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RIP: Our Iraqi War Dead (pg. 2)
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| DaveSaenz |
I just have this terrible feeling in my stomach that this is shaping up to be Vietnam II. It's hard to believe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/i.../25IRAQ.html?th
6 G.I.'s Are Killed in a Wave of Violence
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. and EDWARD WONG
Published: January 25, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 24 — Insurgents in Iraq killed or wounded scores of people in several attacks on Saturday, including two American soldiers who were killed by a makeshift bomb on a road near Falluja and three more who died in a truck-bomb attack in Khaldiya, military officials said.
On Sunday, a sixth American soldier was killed in the town of Bayji, about 70 miles north of Baghdad, after insurgents attack a military patrol at 10 p.m. on Saturday, said a spokesman for the Fourth Infantry Division, which controls the area. The attacks hit a Bradley fighting vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade, critically wounding a soldier inside. The soldier died early Sunday morning.
Bayji has the largest oil refinery in Iraq and lies inside the so-called Sunni triangle, where guerilla fighters continue to mount ambitious and deadly attacks against American-led forces.
Another bomb went off near the city council building in Samarra, killing four Iraqi civilians and wounding 33 badly enough that they required treatment at the local hospital, the officials said. In that attack, which occurred just after American soldiers passed the spot in their vehicles, three soldiers were hurt.
And in Mosul, four Iraqis in the local security forces were wounded in a spate of five drive-by shootings, one of which erupted into a brief firefight, the military said.
In the Khaldiya attack, a four-wheel-drive vehicle rigged with explosives drove up to an American checkpoint at a bridge and detonated, The Associated Press reported, quoting a witness.
In recent weeks, attacks on the American-led occupation forces have been running at about one and a half dozen a day, with others mounted daily against Iraqi security forces or against civilians, sometimes those working for the occupation army and sometimes bystanders.
The latest deaths brought to 513 the number of American service members who have died since the United States and its allies launched the Iraq war on March 20, according to a tabulation by The Associated Press. The American military and the Iraqi forces it is training have been mounting many raids themselves, including 52 simultaneously in Baghdad alone on Friday night that resulted in the arrest of about 25 people, the military said. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a military spokesman, said that in those raids bomb-making materials, documents that he said were "associated with" the intelligence services of the ousted government, and weapons and ammunition were seized.
American troops and local police officers also arrested a suspect in a previous attack on the Iskandariya police station, the American command said.
The continuing guerrilla war is complicating efforts to hand over sovereign power to the Iraqis by June 30, starting with caucuses to select a transitional national assembly that would then write a constitution calling for general elections in 2005. Many Iraqis would prefer quicker general elections instead, but the lack of security is one of the obstacles to that approach.
In a news conference Saturday, General Kimmitt said the goal of anti-American fighters who killed Iraqi civilians working for the occupying forces was to delay the advent of democracy.
"They weren't attacked because they were working side by side with the coalition," he said, using the term preferred by the Americans for the occupation army that they lead. "They are being attacked because they are working for a free Iraq."
Dan Senor, the spokesman for L. Paul Bremer III, the head of the Coalition Provision Authority that runs Iraq under occupation, said at the same news conference that the United States was not considering any major changes to the plan for caucuses worked out between the occupation headquarters and the American-installed Iraqi Governing Council on Nov. 15. The only changes to be expected, he said, were "clarifications." |
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| beema |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tranz
No offense to those families of lost ones... but that list is so small compared to the amount of lifes lost in Vietnam and Korea. Better read up on your history... just because it's happening today, doesnt make it any worse than previous wars, with little to no strategies. Death is part of war. |
Does less deaths make it any less horrible? NO! I think we are all well aware that more people have died in previous wars, that wasn't the point you ass.
