THE SURGE AND U.S. CASUALTIES

At least 2 BushBot posters on AOL have claimed that U.S. casualties have decreased since The Surge began. I don't know where they got that statistic from but it is clearly wrong:

U.S. troop deaths climbing in Iraq
By Shashank Bengali
McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Mon, Apr. 16, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began, an indication that the conflict is becoming increasingly dangerous for U.S. forces even after more than four years of fighting.

From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. March also marked the first time that the U.S. military suffered four straight months of 80 or more fatalities. April, with at least 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the conflict for American forces.

Some of the heaviest fighting has occurred in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, where 44 American service members have died so far this year - more than in the previous 22 months combined.