Contrary to what people may think here, the terrorists don't have the ability to increase American casualties at will. If they did our casualties would be considerably higher all the time.
November 2004 was Operation Phantom Fury when we re-took Fallujah. Ninety Four of those 137 deaths were caused by that battle alone.
Of course they don't have the ability to control how many casualties result from their attacks.
They do have the ability to marshall their forces and time their attacks. It is silly to say otherwise.
How many attacks they will make and how much they will invest in those attacks is up to the terrorists- and that is reflected in our casualty figures.
Increased American casualties correlate 100% with election season.
100%