David Walker, the top official at the Government Accountability Office, reported newly declassified statistics about the frequency of attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq during a Senate hearing. The report reveals that violence has remained constant from November 2007 to early 2008.
Although there was a decrease in the number of attacks last fall following a troop surge of 30,000 additional U.S. soldiers, there has not been another significant decrease in attacks since that time.
Before the surge, there were an estimated 180 attacks a day on average. That figure has dropped to 60 attacks a day, which is comparable to Spring 2005 statistics.
2007 was the deadliest year for U.S. soldiers with 899 deaths. February 2008 has seen a 33 percent increase in attacks, which shows that U.S. colonial goals in Iraq are hardly a done deal.
