I cannot believe Petraeus was able to go before Congress and completely shift the debate by claiming sectarian violence is down in Iraq, without his phony methodology being revealed or the true number of civilian casualties in Iraq being exposed. This is a chart from the Department of Defense, conveniently released after Petraeus’ big moment was over. Click the chart for a larger version.
If the American people looked at this chart, there is simply no way they would believe the war is getting better and deserves more time.
(H/T Atrios)
Update: The man in charge of counting casualties for the military, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dan Macomber, tells the Washington Post that these statistics are an inexact science:
“Everybody has their own way of doing it,” Macomber said of his sectarian analyses. “If you and I . . . pulled from the same database, and I pulled one day and you pulled the next, we would have totally different numbers.”
So someone looking to push an agenda would have a pretty easy time…
