You’d think that handwriting was easier to identify than typewriting. But when the latest Government memorandum on the war was leaked, it came hand-written, copied from a computerised original to make the leak harder to trace.
Evidence that this was wise came when the US Army put up its PDF report into the shooting of an Italian secret service agent at a road block. Chunks of this were blacked out for public consumption. La Repubblica discovered that if you select a chunk with these blacked-out portions in, then copy and paste it into something else, the hidden bits appear. And so we learn that
From 1 November 2004 to 12 March 2005 there were a total of 3306 attacks in the Baghdad area. Of these, 2400 were directed against Coalition Forces.
No wonder the US army removed1 the PDF pronto. 2,400 attacks on the American army in Baghdad alone in four months! We must send Mark Steyn to investigate and explain how the rest of the country is peaceful.
1 The link above is a copy preserved by the Italian paper.
Actually these numbers might square with the 50 to 100 daily attacks on “Coalition forces” reported nationwide. It’s also been suggested that American units no longer bother to report attacks if there was no injury or damage to their equipment.
The number I’d like to see is how many times a day American forces fire on Iraqis. I bet it’s astounding.