Just to make a note-

Fatalities in Iraq are a topic likely to be raised again in the news at some point soon.

To avoid fatalities in a place like Iraq where weapons are widespread, tribalism rife, and brutality lodged in the memories of all, is obviously difficult. That's not to mention all the military paraphernalia like mines and explosives that are literally lying around the country. Recently there were six deaths of Slovakian, Polish and Latvian troops in one explosion whilst attempting to defuse mines in Southern Iraq.

But anyway- one of the things that's received next to no attention in the media is the prevalence of US fatalities in one particular province of Iraq- Al-Anbar.

I keep seeing casualty reports from Centcom like this, and this, and this. All carry the same formulaic announcement of a death from hostile forces 'while conducting security and stability operations' in Al-Anbar.

This province is the one where the 'Wedding Party' was bombed- the one that borders Syria and in which the main arterial route from Syria to Baghdad passes through Fallujah (I don't discount casualties in Fallujah- which received plenty of attention- but US troops are not presently fighting there). The Belmont Club has identified Al-Anbar's borderland with Syria a crucial area of combat for US troops.

We will continue to hear about the security situation in Iraq being awful- but we won't get a breakdown of the violence taking account of its provinicial nature and the strategic reasons why violence is occurring in specific areas in particular forms. It's noticeable, for instance, that the Al-Anbar casualties are not usually roadside bombs (when they are we hear about it): evidently the terrorist insurgents there don't need the same clandestine tactics they use elsewhere in Iraq to have their intended effect. The reason for this has to relate to the Syrian border- and that's my guess why we are not hearing about it from the BBC.

Of course there could be other factors: in an interesting development reported today by Reuters, BBC journalists working in dangerous places may be getting bodyguards.