U.S. Service Member, Iraqi Deaths Decrease in October

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Last month saw one of the lowest death rates of American soldiers in Iraq. The number of American wounded also declined, and the number of Iraqis killed in October is also down compared to previous months.

  For more on what the numbers and the trends are, we turn to Steven Hurst, Baghdad bureau chief for the Associated Press, and Glenn Kutler, he's a researcher with iCasualties.org. That's a nonprofit organization that tracks fatalities and other data about the war in Iraq.

  Glenn Kutler, to you first. Your organization, iCasualties, as we said, does track these figures, and let's start by looking at the U.S. servicemen and women death and wounded during the last month and how that compares to previous months. And I know you've got some graphics there we can show our viewers.

• GLENN KUTLER, iCasualties.org:

  My pleasure. The number of fatalities in October was 39; that's the lowest level since March of 2006. That's over a year-and-a-half. And in the last four months, the fatalities have been steadily declining month to month.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And what about in terms of wounded? It was 39 deaths in October. Roughly, do we know the number wounded, and how does that compare?

• GLENN KUTLER:

  The number of wounded is 325 for the month of October. That also is reflective of a decline over the last few months. That also is the lowest level we've seen since the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And when, roughly, did this decline begin? I mean, as we look at the graphic, when did it begin to come down?

• GLENN KUTLER:

  Overall, the decline begins back in June of 2007, which corresponds to the beginning of the U.S. troop surge of operations, the second phase of the surge, after the troop buildup was completed.