Not Paying Attention
By Hey, statements like “I probably deserved this” make me feel bad about vicious. personal critiques of Mickey Kaus. On the other hand, statements like
U.S. military deaths in Iraq have apparently declined by about 20% since the “surge” began.
display what can only be described as an extraordinary level of ignorance about the US occupation of Iraq. Since the beginning of the Occupation, casualities have unsurprisingly fluctuated from month to month. I’m not sure when Mickey dates the beginning of the “Surge”, but US killed for January were 2.77/day, for February were 3.0/day, and for March thus far have been 2.94/day. November and September 2006 deaths were 2.57 day, and August 2006 2.13/day. Since December 15, 2005 US deaths have run 2.45/day.
Obviously, it’s absurd to claim that US deaths have dropped 20% since the beginning of the “surge”. But this is hardly surprising; Kaus’ assaults on the Left have never required evidence, while his attacks on the Right… well, if he made one, I might have something to say about it…