Iraqi Civilian Deaths Rise Slightly in August

Sounds to me like the surge has failed:

Civilian deaths from violence in Iraq rose slightly in August, with 1,773 people killed, government statistics showed on Saturday.

The figures from various ministries showed 87 police and army personnel reported killed in August, a big drop from the previous month when 224 were killed.

Nothing has changed:

The overall August figure of 1,773 is largely in line with civilian death tolls for most months this year.

U.S. military deaths in August were 81 so far, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks the number of coalition deaths in Iraq. That is roughly the same as July.