EDITORIAL
Numbers from Iraq paint a grim picture

It may be that our efforts in Iraq are leading, slowly but surely, to a more peaceful and successful country than the one under the iron rule of Saddam Hussein.

But a pair of news stories in recent days are enough to give one pause.

One was a report in the Washington Post on an Iraqi Health Ministry study that says attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops are up to more than 70 a day, painting a picture of widespread and intensifying insurgent violence.

The other, by the Knight Ridder news service, reports that the same Iraqi Health Ministry study concluded that U.S. and allied responses to those attacks are killing twice as many Iraqis as are the insurgents. Between April 5 and Sept. 19, some 3,487 Iraqi deaths and 13,720 injuries were attributed to allied strikes.

Of course, such statistics do not capture the positive aspects of our efforts in Iraq. But they do make it clear that the task ahead is grim, difficult and far from certain.