in a street in Baghdad's southwestern Jihad district, witnesses said.	4
7/10/2006	BAGHDAD - Gunmen ambushed a commuter bus in the Amriya district, western Baghdad, killing seven people, police said. Four bodies were found on the bus, while three others, including a woman, were found 10 metres from the vehicle.	4
7/10/2006	DUJAIL (near) - The body of a dead person, with gunshot wounds and bearing signs of torture was found near Dujail, police said.	1
7/10/2006	KUT - Police found the body of a person, with shotgun wounds, in the city of Kut, 170 km (110 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.	1
7/10/2006	SUWAYRA - Police retrieved the bodies of five people from Tigris river in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.	5
7/12/2006	KIRKUK - A body with gunshot wounds and signs of torture was found near Kirkuk, police said.	1
7/12/2006	MUQDADIYA - Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of 20 bus drivers kidnapped earlier from a bus station in Muqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad.	20
7/12/2006	TIKRIT - The bodies of two carpenters were found with gunshot wounds in Tikrit, police said.	2
7/13/2006	MUQDADIYA (near) - The bodies of three brothers were found shot dead near the town of Muqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said. They had been seized from their home a day earlier, police added.	3
7/14/2006	Aziziyah - A body dressed in traditional Arab clothing, shot in the chest and showing signs of torture, was found in Aziziyah, 35 miles southeast of Baghdad.	1
7/14/2006	TAL AFAR - Police found 12 bodies dumped in a deserted cemetery in Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said. Hospital sources said it was thought they had been strangled four or five months ago.	12
7/15/2006	BAGHDAD - Gunmen wearing police-style camouflage abducted the head of Iraq's national Olympic committee Ahmed al-Hadjiya...The body of one of Hadjiya's bodyguards was found dumped in a street.	1
7/16/2006	BALAD - Two bodies were found shot dead with signs of torture in two separate incidents in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, on Saturday and Sunday, police said.	2
7/16/2006	DIWANIYA - The body of a police officer was found in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. He was one of four policeman abducted on Saturday, police added.	1
7/16/2006	KIRKUK - The body of a dead person was found shot dead with signs of torture on Saturday in Kirkuk, police said.	1
7/16/2006	MOSUL - The bodies of three people were found shot dead on Saturday in Mosul, police said.	3
7/16/2006	MOSUL - The bodies of three women with gunshot wounds were found in the northern city of Mosul, a medical source said.	3
7/18/2006	MAHMUDIYA - Police found the bodies of 14 people in two different sites near a factory in the town of Mahmudiya. The victims were blindfolded and had been shot at close range, police said.	14
7/18/2006	NEAR TIKRIT - Iraqi police found the head of a young woman near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. A man was killed when a bomb planted under the head exploded as he was trying to take a photo of it, police said.	1
7/19/2006	MAHMUDIYA - The bodies of 18 men with gunshot wounds, bearing signs of torture, were found on the outskirts of Mahmudiya, police said. Among the bodies were those of three policemen.	18
7/19/2006	MOSUL - The body of an unidentified man was found with gunshot wounds in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, said police Colonel Kareem Khalaf.	1
7/19/2006	SUWAYRA - Six bodies of men with gunshot wounds, with their hands bound and showing signs of torture, were picked up from the Tigris river in Suwayra, south of Baghdad, police said.	6
7/20/2006	BAGHDAD - Hassan also said police squads searched different areas of Baghdad, looking for the corpses that are found most mornings on the city's streets...they found 38 bodies. Most were shot in the head and chest, according to Hassan.	38
7/20/2006	BALAD (near) - The bodies of two people with gunshot wounds were found near Balad, north of Baghdad, police said.	2
7/20/2006	NUMANIYA - Iraqi police found the body of a taxi driver in his car in the town of Numaniya south of Baghdad, police said.	1
7/20/2006	TIKRIT (near)- The body of a translator for U.S. forces, who was kidnapped on Tuesday, was found near Tikrit with gunshot wounds, police said.	1
7/21/2006	Baghdad - Four bodies were also found around the city Friday. All the victims had been tortured and then killed with shots to the head, the interior ministry official said, suggesting they had been murdered by sectarian death squads.	4
7/21/2006	FALLUJA (near)- The bodies of three Iraqi soldiers in uniform with gunshot wounds, bearing signs of torture, were found in a deserted area about 20 km north of Falluja	3
7/21/2006	KIRKUK - Two bodies were also found in the oil city of Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed area that has recently seen an upsurge in violence. One of the corpses bore signs of torture and the other was lacking a head.	2
7/21/2006	MUQDADIYA - The bodies of five people who were kidnapped were found in Muqdadiya, 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad police said	5
7/23/2006	SUWAYRA - Iraqi police retrieved the bodies of seven people, including a 13-year-old boy, from the Tigris river in Suwayra...police said. The bodies were handcuffed and blindfolded with shotgun wounds in the head and chest, police added.	7
7/24/2006	BAQUBA (near)- The bodies of five people were found shot dead and blindfolded on Monday night in a village near Baquba, after being abducted hours earlier, police said.	5
7/25/2006	BAGHDAD - The bodies of six people were found shot dead in different districts of Baghdad, police said.	6
7/25/2006	FALLUJA (near) - The bodies of two people were found with gunshot wounds near Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.	2
7/25/2006	SUWAYRA - The bodies of seven people were found, shot dead and blindfolded, in Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.	7
7/26/2006	Diyala Province - Meanwhile, north of the Iraqi capital in the Diyala Province, authorities said five bodies were found in the streets.	5
7/26/2006	MOSUL - Gunmen killed a policeman in Mosul, police said...The body of a man who was kidnapped and killed despite a ransom being paid was found on a street in Mosul.	1
7/27/2006	BAGHDAD - Nineteen bodies with bullet holes and showing signs of torture were found in different areas of the capital, Interior Ministry sources said.	19
7/27/2006	KIRKUK (near)- A body was found with bullet wounds and signs of torture near the northern city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad.	1
7/27/2006	KUT (near) -A translator working for U.S. troops was found killed in his car near Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.	1
7/29/2006	Baghdad - Police also reported the discovery of four unidentified bodies in different parts of eastern Baghdad	4
7/29/2006	SUWAYRAH - Police said they pulled two headless corpses wearing military uniform from the Tigris river in the town of Suwayrah, 60 km (38 miles) southeast of Baghdad.	2
7/30/2006	BAGHDAD - Police said they found 15 bodies in different parts of the capital, all bearing signs of torture and shot in the head.	15
7/30/2006	JURF AL-SAKHAR - A body bearing gunshot wounds was found in Jurf al-Sakhar, 80 km south of Baghdad, police said.	1
7/31/2006	Baghdad - Police also discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of eight people Monday in Baghdad and its suburbs.	8
	Total	274

274 bodies in various states of decay. Handcuffed, blinfolded, totured, shot, headless...