Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 02/28/07 2:20 pm:
Alright, Paraclete, you challenged me on the freqquency of suicide bombings in Iraq. How many suicide bombings have there been in Iraq?

According to Icasualties.org, a total of 86 coalition casualties have been caused by suicide bombings (including suicide car bombings and "suicide vests") or 2.5% of the total of the 3,418 coalition casualties. Compare this with 1,211 (35.4%) caused by IEDs, 795 (23.2%) by hostile fire, and 450 (13.2%) from various explosives (grenades, bombs, mortars, RPGs, indiect fire, mines, etc.).

As I said in my post, Paraclete, suicide bombings in Iraq are rare. That may be the preferred method of attack in the PA and Gaza, but it is clearly not the primary method of attack in Iraq.

My argument stands.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 02/28/07 9:42 pm:
elliot what a strange way you have of measuring the number of suicide bombings in Iraq. Has it occured to you that the targets of suicide bombings in Iraq have not been coalition forces but the general shiite population

2003

* March 29: Iraqi soldier Ali Hammadi al-Namani kills 4 US soldiers in a suicide car bombing near Najaf, the first such attack.
* August 19: Canal Hotel Bombing, in Baghdad, kills 22 people (including the top UN representative Sergio Vieira de Mello) and wounds over 100.
* August 29: Car bomb outside Imam Ali Mosque, in Najaf, kills more than 80 people, including SCIRI leader Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.

2004

* February 1: 109 Kurds are killed in 2 suicide bombings in Arbil.
* March 2: Ashoura Massacre: Suicide bombings at Shia holy sites kill 181 and wound more than 500 during the Ashura.
* April 21: Basra bombs kill 74 and injure hundreds.
* July 28: ඎ killed, 56 wounded" by a suicide car bomb "next to a line of police applicants."[3]
* September 30: ൲ dead, 35 of them children,... as U.S. troops handed out sweets in western Baghdad."[4]
* December 19: ൾ killed... amid a funeral procession in Najaf."[5]

2005

* January 13: The Associated Press reports that of 181 car bombings since the creation of the Iraqi interim government at the end of June, 68 were suicide attacks.[6]
* February 28: About 125 people are killed by a suicide car bomb outside a medical center in Hilla, south of Baghdad.
* May 7 : Baghdad, Tahir Square 22 people killed by VBIED including 2 Americans, Todd Venette and Brandon Thomas.
* July 16: A suicide bomber blows up an oil tanker in the predominantly Shiite town of Musayyib, killing 98 people.
* August 31: About 1000 people died in a stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad, after warnings of an imminent suicide bombing.
* October 11: Insurgent suicide bomb attacks leave over 30 people dead in Talafar, North West Iraq.[7]
* October 12: At least 30 people die following an insurgent suicide bomb attack in Talafar, North Western Iraq, the second such attack in as many days. [8]
* November 9: A failed car bombing of US troops killed a female suicide bomber and injured one soldier. The bomber was later identified as Muriel Degauque from Belgium, who had converted to Islam after marrying a Moroccan man.[[9]]
* November 10: At least 30 people have died following an insurgent suicide bomb attack on a restaurant in Baghdad.[10]
* November 23: One suicide car bomber kills 18 people, mostly Iraqi police in an ambush in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.[11]
* November 24: 15 people die after a suicide bomb attack in Hilla.[12]
* December 6: Two suicide bombers kill 27 Iraqi Police at a police academy in Baghdad.[13]
* December 29: A suicide bomber killed four police officers in Baghdad.[14]

