This from the AP
U.S. deaths in Iraq exceed 9-11 count
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago
Two more American soldiers were killed in Iraq, officials said Tuesday, pushing the U.S. military death toll to at least 2,974 — one more than the number killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The tragic milestone came with the deaths of the two soldiers Monday in a bomb explosion southwest of Baghdad, the military said.
The deaths — announced Tuesday — raised the number of troops killed to 2,974 since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes at least seven military civilians. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks claimed 2,973 victims in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
"The joint patrol was conducting security operations in order to stop terrorists from placing roadside bombs in the area," the military said in a statement on the latest deaths. "As they conducted their mission, a roadside bomb exploded near one of their vehicles."
Another soldier was wounded in the explosion, the military said.
On Monday, the U.S. command announced the deaths of two other soldiers and a Marine. It said one soldier died and two were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle in southern Baghdad on Monday. An American soldier and a Marine died Sunday from combat wounds suffered in Anbar province.
Prior to the deaths announced Tuesday, the AP count was 15 higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EST. At least 2,377 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The British military has reported 126 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 18; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, six; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, one death each.
On Monday, British soldiers backed by tanks raided a police station in the southern city of Basra, killing seven gunmen in an effort to stop renegade Iraqi officers from executing their prisoners, the British military said.
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We just keep passing these terrible milestones.
500 dead.
1,000 dead.
2,000.
Longer than Korea.
Longer that the American Civil War.
Longer that WWII.
And now this. Of course since the conquest and occupation of Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, passing this particular number should have no intrinsically tragic value greater or less than any other, but it does.
And as these markers flicker past us in the gloom, they reflect enough gray light to clearly show that we are on a steepening descent. Running downward so fast that soon our toes will barely touch the ground, and we will no longer be able to call it anything but falling.
Into deeper darkness we plunge, and as we go down the man welded inside the bulletproof bubble with the smirk and the room temperature IQ and the nuclear launch codes says over and over again that all is well, that God personally acts through him, and although he is the elected representative of the American people he now mysteriously asserts that some Secret Protocol buried within that job description and known only to him says he no longer has to listen to anyone about anything.
Ever.
And his media minions with their vinyl hair and button eyes continue to marinade in their fascist warporn fantasies and smile and smile and nod and nod.
Sorry, but it doesn’t feel like Christmas right now.
It feels like this.
8 comments:
Just for a little perspective -- 12,000+ US dead on Okinawa during WWII.
Just for a little perspective, Japan actually attacked us.
Drifty, do you expect perspective from a man who obviously keeps his head stuck up his arse?
The remaining WarBoosters are beyond hope, reason or redemption. They're Iraqi idee fixe is dug in like a tick and they've poured concrete over all the exits.
Still, if one is going to try to use history to rationalize the Dear Leader's idiot decisions, then one ought to actually read some.
I just wish to all omnipotent beings up there that all this madness will soon stop.
What I don't understand is: how did the SOB get re-elected in the first place?
Looks like the next election is the only way to potentially stop this downward spiral.
Can't wait.
“Between December of 1973 and August, 1974, in a space of just eight months, Gerald Ford had gone from bland, obscure Congressman from Michigan to bland, obscure President of the United States (So bland, in fact, that famed impressionist Rich Little used to complain that Ford didn’t have a distinctive enough voice to imitate). And, like George W. Bush a quarter century later, Gerald Ford was never elected to either the Vice Presidency or the Presidency…” - “Gerald Ford, the Accidental President.”
At the same exact time you were feeling like this Dylan video/song, I was listening to 'forever young', and feeling much like this too...I am so angry about being so angry...
Purple Avenger - you posting from Iraq? No? Then STFU!
You yellow curs are willing to sacrifice NOTHING to support Bush-Caligua's great Iraqi WMD snipe hunt
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