General Petraeus in his own words
Updated on 11 September 2007
Key quotations from General David Petraeus's report to Congress on the situation in Iraq.
"The overall number of security incidents in Iraq has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the numbers of incidents in the last two weeks at the lowest levels seen since June 2006."
"The level of incidents in the past two weeks (is) the lowest since June 2006 and, with the number of attacks this past week, the lowest since April 2006."
"Civilian deaths of all categories, less natural causes, have also declined considerably, by over 45 per cent Iraq-wide since the height of the sectarian violence in December."
"The number of ethno-sectarian deaths... has also declined significantly since the height of the sectarian violence in December. Iraq-wide... the number of ethno-sectarian deaths has come down by over 55 per cent."
"Monthly attack levels in Anbar have declined from some 1,350 in October 2006 to a bit over 200 in August of this year."
"The number of car bombings and suicide attacks has also declined in each of the past five months, from a high of some 175 in March... to about 90 this past month."
