December 19, 2006 10:08AM 

# The Pentagon Is Not Reporting the Good News from Iraq 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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> The Pentagon said yesterday that violence in Iraq soared this fall to its highest level on record and acknowledged that anti‑U.S. fighters have achieved a “strategic success” by unleashing a spiral of sectarian killings by Sunni and Shiite death squads that threatens Iraq’s political institutions.
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> In its most pessimistic report yet on progress in Iraq, the Pentagon described a nation listing toward civil war, with violence at record highs of 959 attacks per week, declining public confidence in government and “little progress” toward political reconciliation.
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> –[The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/18/AR2006121800791.html)

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [General](https://www.cato.org/general) 

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