The McClatchy Newspapers have revealed that U.S. officials are attempting to downplay the level of violence in Iraq by undercounting the number of Iraqis killed. A U.S. military spokesperson confirmed that the military no longer includes deaths from car bombings or mortar attacks as victims of the country’s sectarian violence. That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July. Earlier today 14 new Iraqi army recruits died after their mini-bus was blown up in Baghdad by a suicide car bomber.