Today is the six month (also known as a Friedman Unit) mark from Bush's Escalation speech. The Gavel looks at what kind of success the "surge" has br
July 10, 2007

Today is the six month (also known as a Friedman Unit) mark from Bush's Escalation speech.

The Gavel looks at what kind of success the "surge" has brought us in this last F.U.:

Since the President announced his plan to escalate the war in Iraq:

590 U.S. soldiers have died and 3,575 have been wounded in Iraq since January 10, 2007. [icasualties.org; 1/10/07-7/9/07]

Of the wounded, 1,672 suffer injuries too severe to return to duty.

At least 13,463 civilians and members of the Iraqi Security Forces have died since January 2007, according to media reports. [icasualties.org]

Nearly 11,000 people have been killed or wounded in multiple fatality bombings. [Brookings Institution, 7/5/07]

According to an internal military assessment, the U.S. military's plan to secure Baghdad against a rising insurgency is falling far short of its goal. Fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods are under the control of U.S. and Iraqi forces. [New York Times, 6/4/07]

Senior military officer, on the U.S. military's Baghdad security plan: "We were way too optimistic." [New York Times, 6/4/07]

According to one senior military official: "We are starting to see more sophistication and training in their attacks...clearly the trend is going the wrong direction." [Washington Post, 6/3/07]

The war in Iraq is costing American taxpayers an estimated $10 billion a month. [CRS, 6/28/07]

Iraq's largest Sunni political group announced pulled out of parliament over last month's vote to remove the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadan, a Sunni Arab. [AP, 6/24/07]

No progress has been made on the political benchmarks the Iraqi government was supposed to have met already. Oil sharing legislation, the reversal of deBaathification, new election laws, scheduling of provincial elections, amending the constitution and efforts to disband the militias are all languishing either in parliament or in negotiations among the three parties. [Washington Post, 7/8/07]

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