AP Censors Iraq Military And Civilian Death Data

September 1st, 2007 Post From Pat Dollard.

The number of Iraqi police and army personnel killed in August was down an incredible two thirds from July. The August total was 87, July’s was 224.

The AP saw those figures today but made the editorial decision to censor them from their wire story, for fear they would help General Petraeus and the Bush administration make the case to remain in Iraq.

So instead, the AP ran this:

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

“BAGHDAD (AP) – Civilian deaths rose in August to their second-highest monthly level this year, according to figures compiled Saturday by The Associated Press. That raises questions about whether U.S. strategy is working days before Congress receives landmark reports that will decide the course of the war.

U.S. military officials have insisted that the security plan launched early this year have brought a decrease in attacks on civilians and sectarian killings, especially in the Baghdad area, which was the focus of the new strategy.

The top American commander, Gen. David Petraeus, is expected to cite security improvements when he and Ambassador Ryan Crocker submit reports on progress toward stability and national reconciliation to Congress during the week of Sept. 10.

However, figures compiled by the AP from police reports nationwide show that at least 1,809 civilians were killed across the country last month compared with 1,760 in July. That brings to 27,564 the number of Iraqi civilians killed since AP began collecting data on April 28, 2005.”

Tell me that report didn’t read like a propaganda statement.

Not only did the AP censor the stunning drop in ISF deaths, but they chose to censor the key element of the civilian death count. Depending on which body count of the Yazidi massacre they chose to incorporate into their civilian death total, there were between 250 and 500 civilians killed in an anomolous, “freak incident and success” bombing of the Yazidi sect, which comprised the highest body count of any single suicide bombing in Iraq. Now we can argue the point all day long, but this bombing succeeded against a physically remote and odd sect of Iraqis who didn’t enjoy any meaningful security forces, because they had been left out of Iraq’s sectarian gang warfare. So that bombing is hardly reflective of life in any Iraq city. That body count is not reflective of life in Al Anbar, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Basra, etc. And if you remove this freak incident from the list, then the civilian death toll for August was actually between 1, 309 and 1,559 – or a drop of about 15 to 30 percent of July’s total.

To refuse to even mention, let alone analyze, the impact of the Yazidi bombing on the August casualty report is an egregious act of politically motivated censorship.
And even if you kept the total of 1,809 for August, that means there was basically no increase between July and August. The increase of 49 deaths represents an increase of just over 2%. So where were the “No Increase In Civilian Deaths” or “Civilian Death Rate Remains Flat” Or “Civilian Deaths Have Leveled Off In Iraq” headlines? Censored, that’s where they were.

The AP, which knows its stories are picked up by everyone, is doing all it can to impact the September report war debate in favor of its anti-war, anti-Bush administration agenda. Associated Propaganda, more likely. They used to blame the military for playing games with body counts. Now it’s the mainstream media who are guilty.

They were at least forced to report this:

“At least 81 American service members also died in Iraq during August—an increase of two over the previous month but well below the year’s monthly high of 126 in May.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 1st, 2007 at 10:28 PM and is filed under Iraq Up Dates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.