2006

* January 1: Two suicide car bombs kill one Iraqi soldier and wound 24 others north of Baghdad. [15]
* January 2: A suicide bomber kills 7 people on a bus in Baquba. [16]
* January 4: A suicide bomber struck a Shiite funeral, killing 32 and wounding 40.[17] Suicide bomber kills about 30 people and wounded dozens during a Shiite Muslim funeral at Miqdadiya.[18]
* January 5: Two suicide bombers in Ramadi blew theselfes up outside a police recruting station killing 80 people.[19]
* January 6: More than a hundred people are killed when a suicide bomber detonated near a Shia holy shrine.[20][21] A suicide bomber targeted an Interior Ministry patrol, and one policeman was killed in the explosion which wounded 7 others. [22]
* January 9: Two suicide bombers disguised as police infiltrated the heavily fortified Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad and blow themselves up killing 29. [23]
* January 23: A suicide bomber kills 3 people and injures 7 others near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad. [24]
* March 10: A suicide truck bomber kills eight and wounds 11 at a checkpoint in Falluja. [25]
* March 27: A suicide bomber kills 30 to 40 people at a security-forces recruitment center in northern Iraq [26]
* March 29: Two suicide bombers on a mini-bus filled with explosives attempted to attack a police station in Haswa, south of Baghdad, but the bus exploded prematurely when police opened fire on it, wounding 11 policemen and a female bystander. [27]
* March 30: A suicide car bomber rammed a police convoy in west Baghdad’s Yarmouk neighborhood, killing one police commando and wounding three others. Two civilians also were hurt.[28]
* April 3: Ten die and 38 are wounded during a suicide truck bomb attack near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad [29]
* April 7: Three suicide bombers target the Baratha mosque in Baghdad, killing 81 people and wounding 160. [30] [31]
* April 11: A suicide bomber kills an American soldier in Raweh. [32]
* April 17: A suicide car bombing in Ramadi wounds one U.S. Marine. [33]
* May 2: Ten people die and six are injured when a suicide bomber explodes near a convoy carrying the governor of Anbar in central Ramadi. [34]
* May 3: Suicide bomber kills 16 and wounds 25 at a police recruitment center in Falluja. [35]
* May 6: Suicide bomber kills three Iraqi soldiers at a base in Tikrit. [36]
* May 7: Suicide bomber kills five and wounds 18 in Karbala. [37]
* May 9: A suicide car bombing kills 20 and wounds 37 in Tal Afar. [38]
* May 21: A suicide bomber kills 13 and wounds 18 in a restaurant in central Baghdad. [39]
* June 11: A suicide car bomb explodes at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Baquba, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding six.
* June 16: A suicide bomber slips into a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing 11 and wounding 25 during Friday prayers. [40]
* June 20: A suicide bomber kills two and injures two in a senior citizens' home in Basra. [41]
* June 26: Two Iraqi police commandos die and four people are injured when a suicide bomber explodes at a military checkpoint in western Baghdad. [42]
* June 29: A suicide car bomber kills five and wounds at least 31 during a wake for an Iraqi soldier in Kirkuk. [43] [44]
* July 11: More than 50 people were killed in Baghdad in violence that included a double suicide bombing near busy entrances to the fortified Green Zone.[45]
* July 12: A suicide bomber blows himself up in a restaurant in southern Baghdad, killing seven and injuring 20. [46]
* July 16: A suicide bomber strikes a cafe in Tuz Khurmatu, killing 23 to 26 people. [47] [48]
* July 18: A suicide car bomb kills 53 to 59 people and injures more than 100 at a market in Kufa. [49] [50]
* July 23: 32 to 34 are killed and 65 to 70 are wounded when a suicide bomber driving a minibus blows it up near a market in Sadr City, Baghdad. [51] [52]
* August 1: A suicide car bomber kills at least 10 people and wounds 22 near an Iraqi army convoy in central Baghdad. [53]
* August 4: A suicide bomber in a pick-up truck blew up in an athletic field in Hadhar, killing 10 and wounding 12. [54] [55]
* August 6: A suicide bomber attacks a funeral in central Tikrit, killing 15 people and injuring 17. [56] [57]
* August 7: Nine soldiers die and 10 civilians are injured due to a suicide truck bomb in Samarra. [58]
* August 10: A suicide bomber struck a checkpoint near a shrine in Najaf, killing 35 and injuring 122. [59] [60]
* August 15: A suicide truck bomber killed nine people and wounded 36 outside the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Mosul.[61]
* August 28: In Baghdad, 13 people died when a suicide car bomber attacked a compound of the Iraqi interior ministry.In Baghdad, dozens of people were injured in the mid-morning blast outside the interior ministry. The ministry complex has been frequently targeted in the past and is heavily guarded. At least eight policemen are reported to be among the fatalities. The Baghdad bomber struck as UK Defence Minister Des Browne was in the capital for talks with Iraqi officials.[62]
* September 7: A suicide bomber attacked a police fuel depot in Baghdad killing 12 policemen. A suicide bomber attacked a police patrol killing 3 people and wounded 10 in a tunnel in the Bab al-Sharji district of Baghdad.[63]
* September 14: A suicide truck bomb hit a U.S. Army outpost in Baghdad killing three soldiers and wounding 25. A suicide bomber strapped himself with explosives and detonated them at an Iraq police checkpoint in Tal Afar, killing one police officer and wounding two others.[64]
* October 4: A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi police and army checkpoint in the northern city of Tal Afar, wounding three policemen, two soldiers and nine civilians. A suicide truck bomber blew himself up outside the Iraqi army headquarters in western Ramadi, police said. No one other than the bomber was killed but a number were wounded.[65]
* October 7: A suicide car bomb killed 14 people, including four soldiers, and wounded 13, including nine civilians, at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar.[66]
