U.S. War Dead in Iraq Exceeds Early Vietnam Years

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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=3820826

The U.S. death toll in Iraq has surpassed the number of American soldiers killed during the first three years of the Vietnam War, the brutal Cold War conflict that cast a shadow over U.S. affairs for more than a generation.

A Reuters analysis of Defense Department statistics showed on Thursday that the Vietnam War, which the Army says officially began on Dec. 11, 1961, produced a combined 392 fatal casualties from 1962 through 1964, when American troop levels in Indochina stood at just over 17,000.

By comparison, a roadside bomb attack that killed a soldier in Baghdad on Wednesday brought to 397 the tally of American dead in Iraq, where U.S. forces number about 130,000 troops -- the same number reached in Vietnam by October 1965.

The casualty count for Iraq apparently surpassed the Vietnam figure last Sunday, when a U.S. soldier killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack south of Baghdad became the conflict's 393rd American casualty since Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 20. Larger still is the number of American casualties from the broader U.S. war on terrorism, which has produced 488 military deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Southwest Asia and other locations.

Quagmire.

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1. welll,

this makes for great political fodder right now, sure.

however, vietnam escalated in 1964 from us sending in 'advisors' to full-scale war, with hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides, and plenty of arms, too.

the physical landscape couldn't be more different, and the us can both an end to guerrilla protection at any time by levelling buildings, as that is their only cover. much easier than defoliating jungles, especially nowadays.

the odds of a full-scale war in iraq are minimal, unless iraq find a major arms sponsor, which pretty much has to be russia or china and i REALLY can't see either happening.

iraq is far more likely to continue to be this slow trickle of body bags, with plenty of people shrugging their shoulders, rather than the cultural-wide disaster that was vietnam.

[Suspicious]

2. "The odds of a full-scale war in iraq are minimal"

I think you're right, but not only because the physical landscape is different. The political climate is vastly different, as well. The powers-that-be are in full understanding of the fact that the longer they sustain troops in Iraq, and Americans are seeing one, two or three deaths (or more) per day, the less chance they have of pulling this off. Despite what some people might think, Vietnam was a lesson learned by many, and today, the tolerance level for this type of extended conflict is very low. The people at the top are very aware of it, too.

Their goal was undoubtedly to do this thing quickly and be done with it; thus, the stunt on the aircraft carrier in May. They failed, and it is becoming more clear to the people every day. Something will have to give, sooner or later.

On edit: I think this is a large part of the reason for the current emphasis on quickly putting more Iraqis at the forefront of governance and policing. It's a diversionary tactic. Look what happened in Afghanistan when the U.S. stooge, Karzai, was placed. It took much of the spotlight off the American responsibility in the region, and the media scarcely reports on Afghanistan events, now.

[DS1]

3. But it's going to be over tomorrow.

Our President said so, and Presidents don't lie!

[TahitiNut]

4. duplicate & over 12 hours old

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