this isn't news

in that we already know this (or SHOULD know this). no matter how many denials that come out of the mouths of the court of king george, we can read between the lines.

just because we cannot see the coffins of our men and women being unloaded off of cargo planes OR the bodies of iraqis littered all over the streets doesn't mean our people and their people aren't dying

Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq
Military Statistics Called Into Question


By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends.
Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working. In congressional testimony Monday, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is expected to cite a 75 percent decrease in sectarian attacks. According to senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad, overall attacks in Iraq were down to 960 a week in August, compared with 1,700 a week in June, and civilian casualties had fallen 17 percent between December 2006 and last month. Unofficial Iraqi figures show a similar decrease..........

and then there is this:

Iraqi Army Unable To Take Over Within A Year, Report Says
Breakup of National Police Is Urged


By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
Iraq's army, despite measurable progress, will be unable to take over internal security from U.S. forces in the next 12 to 18 months and "cannot yet meaningfully contribute to denying terrorists safe haven," according to a report on the Iraqi security forces published today.
The report, prepared by a commission of retired senior U.S. military officers, describes the 25,000-member Iraqi national police force and the Interior Ministry, which controls it, as riddled with sectarianism and corruption. The ministry, it says, is "dysfunctional" and is "a ministry in name only." The commission recommended that the national police force be disbanded..........