Women fight, die in Iraq [View All]

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Female American troops in Iraq have killed Iraqis with bombs and bullets. They've won medals for valor and Purple Hearts for combat wounds. They've been captured as prisoners of war, killed by enemy fire and buried as heroes in Arlington National Cemetery.

American women have participated more extensively in combat in Iraq than in any previous war in U.S. history. They've taken roles nearly inconceivable just a decade or two ago - flying fighter jets and attack helicopters, patrolling streets armed with machine guns and commanding units of mostly male soldiers. Seven have been killed in combat.

Yet all this has gone largely without much comment in Washington, despite the attention given to rescued POW Jessica Lynch.

Congress debated the issue of women in the military after the 1991 Gulf War, voting months later to loosen the 1948 ban on women in combat. The issue hasn't come up on Capitol Hill this year, however.

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