Iraq Violence Rate Remains High

Where's your surge, dude? Making deals with former insurgents in order to fight al Qaeda does not count. I hope the politicians will see the surge for what it is: smoke and mirrors:

This year's U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.

Some of the recent bloodshed appears the result of militant fighters drifting into parts of northern Iraq, where they have fled after U.S.-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings — the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

For the people of Iraq it means very little. Their situation continues to deteriorate. Just ask them:

In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable.

[...]— Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year — an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

— Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. AP reporting accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006. The United Nations and other sources placed the 2006 toll far higher.

— Baghdad has gone from representing 76% of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52% in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago.

According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year, from 447,337 on Jan. 1 to 1.14 million on July 31.