* October 9: A suicide car bomber killed a policeman and wounded 11 others, a policeman and 10 civilians, at a police checkpoint in the northern town of Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) north of Baghdad.[67]
* October 17: A suicide car bomber targeting police commandos killed two police and wounded nine, including four civilians, in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district. A suicide car bomber targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing a soldier and wounding two others in the town of Shirqat, 300 km (180 miles) north of Baghdad.[68]
* October 19: A suicide car bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded four more some 35 km (22 miles) southwest of Kirkuk. Six suicide bombers in vehicles, including one in a fuel truck, attacked Iraqi police and U.S. patrols, and insurgents fired mortars and clashed with police, the violence killed at least 20 people in Mosul. A suicide car bomber killed at least eight people and wounded 70 others in the oil city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad.[69]
* October 22: A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 20 on Palestine Street in central Baghdad.[70]
* October 30: A suicide attacker blew himself up inside a police headquarters in Kirkuk, killing two policemen and a three-year-old girl and wounding 19, including 10 policemen. Police said the attacker was wearing a police officer uniform. A suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army checkpoint at a border pass near Syria, killing four soldiers and wounding one.[71]
* November 1: Two suicide car bomb attacks on police positions north of Ramadi killed five policemen and wounded three.[72]
* November 7: A suicide bomber walked into a cafe in the Shi'ite Greyat district and blew himself up after dark, killing 17 people and wounding 20.[73]
* November 10: A suicide car bomber hit an army checkpoint, killing a colonel and four soldiers, and wounding 17 people including 10 soldiers in Tal Afar, about 240 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad.[74]
* November 11: A suicide car bomber attacked a police station, killing two people, including one woman, in the town of Zaghinya to the north of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.[75]
* November 12: A suicide bomber walked into a police recruiting centre in Baghdad and blew himself up, killing 35 people and wounding 58.[76]
* November 18: A suicide car bomb at a police checkpoint in Haditha, west of Baghdad, killed one policeman and wounded another.[77]
* November 19: A suicide car bomb near a funeral procession killed three people and wounded 22 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.[78]
* November 20: A suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle near a police checkpoint and killed two people, including a policeman, and wounded six others, including four policemen, in Ramadi. A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a joint Iraqi police-army patrol and killed three soldiers and wounded four others, including a policeman, in a town west of Mosul.[79]
* November 24: A double suicide attack killed 22 people and wounded 45 at a market in a Shi'ite district in the northern city of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border.[80]
* November 29: A suicide car bomber targeting a police station killed one civilian and wounded 23 in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber targeting a police patrol killed a policeman and wounded seven people, including three policemen, in southwestern Baghdad. A suicide car bomber exploded near a police patrol, killing a policeman and wounding five civilians in al-Nidhal street in central Baghdad.[81]
* December 1: A suicide bomber attacked a U.S. patrol in Kirkuk killing two civilians.[82]
* December 3: A suicide bomber attacked a police patrol in Mosul killing two people. A suicide bomber attacked the convoy of a police official near Kirkuk killing three policemen.[83]
* December 6: A suicide bomber attacked a minibus in Baghdad killing three people.[84]
* December 9: A suicide bomber killed 7 people in Karbala in an attack on a market.[85]
* December 11: A suicide bomber killed one police commando in Baghdad.[86]
* December 12: A suicide bomber struck a crowd of mostly poor Shiites in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 63 people and wounding more than 200 after luring construction workers onto a pickup truck by offering them jobs as they were eating breakfast.[87] A suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint in Baghdad killing one person.[88]
* December 13: A double suicide attack on an Iraqi army base in Riyadh, near Kirkuk, killed 7 soldiers and wounded 15.[89]A double suicide attack on the headquarters of the Iraqi army's 2nd Battalion, near Kirkuk, killed 4 soldiers and wounded 10.[90]
* December 20: A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint in Baghdad killing 11 people.[91]
* December 21: A suicide bomber attacked a police recruitment centre in Baghdad killing 3 police officers and 12 recruits. A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint near Kirkuk killing one soldier. A suicide bomber killed two people in Baghdad.[92]
* December 24: A suicide bomber walked into a police station in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiya in Diyala province and detonated his explosives, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 30 more.[93]
* December 25: A suicide bomber killed three people and wounded 20 others when he blew himself up aboard a crowded bus in the Shi'ite Talibiya district in northeastern Baghdad. A suicide bomber targeting a police checkpoint near the main entrance of Anbar University killed three policemen and wounded two students in the city of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad.[94]
* December 28: A suicide bomber using a minibus attacked the offices of the KDP in Mosul, 2 people were killed and 19 were wounded.[95]
* December 29: A suicide bomber a Shi'ite mosque in Khalis killing 10 people.[96]
* December 30: A suicide bomber killed 5 people in Tal Afar.[97]

