My point in making the map was to address the specifics of media reporting in the middle of September. I felt they bordered on the hysterical when Sept was not a particularly bloody month in Iraq. The map only tracks US and British deaths from 01 Sept to 25 Sept for that reason.

However, I can safely say that a map of all Coalition casualties in Iraq would look substantially like the one a created for September. Most causalities would be clustered in Al-Anbar and Baghdad with only a sprinkling in other areas.

The geographical distribution tells us a lot about the insurgency. It is for the most part comprised of Sunni’s who themselves represent less than %20 of the Iraqi population They are using weapons, training and money that Saddam put in place to fight the Mogadishu-like urban guerrilla war.

No more than a small fraction of the Iraqi people are actively supporting the insurrection. I would say less than %15. Those that do oppose are geographically concentrated. If this were not true the fighting would be far more widespread and far more bloody.

You also ignore the questions I raised about your accusation of murder against Israeli troops. Your only response is to repeat the accusation. As I said before, lame. You can’t even tell the difference between me and another commenter. Maybe you should cut back on the nerve medicine.

Your threat to leave our blog is comical, but it’s also typical behavior for trolls who try to bully their way through arguments but meet principled opposition. You simply do not have the ability to hold your own in a serious discussion, do you?

Now as we all know Iraq is so safe that US journalists can’t travel out of their Baghdad bunkers so why don’t you go and find out for yourself? No seriously, if Iraq is so safe then jet across and report back on the great deception that is being perpetrated. You might have some difficulty of course because large areas of the country are outwith the control of the US and their puppet regime but hey, if you can’t report then it doesn’t happen.

Iraq is safe, all is well, ignore the mounting deaths, its not our fault, we must murder the people in order to save them.

As for that map, I’ve mailed it around and the laughter truly is tremendous. Thank you for a glimpse into gimp politics.

PS I won’t be troubling you anymore as you obviously aren’t up to it. Bye bye.

Baghdad – 78
Baquoba – 1
Fallujah – 91
Samarra – 1
Ramadi – 3
Kirkuk – 20 (three outside of city)
Mosul -16
Hillah – 3

Doesn’t seem all that widespread from those either.

Also you’re facts are just plain wrong regarding the rest of the country. British newspapers report that the fighting in the south has been the most intense since the invasion with the British base at Amara hit by over 400 mortar rounds and just yesterday two British soldiers were killed in Basra… yet you have the southern provinces down as nice and safe. I trust you’ll be going there on your holidays will you?

A couple of other matters, according to the Iraqi Health ministry Coalition forces and Iraqi security forces are killing twice as many civilians as the insurgents. So who are the murdering barbarians exactly? And as for Israel being a role model, please! If you want a West Bank on Steriods to exist in Iraq then go right ahead and hold up those who have shot 4 dead school children at their desks in the past 18 months. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3693860.stm

All in all a pretty lame attempt at convincing yourself that white is black, but still when your philosophy is contradicted by reality then its any port in a storm.

Have fun with your maps.

There has been sabotage in the south (oil lines) but that is not as important as human life.

I don’t have any hard data but based just the anecdotal reports in the media I would say yes. Since most of the civilian deaths are the result of terrorist bombings, most of the deaths will be in the Baghdad area. Likewise, civilian deaths due to military operations will shadow U.S. military fatalities and be concentrated in the same locations.

There are other causes of civilian deaths as well. There is a problem with crime, score settling and traditional feuds. Those will be more symmetrically distributed. Whether those get counted as being related to the liberation is a matter of arbitrary definition.

“Doesn’t that suggest that Syria and Saudi Arabia are behind the direct attacks on the coalition troop…”

Not really. The major correlation is with ethnicity. The areas currently effected are heavily Sunni. These Sunni have dominated Iraq for centuries and they resist losing their domination.

The attacks are so small scale that they do not require any external support. Baathist deadenders have access to literally truck-fulls of cash that Saddam squirreled away before the invasion. They are paying $2,000 to $3000 (equivalent in purchasing power to $20,000 to $30,000 in the U.S.) per roadside bomb.

the combat deaths occured in areas bordering on Syria and Saudi Arabia (I think we can ignore Turkey), while there were none in the Shiite controlled areas adjacent to Iran (although there is fighting in Sadr City, a Shiite quarter of Baghdad).

Doesn’t that suggest that Syria and Saudi Arabia are behind the direct attacks on the coalition troops, while Iran is more interested in gaining influence in the mainly Shiite provinces in tzhe East?

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Syria is in direct collusion with Al Queda, for Syria also is one the countries (along with Egypt and Jordan), where America is sending suspected terrorists for interrogation

Adapt and overcome opposition party…Please.