Last week, the Department of Defense released obituaries for 49 military personnel killed in the Iraq theater of operations. The dead included 12 key U.S officers in a Black Hawk helicopter that is now believed to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile. The twelve included two colonels, a lieutenant colonel and two command sergeants major.
More details were also provided regarding the killing of five American soldiers by insurgents dressed in American military uniforms and driving in a convoy of vehicles that resembled the type driven by foreign dignitaries.
The incident took place in a secured provincial security building in Karbala, south of Baghdad. The insurgents managad to get by at least two checkpoints manned by Iraqis.
According to Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a military spokesman, "The attackers went straight to where the Americans were located...bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound....The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution." Although Iraqis were attending a meeting with the Americans, none were harmed or taken.
One American was killed in the attack, and the remaining four Americans were kidnapped and taken to the neighboring province of Babil, bypassing at least two more checkpoints on the way. The Iraqi police eventually found the captured U.S. soldiers, dead or dying, as well as five abandoned SUV's, U.S. Army uniforms, boots, radios, and sophisticated machine guns.
The sophistication of the insurgents seems to be on the increase. Yesterday, eight employees of a private computer company were kidnapped in eastern Baghdad. The attackers were in SUV's of the type usually used by Iraqi police.
As another indication of the terrible toll that the war is taking, even on the survivors, the Associated Press reported yesterday that "Jonathan Schulze tried to live with the nightmares and grief he brought home after serving as a U.S. Marine in Iraq, but it overwhelmed him. Schultze committed suicide in his New Prague, Minnesota home. He was 25."
According to the website icasualties.org the DOD has announced the deaths of 3,080 military personnel in Iraq, 13 of which are still awaiting notification of the next of kin, as of today.
Total deaths in and around Afghanistan, as of January 20th, have amounted to 297, according to the Pentagon.
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Comments: 16
If we give up in Iraq, the consequences will be far greater than the price paid thus far.
Thank you for showing us the toll of Iraq. We now see that our military is far more efficient in fighting wars - we have over a 99% reduction in military deaths under the leadership of Donald Rumsfeld. I think the statistics should make us realize that things are not as bad as some people make them out to be. In fact, we have more civilian gun deaths in the US than we have military deaths.
The cause we fight for is just and the results over the last 4+ years have been good, we have not had another terrorist attack on American soil and we have taken down many of the enemy leadership.
If you want more positive news - go to www.positivenews.gatheer.com.
Donald Rumsfeld had absolutely nothing to do with it. Better weapons and fewer people actually fighting one another accounts for much more of the reduction in raw numbers. Better communications and better air power would contribute. You cannot compare these two wars at all actually. There are too many variables that do not compute accurately.
One of my favorite books in college was Lying with Statistics, and you managed to (I'm sure inadvertently) make most of the most grievous errors when dealing with numbers. For your figure to mean anything, you have to compare apples with apples not apples with fig newtons. I have a masters degree in statistics and even I get confused at times, so I fully understand why you would.
If you look at Afghanistan, we started the first few months of the war as an air campaign with a total of 10 boots on the ground. Obviously, you will have fewer American deaths with this tactic. Rumsfeld was the leader, so he should get some credit.
We have the greatest military force on the planet, and they have been sweating and dying so that traitors like Hanoi Jane Fonda can exercise their free-speech rights without worrying about a terrorist attack.
Thanks for reminding us of the ultimate sacrifice that Americans are making for a failed and fraudulent policy of the Bush regime, David.
All the deaths of this most unjust of wars are laid at the door of the AWOL in Chief.
I'm not lying with statistics. I am making the point that we fight using modern tecnology. So, there are far fewer deaths - as proven by my stats.
Thank you for letting me clarify that, Peter.
Things would be great if only Saddam were back in power. What did he have? About 50 billion cash at his disposal? You don't suppose he would have given that to anyone interested in attacking the US? Ah... probably not. He wasn't that bad.
We kill more people on the freeways than have died in Iraq. But, we've also killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's and traumatized and beat up our soldiers and our resources in pursuing this misbegotten dream of Bush/Cheney & Co. Then there's the not so small matter of the havoc on our own domestic programs. I hope all those who believe this is a worthwhile or moral endeavor have signed up.
Rose,
This mission is still "clear, hold and build." First you smash it to smithereens; then you hold onto it until your cronies can come in and rebuild it and line their pockets in the process. Who picks up the ultimate tab? Why, we do. War is big business. Dead soldiers and civilians are just collateral damage.
or his sons
or his whole darn family
....its about a man who has forgotten who he is working for.
...who makes no bones about letting others know he is on a mission to make his mark come hell or high water
...and quite frankly a LOT of us are getting tired of hearing him tell us "He is the decision maker"
.....when I don't think he could find his way out of a wet paper bag!!!!