2007

* January 08: A suicide truck bomber attacked a checkpoint in Ramadi killing two policemen.[98]

* January 10: Two suicide bombers attacked separately in Tal Afar killing five people and wounding 15 others.[99]

* January 15: A suicide bomber attacked an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul killing 5 people and wounding 28.[100]

* January 16: In a double car bombing, including one suicide bomber, on the Mustansiriya University in Baghdad 70 people were killed and 180 were wounded.[101]

* January 17: A suicide bomber attacked near a police headquarters in Kirkuk killing 10 people.[102]

* January 18: A suicide bomber attacked a police patrol in Mosul killing one civilian and wounding six people, including four policemen.[103]

* January 21: A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army patrol in Mosul killing one woman.[104]

* January 24: A suicide bomber attacked a police patrol in Baghdad killing four policemen.[105]

* January 26: A suicide bomber attacked a Shi'ite mosque near Mosul killing one person. A suicide bomber attacked an army patrol in Baghdad killing two soldiers.[106]

* January 27: 13 people were killed in a double suicide bombing in Baghdad.[107]

* January 28: A suicide bomber blew himself up in Kirkuk killing 8 people.[108]

* January 30: A suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded 57 in an attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Balad Ruz. A suicide truck bomber killed 16 policemen in an attack on the compound of a police rapid reaction force close to Ramadi.[109]

