Iraqi deaths tripled to 22,950 in later half of 2006

I guess we are winning in Iraq. I found this article in the Washington Post:

BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 -- More than 17,000 Iraqi civilians and police officers died violently in the latter half of 2006, according to Iraqi Health Ministry statistics, a sharp increase that coincided with rising sectarian strife since the February bombing of a landmark Shiite shrine.

In the first six months of last year, 5,640 Iraqi civilians and police officers were killed, but that number more than tripled to 17,310 in the latter half of the year, according to data provided by a Health Ministry official with direct knowledge of the statistics. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said those numbers remained incomplete, suggesting the final tally of violent deaths could be higher.

Graphic showing an increase in Iraqi war deaths. From the Washington Post

Last year's spike in casualties occurred despite an ambitious U.S. military operation in the capital, Together Forward, that involved thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops cordoning off some of the deadliest neighborhoods and conducting house-to-house searches.

"We have been in a reaction mode in many ways to the events that occurred because of the [February] bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, and that began a cycle of sectarian violence that we've been working very, very, very hard to keep under control," Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the former second-ranking commander in Iraq, told reporters last month.

"Now, I'm not in any way happy with what I see in Baghdad. The level of violence is way too high," he added.

So Iraqi deaths have tripled in the later half of 2006 in spite of the ambitious U.S. military operation Together Forward. And these deaths have been attributed to the rising level of sectarian violence--especially between the Shiites and the Sunnis. If Together Forward couldn't even put a dent in the level of violence in Iraq, then how the heck will President Bush's proposed 20,000 troop increase going to help? Continuing with the WaPost article:

The Health Ministry's full-year death toll of 22,950, although incomplete, is higher than the 13,896 violent deaths of civilians, police officers and soldiers reported Jan. 1 by Iraq's ministries of defense, health and interior. The United Nations, in a November report, estimated that more than 28,000 Iraqi civilians had died violently in the first 10 months of 2006, but that count was disputed by the government. The differences in the numbers could not be reconciled.

Iraq's death toll from violence is controversial because it provides a vivid report card on the difficulty of U.S. and Iraqi efforts to bring order to the country. Neither the U.S. government nor the military provides death totals for Iraqis.

It is ironic how the U.S. government or military refuses to provide death totals for the Iraqi civilian casualties. There have been plenty of rumors of how the U.S. military has been under-reporting American casualty figures since the war started. The U.S. military already discounts Iraqi casualties killed in car bombing and mortar attacks. So in one sense, it doesn't surprise me that we are not only starting to see an increase in the sectarian violence taking place in Iraq, but also the increased exposure of the U.S. military and government's under-reporting of these casualty figures.

This war in Iraq is now out of control.