Reuters Shocker: End Of Month Civilian Death Toll In Iraq Counted Up “Just Days” Before Hearings

Of course, it’s just an end-of-month total, but that doesn’t stop this brave reporter from connecting the dots.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Civilian deaths from violence in Iraq rose in August, with 1,773 people killed, government data showed on Saturday, just days before the U.S. Congress gets a slew of reports on President George W. Bush’s war strategy.
The civilian death toll was up 7 percent from 1,653 people killed in July, according to figures from various ministries.
Nearly a quarter of the August total comprised 411 people killed in massive truck bombings against the minority Yazidi community in northern Iraq on August 14.
Without the Yazidi attack, the death toll would still be higher than the June number of 1,227, which had been the lowest monthly total since a U.S.-backed crackdown began in February.

Most of the increase was from one attack. Without that attack, the death toll would be at 1,362 or just slightly more than the lowest civilian casualty total since the surge began. Which means this isn’t nearly as dire as it sounds.
And, naturally, nobody in the media pays any attention to the fact that the terrorists are murdering more civilians right before high-profile congressional hearings on Iraq for a reason. They want hand-wringing, witheringly negative media stories like the one quoted above written and published all over the place in order to make withdrawal a more palatable political decision for America’s politicians. The terrorists are, essentially, manipulating the media. What’s sad is that the media is going right along with it.
Which isn’t to say that the media shouldn’t be reporting this stuff. Just that they should report the whole story, including the terrorists’ motivations in upping the violence in Iraq.
By the way, here’s some numbers Reuters chose to devote exactly one sentence to:

The figures showed 87 Iraqi security forces were killed in August, a big drop from the previous month when 224 were killed.

Wouldn’t want to report that figure too prominently lest Americans get the idea that we’re making progress in Iraq or something.