Statistics Prove Surge Is Working
Friday, November 30th, 2007This CBS article provides some impressive statistics that prove the Surge is working. Here’s what I’m talking about:
There were 28 combat dead in November. Compare that to 120 killed last May as the troop surge was reaching full strength, reports CBS News national security
correspondent David Martin.
Here’s another statistic that tells the same story:
“The IED attacks are down about 50 percent from a peak about three or four months ago,” Ret. Gen. Montgomery Meigs says.
This statistic is the one that startled me:
In the first six months of their deployment, the 10th Mountain Division had 93 vehicles destroyed by roadside bombs. In the last six months, just one.
Finally, there’s these statistics:
Marines fighting in the once wild west of al Anbar province have not suffered a combat death since October 8.
Bethesda Naval Hospital used to care for as many as 50 wounded Marines at a time; today there are 10.
Perhaps these statistics are why John Murtha admitted that the surge is working. Perhaps they’re the reason why the Pew Research Poll shows a marked shift in public opinion towards the war:
For the first time in a long time, nearly half of Americans express positive opinions about the situation in Iraq. A growing number says the U.S. war effort is going well, while greater percentages also believe the United States is making progress in reducing the number of Iraqi casualties, defeating the insurgents and preventing a civil war in Iraq. (more…)