And so, 5 years after President Bush declared that "major combat operations in Iraq are over," the 4,374th coalition soldier has died in Iraq. The evidence continues to support my contention that the surge hasn't done much or anything to stem the tide of violence, and that the lull in violence our troops are seeing depends largely on the political maneuverings of Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and Iran-sympathizers in Iraq. What mission can we say we've accomplished there, other than the entirely unhoped-for, and widely-predicted, deaths of many soldiers, and the woundings of many, many more.
The graph for wounded soldiers (based on data from http://globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm) is below the fold. Fatality data are from http://icasualties.org/oif.
These graphs are amazing. Beautifully organized data that clearly illustrates the point. The positioning of "Mission Accomplished" is almost unbelievable and then starts to fade to just plain depressing.
Excellent work!