ReBelle Daily Dispatch
This Dispatch is dedicated to only one story.
The emphasis added is my own.
U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Approaches 1,500
Fri Feb 25,12:16 PM ET
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military death toll is nearing 1,500 in the 23-month Iraq (news - web sites) war, with casualties easing in the weeks since the historic Jan. 30 elections but with little evidence the insurgency has been crippled.
The Pentagon (news - web sites) tally of military fatalities in Iraq released on Friday listed 1,480 U.S. deaths, including 1,130 killed in combat and 350 in nonhostile incidents such as vehicle and aircraft crashes. A further 11,069 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat.
U.S. military leaders said rebel attacks had declined since the parliamentary election, touted by the United States as a milestone of progress in Iraq. U.S. deaths have since slipped to about 60 percent of the rate for the three previous months.
February, with at least 51 troops killed so far, is on track for the lightest monthly U.S. death toll since last July. But experts said it was premature to say the situation had improved unalterably for the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
"The war is basically stalemated as a military contest," said retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University international relations professor.
Bacevich said the Pentagon still had not figured out the composition and organization of the insurgency, much less how to defeat it. The rebels cannot beat U.S. forces militarily although they can undermine their strength and cohesion, he added.
SOVIET COMPARISON
Cato Institute defense analyst Ted Carpenter said the recent level of U.S. casualties in Iraq resembled Soviet losses in Afghanistan (news - web sites) in the 1980s. Both wars pitted forces of an invading superpower against tenacious Muslim insurgents.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan began in December 1979 and ended when the last Soviet troops were withdrawn in February 1989 after more than nine costly years fighting rebels aided by the CIA (news - web sites). The Soviet occupation force numbered roughly 115,000.
About 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in the war, with a monthly average of about 135 deaths and a yearly average of 1,622 deaths. A further 37,000 were wounded.
In the Iraq war, the U.S. military has suffered about 65 deaths per month -- about half the Soviet rate in Afghanistan -- with a yearly average of 774 deaths. Carpenter noted improvements in medical treatment and body armor had suppressed the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq, with many troops surviving wounds that may have been fatal in previous wars.
In November and January, the death toll for U.S. forces and coalition partners in Iraq spiked to rates rivaling Soviet losses in Afghanistan.
"Unless the U.S. either can crush the insurgency or negotiate an end to the insurgency, then we're going to see casualty rates similar to those that the Soviets suffered in Afghanistan," Carpenter said. "Though it's not like the Battle of Verdun in World War One (260,000 dead, 450,000 wounded), it's a slow bleed of the occupation army."
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said, "I don't find that there's a lot of value in trying to make those kinds of comparisons" between the Afghan and Iraq wars. Of the U.S. dead, Whitman said, "We mourn each and every loss and honor their courageous service."
November, which included the Falluja offensive, was the deadliest month of the Iraq war for U.S. forces, with 137 troops killed. Four British deaths raised the coalition toll to 141.
In January, 107 American troops were killed in a month spent securing the election -- the war's third-highest monthly U.S. death toll. Thirty-one troops died in one helicopter crash. The deaths of 20 soldiers from Britain and three other nations put the January coalition death toll at 127.
There is no official count of the number of deaths among Iraq's military, civilians and insurgents.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&u=/nm/20050225/us_nm/iraq_usa_casualties_dc&printer=1
---Note what the Pentagon spokesman said...
Spokesman...funny...Because he is NOT a man. He is a BASTARD and a COWARD who is sending our sons to die AND FOR WHAT???
GEORGE W. BUSH...
EVERY ONE ELSE LOSES.
We will ALL burn for it.---
The emphasis added is my own.
U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq Approaches 1,500
Fri Feb 25,12:16 PM ET
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military death toll is nearing 1,500 in the 23-month Iraq (news - web sites) war, with casualties easing in the weeks since the historic Jan. 30 elections but with little evidence the insurgency has been crippled.
The Pentagon (news - web sites) tally of military fatalities in Iraq released on Friday listed 1,480 U.S. deaths, including 1,130 killed in combat and 350 in nonhostile incidents such as vehicle and aircraft crashes. A further 11,069 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat.
U.S. military leaders said rebel attacks had declined since the parliamentary election, touted by the United States as a milestone of progress in Iraq. U.S. deaths have since slipped to about 60 percent of the rate for the three previous months.
February, with at least 51 troops killed so far, is on track for the lightest monthly U.S. death toll since last July. But experts said it was premature to say the situation had improved unalterably for the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
"The war is basically stalemated as a military contest," said retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University international relations professor.
Bacevich said the Pentagon still had not figured out the composition and organization of the insurgency, much less how to defeat it. The rebels cannot beat U.S. forces militarily although they can undermine their strength and cohesion, he added.
SOVIET COMPARISON
Cato Institute defense analyst Ted Carpenter said the recent level of U.S. casualties in Iraq resembled Soviet losses in Afghanistan (news - web sites) in the 1980s. Both wars pitted forces of an invading superpower against tenacious Muslim insurgents.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan began in December 1979 and ended when the last Soviet troops were withdrawn in February 1989 after more than nine costly years fighting rebels aided by the CIA (news - web sites). The Soviet occupation force numbered roughly 115,000.
About 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in the war, with a monthly average of about 135 deaths and a yearly average of 1,622 deaths. A further 37,000 were wounded.
In the Iraq war, the U.S. military has suffered about 65 deaths per month -- about half the Soviet rate in Afghanistan -- with a yearly average of 774 deaths. Carpenter noted improvements in medical treatment and body armor had suppressed the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq, with many troops surviving wounds that may have been fatal in previous wars.
In November and January, the death toll for U.S. forces and coalition partners in Iraq spiked to rates rivaling Soviet losses in Afghanistan.
"Unless the U.S. either can crush the insurgency or negotiate an end to the insurgency, then we're going to see casualty rates similar to those that the Soviets suffered in Afghanistan," Carpenter said. "Though it's not like the Battle of Verdun in World War One (260,000 dead, 450,000 wounded), it's a slow bleed of the occupation army."
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said, "I don't find that there's a lot of value in trying to make those kinds of comparisons" between the Afghan and Iraq wars. Of the U.S. dead, Whitman said, "We mourn each and every loss and honor their courageous service."
November, which included the Falluja offensive, was the deadliest month of the Iraq war for U.S. forces, with 137 troops killed. Four British deaths raised the coalition toll to 141.
In January, 107 American troops were killed in a month spent securing the election -- the war's third-highest monthly U.S. death toll. Thirty-one troops died in one helicopter crash. The deaths of 20 soldiers from Britain and three other nations put the January coalition death toll at 127.
There is no official count of the number of deaths among Iraq's military, civilians and insurgents.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&u=/nm/20050225/us_nm/iraq_usa_casualties_dc&printer=1
---Note what the Pentagon spokesman said...
Spokesman...funny...Because he is NOT a man. He is a BASTARD and a COWARD who is sending our sons to die AND FOR WHAT???
GEORGE W. BUSH...
EVERY ONE ELSE LOSES.
We will ALL burn for it.---
posted by Christy at 12:31 AM
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