this is the ombudsman's response to my email:
Several readers voiced similar concerns about the following sentence in the 7/21 article, "Bush Plans No Rest in Next Month; 2nd Term Agenda Near," by Adam Nagourney and Richard Stevenson.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/21/politics/campaign/21repubs.html?pagewanted=2&hp
Mr. Bush has other factors potentially in his favor, several Republicans said. The economy is showing signs of
strengthening, though it remains an open question whether that is happening in time to change voter attitudes about how
Mr. Bush is managing the economy. In Iraq, the transfer of sovereignty has led to some reduction in American casualties.
We raised your concerns with Mr. Stevenson who noted that according to the Department of Defense's web site, for the month leading up to the transfer on June 28, there were 48 Americans killed in action in Iraq. During this period the rate of casualties was between 1.5-1.6 deaths a day (48 deaths divided by either 30 or 32 days depending on which day is used as a starting point; the Defense Department figures were not updated each day at the end of May.)
According to the Department of Defense's web site, from the transfer of sovereignty on June 28 through July 21, there were 32 Americans killed in action in Iraq. During this period of 23 days the rate of casualties was 1.39 deaths per day (32 deaths divided by 23 days.)
This does not represent a huge difference, but still, the casualty rate, at least as measured by KIA, has come down a bit since the handover and has come down very substantially compared to earlier months.
While Mr. Stevenson noted he could understand why readers might object to an implication that there had been a complete turnaround he did not see anything incorrect regarding the statement.
We have also noted reader concerns to a senior editor in charge of following up on corrections who agreed that there was nothing to correct.
Thank you for writing. I hope this helps answer your concern.
Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor