11 US Soldiers killed in Iraq since Monday

http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=6-2008

26-Jun-2008 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire

25-Jun-2008 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Baghdad (eastern part) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (EFP)

24-Jun-2008 5 | US: 5 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Ninawa Province Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Ninawa Province Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Private 1st Class James Yohn Ninawa Province Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Baghdad (Sadr City) Hostile - hostile fire - Explosion
US Major Dwayne Kelley Baghdad (Sadr City) Hostile - hostile fire - Explosion

23-Jun-2008 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Captain Gregory T. Dalessio Madain - Babil Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET Madain - Babil Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
20-Jun-2008 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/23/iraq.security/

Pentagon: Violence down in Iraq since 'surge'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- All major indicators of violence in Iraq have dropped by between 40 and 80 percent since February 2007, when President Bush committed an additional 30,000 troops to the war there, the Pentagon reported Monday.

The quarterly report to Congress noted that the military, political and economic gains made in the five-year-old war remain "fragile, reversible and uneven," and that Islamic jihadists loyal to al Qaeda in Iraq remain capable of high-profile attacks.

But civilian deaths have dropped from a peak of nearly 4,000 a month from December 2006 to January 2007 to about 500 a month as of May, and U.S. troop deaths have dropped from 126 in May 2007 to an all-time low of 19 in May 2008.

The report cited the emergence of the Sons of Iraq as a major reason for the downturn in civilian-oriented violence and deaths. The groups are made up of an estimated 90,000 Iraqis, often former insurgents, paid by U.S. commanders to help protect neighborhoods and provide intelligence on extremists.