* February 1: Six people were killed and 12 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a minibus in the central Baghdad district of Karrada. [110] Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded outdoor market in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 45 people and wounding 150. [111]

* February 3: A suicide bomber blew up his Mercedes truck in a Baghdad market killing at least 130 people in the second deadliest attack since the US-led invasion of 2003. [112] A suicide bomber, driving a Blue Vargas Wagon packed with explosives at approximately 11:55 a.m., attempted to detonate his vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in the center of the crowded Al Boursah Market on the west side of Mosul. [113]

* February 8: A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint north of Haditha in Anbar province, killing seven policemen and wounding three. [114]

* February 10: A suicide car bomber killed five people and wounded 10 near a queue outside a bakery in the mainly Shi'ite district of Karrada. A suicide car bomber killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded five people, including three civilians, as it targeted an army checkpoint in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar. [115]

* February 11: In Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, a suicide truck bomber slammed into a crowd of police lining up for duty Sunday near Tikrit, collapsing the station and killing at least 30 people and wounding 50. [116] One policeman was wounded when a suicide bomber exploded near a Shi'ite mosque in the Ilaam district in southern Baghdad. [117]

* February 13: A suicide bomber blew up a truck near a Baghdad college in the western district of Iskan, killing 18 people and wounding 40.[118]Last week there was a suicide bombing in Al Anbar province targeting U.S. marines in which at least one marine was seriously wounded. [119]

* February 14: A suicide car bomber killed at least eight policemen and wounded 20 others when he blew up his vehicle at the entrance of a police station in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, police sources said. The officer in charge of the station, Colonel Salam al-Dulaimi, died in the blast.[120]

* February 17: A suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint near Kerbala wounding two policemen. A double suicide attack killed 10 people and wounded 83 in Kirkuk.[121]

* February 19: A suicide bomber attacked a U.S. combat outpost north of Baghdad and killed 2 American soldiers and wounded 29 others. Two suicide bombers attacked in Ramadi killing 12 people, including 5 policemen. A suicide bomber attacked the house of the army chief in Dhuluiya, he killed one soldier and four civilians.[122]

* February 20: 7 are killed by a suicide bomber during a funeral in Baghdad.[123]

* February 21: In a suicide bombing in Najaf on a police checkpoint 12 people, including 7 policemen, where killed.[124]

* February 24: A suicide truck bomber killed 52 people at a mosque in Habbaniyah. [125]A suicide car bomber killed one civilian in southern Baghdad.[126] A suicide bomber attacked outside a SCIRI compound in Baghdad killing three people, the compound was not his target. [127]

* February 25: A suicide bomber attacked a college campus in Baghdad killing 41 people, mostly students.[128]

* February 26: A suicide bomber attacked a police station in Ramadi killing 14 people.[129] A suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint near Kirkuk killing one Iraqi soldier.[130]

* February 27: A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi police station in Mosul killing 7 policemen and wounding 47 people, including 15 other policemen. A suicide bomber killed four people near Mosul.[131]

* February 28: A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi police station in Baghdad killing 2 policemen and wounding another 4.[132]
and the list goes on and on did you happen to notice the increasing frequency and the mounting casaulities among Iragi?

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/01/07 7:13 pm:
Paraclete,

Again you ae 100% wrong.

According to news articles collated at Icasualties.org, there have been approximately 4,480 attacks against Iraqi civillians from January 1, 2005 until February 28, 2007. Of that number, approximately 299 were suicide attacks. (You only managed to find 121 of them above.) That's 6.7% of the total of attacks against civillians.

Furthermore, according to Iraq Body Count, the number of dead civillians in Iraq is between 57,482 and 63,241. The number killed in suicide attacks is 3,663. That means that roughly 5.8% to 5.9% of all Iraqi civillian casualties were caused by suicide attacks.

So again, suicide attacks are not the primary or even close to the primary method of attack by the terrorists in Iraq.

