 |
         
|
On Monday, CBS' Pentagon correspondent David Martin reported positive news out of Iraq: he claimed that the month of July had seen a reduction in casualties both for US military and Iraqi civilians. Now, reporting from Baghdad, his colleague Allen Pizzey contradicts him, at least on the latter statistic: "An unofficial count by the Associated Press made July the second deadliest month for Iraqis so far this year." ABC's Terry McCarthy (subscription required) offered an explanation for the discrepancy. Life is getting "less grim" for Iraqis living in the area of the US military's misnamed surge as "suicide bombers moved further north, killing hundreds in and around Kirkuk." As for the reduction in GI casualties, ABC's McCarthy warned, counterintuitively, that this may be a sign the US plan is not working: "The military said it expected casualties to go up as the extra surge troops forced their way into new areas." All McCarthy could conclude was that "less bad" may be a more accurate description than "getting better."
CBS' Pizzey pointed out that the Iraqi government is on "the point of collapse" as the largest political bloc of Sunni Arabs walked out of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition saying it had "slammed shut the door to any meaningful reforms." Pizzey sought the reaction of US military brass in Baghdad. They admitted that a functioning government "has to go hand in hand with the security gains they claim they are making." Meanwhile, in Kuwait, US logistics commanders told NBC's Jim Miklaszewski that "they could easily handle" the pullout of all 160,000 troops from Iraq "in a matter of months." A plan is in place already and ready to go. Equipment would take longer--"two years for a complete withdrawal."
You must be logged in to this website to leave a comment. Please click here to log in so you can participate in the discussion.
