US Suffers Fewer Casualties in 2006 than 2005

Greyhawk runs the numbers and finds this nugget from an article that stresses the increased casualties in December over prior months:

The Marine deaths reported Friday brought the number of U.S. military fatalities in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 2,996, icasualties.org said, with 816 of them occurring this year. Last year, 846 American service members died; in 2004, the figure was 848.

The number of U.S. wounded is also down this year — 5,676 compared with 5,947 in 2005 and 8,001 in 2004.

So, at least for US troops, Iraq was a slightly less dangerous place than it was in 2005 (and 2004). That doesn't mean Iraq is safe by any stretch of the imagination, but consider what the media seeks to emphasize - the high American body count for December versus the lower death toll year over year.

Nowhere does the article speculate as to why there were fewer American casualties even though the number of troops in country was actually higher. It could be that US forces have improved tactics and equipment to prevent injuries, faster medical treatment, or improved operations by the Iraqi military and security measures.