Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths nationwide compared with last year — an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

•Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. The AP accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006.

Jim Stevens - 8/29/2007

I can't see why this is a surprise. If I tell that I am going to send in extra troops with the express order of killing opposition you should expect more deaths and violence. That was the purpose of the surge.

The distribution of these extra deaths and level of violence after the surge are the statistics that will tell us if the surge is a success or not.