Therefore 107 U.S. troops have died in Iraq in the 48 days starting April 13 at an average rate of just over 2.2 per day.

This meant that the rate at which U.S. troops ware dying in Iraq deteriorated by more than one third over the latest 48-day period compared with the previous 68-day period when 112 U.S. troops died in Iraq, starting Feb. 4, at an average rate of 1.65 per day.

This rate was not as bad as the "spike" in American casualties when 33 U.S. soldiers were killed in only seven days from Jan. 11 through Jan. 17, an average of 4.7 soldiers killed per day; Or on the figure of 28 killed in the Jan. 4-10 period when the average death rate was 4 U.S. soldiers killed per day.

However, as we have noted in previous columns, since the most recent lull in U.S. casualties in March, the rate of U.S. troops killed per day in Iraq has risen sharply.

The rate at which U.S. soldiers are being injured in Iraq also remains high. As of May 30, 18,184 U.S. soldiers have been injured in Iraq since the start of hostilities to topple Saddam on March 19, 2003. That was an increase of 635 wounded in 48 days, an average rate of just over 13.2 U.S. soldiers wounded per day.

This figure shows a remarkable statistical consistency compared with the previous 68-day period from Feb. 4 to April 12 when 943 U.S. soldiers were wounded in 68 days, at an average rate of just below 13.9 wounded per day, according to figures issued by the DOD.

These sets of figures suggest that the insurgency was able to maintain tis previous rates of attrition on U.S. forces, primarily form the continuing use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, against U.S. patrols and supply convoys.

These figures remain higher than the average rate of 11.6 per day injured from Jan. 30 through Feb. 3, when 58 U.S. soldiers were injured, according to the Pentagon. And they are almost twice as high as the rate of 7.4 U.S. soldiers injured per day during the Jan. 11-17 period. They are even worse than the very high figure of 91 U.S. soldiers wounded during the Jan. 4-10 period at an average rate of 13 per day.

As of May 30, 8,344 of these U.S. troops were wounded so seriously that they were listed as "WIA Not RTD" in the DOD figures. In other words: Wounded in Action Not Returned to Duty, an increase of 286 such casualties in 48 days, at an average rate of just under six per day. This was marginally worse, than the Feb.4-April 12 number of 375 such casualties over 68 days at an average rate of 5.5 per day.

The average "WIA Not RTD" figures for April 13-May 30 were also higher than the Jan. 30-Feb. 4 rate of 4.8 WIA Not RTD per day and it was more than twice as bad as the 17 such casualties in seven days in the Jan. 11-17 period, at an average rate of less than 2.5 per day.

In all an estimated 2,250 of the U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, or one in eight of them, have suffered brain damage, loss of limbs or been crippled for life by their injuries.

The statistical consistency of these figures, especially the wounded and seriously wounded statistics, answers the question we posed in this column in mid-April: There has been a very significant rise in the rate at which casualties have been inflicted on U.S. forces since the end of March and it appears to reflect the insurgents' ability to maintain their numbers, training and tactical cohesion at a higher level than was previously the case.

The cumulative impact of all these figures is that the Sunni Muslim insurgency has been able to maintain its increased intensity since provoking a widespread Shiite popular reaction with the Feb. 22 attack on the al-Askariya, or Golden Mosque, in Samara. The insurgency remains remarkably impervious to both the broad political strategies and the tactical military initiatives that U.S. political leaders and military commanders have sought to apply against it.

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