Illustration by: Matt Mahurin
I love McClatchy. They do great work. But I kind of have to point out that almosttwo weeks after the Wash Indyreported, using stats from Multinational Force-Iraq, that violence in Iraq is on the rise again, McClatchy has a pieceheadlined "Is Violence On The Rise Again In Iraq?" Reporter Steve Lannen doesn’t use any such question mark in his lede: Violence is increasing in Iraq, raising questions about whether the security improvements credited to the increase in U.S. troops may be short-lived.
Car bombs in Baghdad on Monday killed at least 11 people and injured a prominent leader of one of the country’s most influential American-allied tribal militias. …
After months of declining violence, February is certain to be the third straight month to see increases in the numbers of Baghdad residents killed in car bombings and suicide attacks.
According to statistics kept by McClatchy, the low point in such killings came in November, when 76 people died. Thanks to a pair of pet market bombings that killed 99 people Feb. 1, February’s tally already is 131.