Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln ...
The White House and its allies have been claiming that the so-called surge is reducing violence in Baghdad.
Apparently, that’s a load of crap.
According to a McClatchy Newspapers report published yesterday, the touted drop in violence is just a White House accounting trick:
Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the last three years, but the administration doesn’t include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is defusing tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Other than the bombings, the violence is down!
Nifty!
James Denselow of the U.K. think tank Chatham House sums it up thusly:
Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them.