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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Car Bombs are not sectarian violence

There have been some whoppers told lately in Iraq, but this one......
U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren't counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country's sectarian violence.

In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution.

That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July.

1 Comments:

  • Surely, a car bomb targetted against a Shia mosque *would* constitute sectarian violence? One of the problems in modern Iraq is the distinction between sectarian and anti-occupation violence has become blurred. Bear in mind that some (but not all) Sunni insurgents talk about an Iranian, rather than a US occupation (Gilbert Achar has written about this).

    By Blogger Disillusioned kid, at 6:31 AM  

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