Of course death is a part of war, the point is that war is bad and should not happen if possible. |
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| AddictedTo1982 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Stassi
i dont mean to be a dick
but this really belongs in the political discussion forum. |
Yeah but not everyone goes to the other forums. Just let it go mang |
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| Tranz |
| quote: | Originally posted by beema
the point is that war is bad and should not happen if possible. |
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| beema |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tranz
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congrats, you're a dick :rolleyes: |
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| trancEyes22 |
| quote: | Originally posted by galdamez
If that list doesn't impress you vote for Bush so it can double in size. Then maybe you'll have something worth gawking over? |
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| DaveSaenz |
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentS...p=1012571727088
| quote: |
Published on Friday, January 30, 2004 by the Financial Times/UK
US Deaths Rise in Wake of Saddam Capture
by Charles Clover in Baghdad
US combat deaths in Iraq have risen sharply during January despite a drop in the number of attacks and the capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein over a month ago.
As of Thursday, 33 American soldiers and one civilian had been killed by hostile fire during the month. That compares with 24 US combat deaths in December, and a total of 32 coalition combat deaths.
The figures appear to show that the security situation in Iraq is not improving, contrary to earlier claims from the US military and politicians.
The US casualties are also mounting Afghanistan, where seven US soldiers were killed on Thursday in an explosion near an ammunition dump in the south of the country.
The US military on Thursday declined to confirm or deny the figures for combat deaths in Iraq this month, which were calculated from press releases from US Central Command in Florida. A US military spokesman in Baghdad said figures were only kept for two-month periods, and a computer malfunction made it impossible to calculate an official casualty count for separate months.
Overall, January has been one of the bloodiest post-war months for the coalition. Combat deaths in the first 28 days of January alone exceeded those in every post-war month except October (35) and November (94), according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count - a website devoted to tracking coalition deaths.
Eighteen combat deaths - more than half the January total - occurred in one province, Anbar, in central Iraq, where the restive cities of Falluja, Ramadi, and Khaldiya are located. Nine soldiers were killed when a Blackhawk helicopter was shot down near Falluja on January 8.
Four further fatalities from the two most recent helicopter crashes , on January 23 and 25, are still under investigation to determine if hostile fire was involved.
Only three weeks ago, on January 6, Major General Charles Swannack of the 82nd Airborne Division, who commands Anbar province, declared that the region was largely under control. "I'm here to tell you that we have turned that corner," he told a news conference.
"I also can tell you that we're on a glide-path toward success," he said, adding that attacks against US forces in Anbar province had decreased "almost 60 per cent over the past month".
More recent comments from US officials have been more tentative. Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said on Tuesday that violence was not expected to wane in the immediate future. "Between now and June 30 [the deadline for Iraq's return to self-rule], we should not be surprised if there is continued violence," he said.
US military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmit said in the same news conference that attacks had indeed decreased, but that combat fatalities had not.
Iraqi casualties also remain high. More than 300 Iraqi policemen have been killed in shootings, bombings and suicide attacks since May 1, when President George W. Bush declared major combat to be over in Iraq, according to Nouri Badran, interior minister. In the same period, 295 coalition troops have been killed by hostile fire, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.
On Thursday, 13 Iraqis were wounded and one killed in a fresh wave of bomb attacks against police and security forces.
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004
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| vtec junkie |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tranz
No offense to those families of lost ones... but that list is so small compared to the amount of lifes lost in Vietnam and Korea. Better read up on your history... just because it's happening today, doesnt make it any worse than previous wars, with little to no strategies. Death is part of war. |
Death is part of war......Mr. ing Obvious:rolleyes: |
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| galdamez |
| quote: | Originally posted by vtec junkie
Death is part of war......Mr. ing Obvious:rolleyes: |
Hey, I'm bored and still at work so let me throw some more coal into the fire.
http://www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/ |
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| vtec junkie |
That pretty much sums it up man.......sad:( |
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| ogvh5150 |
Flag waving patriots where are you now? You sent souls to die in the desert in their Hummers so you can drive yours here. There are no WMD's and if they show up now it's a little too late and they were ours all along. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Hussein.
 
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| PHALPAX |
| It is my hope that every American TA votes for the democratic nominee (who ever it may be....Kerry?) :) |
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