And if suicide attacks are more common now than earlier, it only proves my point... that their other methods of attack aren't working, and they are being forced to resort to suicide attacks.

But in fact that is NOT the case. Here's the count of the number of suicide attacks since January 2005 (moving backward in history).

Month # Suicide attacks
Feb 07= 15
Jan 07= 12
Dec 06= 12
Nov 06= 12
Oct 06= 7
Sep 06= 8
Aug 06= 7
Jul 06= 13
Jun 06= 12
May 06= 9
Apr 06= 6
Mar 06= 9
Feb 06= 5
Jan 06= 17
Dec 05= 9
Nov 05= 12
Oct 05= 15
Sep 05= 15
Aug 05= 12
Jul 05= 21
Jun 05= 20
May 05= 20
Apr 05= 8
Mar 05= 14
Feb 05= 3
Jan 05= 6

The months with the largest number of suicide attacks against civillians were May, June and July 2005. The months with the lowest numbers of suicide attacks were February 2005, February 2006, january 2005 and April 2006. The average number of atacks per month is 11.5. November 2006 -January 2007 were right on par with the average, and February 2007 had only three more than average, and not even near the highs for any single month. So I don't understand how you get to the idea that the number of suicide attacks is going up... other than the fact that the press is stressing suicide attacks over other sorts of attacks.

But when you examine the actual numbers, you find that they do not support your positions, Paraclete. Not the one that says that suicide attacks are the predominant method of attack, and not the one that says the number of suicide attacks are increasing.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 03/01/07 11:06 pm:
elliott

at the risk of carrying this on for no good purpose what I was doing was pointing out to you that suicide attacks in Iraq are not rare as you stated, while not a daily occurence they are frequent and yes there are many methods of attack used by the Iraqi (insurgents) in their attacks on the US and each other. They seek targets of opportunity. Since August the number of attacks has surged again, thus the number is going up. In fact there appears to be a pattern in the frequency of attacks over the last year or so. Perhaps the coalition will be lucky again and kill the al qaeda leader, that seemed to have slowed the attacks for a while. We are also seeing a more deadly tactic that of exploding a device shortly after another has been detonated in order to trap those who have come to help. Please don't refer to averages becuase the reason for the timing of attacks; elections, ramadan, pilgrimages and so on make averages useless in predicting attacks

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/02/07 2:21 pm:
First of all, my point is that when the enemy resorts to suicide attacks, it tends to be beause their other forms of attack are not having the effect they desire, and need "somthing big" to get their desired effect. Thus, suicide attacks are a tactic of desparation, and NOT their main method of attack. So when we see suicide attacks on the rise, it is a major indicator that the enemy is becoming desperate.

Second, does 6.7% of all attacks indicate that suicide attacks are "frequent"? Not to me it doesn't. And not to anyone else who understands the word "frequent".

As for the "averages", the fact is that an increase in attacks are predictable at certain times of year specifically because of the ocaisions you cite: Ramadan, Haj, elections, meetings of government officials, visits from foreign heads of state, etc. All of these are good predictors of when there will be increases in attacks, and when we can expect more attacks than average. And we can act based on those predictions. The only way to do that is to analyze averages and compare them with events that are scheduled to take place in the coming months and plan accordingly. What do you think intelligence analysts are doing when they look at historical trends to predict future events? The idea that we should ignore averages and trends is rediculous. And I've noticed that every time I bring you numerical evidence of averages and trends that you don't have a response to, you tell me that I should be ignoring trends and averages because they are not reliable predictors. Bull$h!t. They are the ONLY predictors available to us (except for any "hard" intelligence of specific threats obtained by the intel guys, of course) and they are generally pretty good indicators. Not guarantors, just indicators.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 03/06/07 1:16 am:
well Elliot what we do need to rely on is hard intelligence, the intelligence that comes from hard work in the field and not from analysing averages in the safety of Washington