Civilian deaths up again in Iraq

But July and August each saw massive bomb blasts that killed scores of civilians and sent numbers soaring.

The latest statistics will not surprise many Iraqis.

A man who identified himself as Khaldoon, a blacksmith living in the mainly Shiite Muslim area of Hurriya in west Baghdad, said he felt secure there only because Shiite militiamen patrolled the streets. He said his cousin, also Shiite, had been killed recently because he had gone into a Sunni Muslim neighborhood.

"The government keeps on feeding us lies on TV, saying that there is progress in such-and-such place or that the services are getting better in some places, but it's all propaganda," said Rana Wajid, a Christian woman living in the mainly Sunni area of Dora, in south Baghdad.

Most Iraqis interviewed recently about their views on the military plan said security would not improve unless the country's political leaders resolved their differences.

Vali Nasr, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, agreed.

"It is the political impasse that is causing the security problem, and it is the political impasse that has to be solved if there is to be an end to the fighting," he said.

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tina.susman@latimes.com

Times staff writers Saif Rasheed and Said Rifai contributed to this report.