Reuters: W.House defends Bush use of Iraqi body counts

December 14th, 2006 5:33 pm
By Steve Holland / Reuters

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday defended President George W. Bush's rare use of a body count to describe Iraqi insurgent deaths as a way to show Americans that U.S. troops are fighting hard in Iraq.

Bush said on Wednesday on a visit to the Pentagon that U.S. and Iraqi forces had killed or captured 5,900 of the enemy during the months of October, November and early December.

It was a rare use of a body count by the president and came after public opinion polls said many Americans are concerned about rising U.S. casualties and believe the United States is losing the war in Iraq.

But Bush is eager to show signs of progress at a time when Americans have become disenchanted with the Iraq war, and wants to demonstrate that his policy has not been stalled by his plans to change Iraq strategy early next year.

LinkHere