Basic Facts And Figures About Iraq Remain Unknown

New York Times May 19, 2007 10:40 PM Iraq is the place where there are still wildly conflicting estimates of something as fundamental as how many civilians have died as a result of the war. It is a place where some government officials will swear that there are 348,000 wonderfully trained, motivated and equipped Iraqis in the security forces and other officials will tell you that most of those troops and police either have questionable loyalties, lack equipment or simply do not always report for duty. The precision is very important: 348,000, according to Wednesday's update from the Pentagon. Or, perhaps, hundreds of thousands less. And the disagreements do not go away even when various groups agree on basic facts -- say, that the United States has now spent $8.9 billion of its own and Iraq's money on rebuilding the electricity and oil sectors, according to the latest figures from the Government Accountability Office. READ FULL STORY