U.S. to use more Iraqi data on violence

BAGHDAD, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. military plans to use more Iraqi data to determine the level of violence in the country and the success of its strategy, The New York Times reports.

Gen. David Petraeus' December report will include Iraqi data on civilian casualties, the newspaper said.

Iraqi data is often incomplete, not as precise as U.S. information and tainted by sectarianism, the newspaper said. U.S. experts are working with Iraqi officials on statistical methods and the elimination of duplicate information.

But some U.S. officials say Iraqi figures can give a better understanding of how the violence is affecting ordinary people. Iraqi estimates of civilian casualties have generally been higher than U.S. ones.

"We want to avoid the perception that if the coalition forces did not see it, it did not happen," said Lt. Col. Todd Gesling, an Army officer involved with the U.S military databases.

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