September 25, 2007 9:38 AM

Contradictions

Under a headline that would be absurdist if it weren't so somber -- "What Defines a Killing as Sectarian?" -- the Washington Post exposes the troubles in calculating whether we are in fact making any progress in Iraq...and what the Petraeus report actually means (if anything).

Apparent contradictions are relatively easy to find in the flood of bar charts and trend lines the military produces. Civilian casualty numbers in the Pentagon's latest quarterly report on Iraq last week, for example, differ significantly from those presented by the top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, in his recent congressional testimony. Petraeus's chart was limited to numbers of dead, while the Pentagon combined the numbers of dead and wounded -- a figure that should be greater. Yet Petraeus's numbers were higher than the Pentagon's for the months preceding this year's increase of U.S. troops to Iraq, and lower since U.S. operations escalated this summer.

The charts are difficult to compare: Petraeus used monthly figures on a line graph, while the Pentagon computed "Average Daily Casualties" on a bar chart, and neither included actual numbers. But the numerical differences are still stark, and the reasons offered can be hard to parse. The Pentagon, in a written clarification, said that "Gen. Petraeus reported civilian deaths based on incidents reported by Coalition forces plus Iraqi government data. The [Pentagon] report only includes incidents reported by Coalition forces for civilian causality data."

One more reminder -- if we need one -- that it's time to take steps to end this Occupation. One more reason -- if we need one -- to tell Congress: No War Funding Without Timelines for Withdrawal.