US deaths in Iraq war drop for 3rd straight month

[Barrett808]

US deaths in Iraq war drop for 3rd straight month
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military death toll in Iraq fell for a third straight month in July to one of the lower levels of the 3-year-old war despite rising violence that prompted the Pentagon to expand the U.S. force.

At least 44 U.S. troops were killed in July, well below the war's average U.S. monthly death toll of just under 64. A 132,000-strong U.S. force is battling a tenacious insurgency as sectarian violence surges, fueling concern over civil war.

There has been a steady increase in attacks since January and February to a current level of more than 120 daily against U.S. and other foreign troops, U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces and civilians, said Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

Civilians accounted for nearly 70 percent of all casualties, Johnson said.

"American troops are no longer the primary focus of the people perpetuating the violence inside Iraq. They have become a secondary target," said defense analyst Charles Pena, a senior fellow with George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060731/pl_nm/iraq_usa_toll_dc

[Ezlivin]

1. Bring 'em home - Make it ZERO

Easy, eh?

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I think the US troops are 'hunkered down' on bases or the Green Zone.

[leftchick]

3. I think you are right

they will be back out sooner or later. :(

[alfredo]

19. That's what I heard.

[Betsy Ross]

4. US deaths down; Iraqi deaths up.

Seems to point to a civil war, no?

[saigon68]

5. The body count means little

Billions of $$ are being PISSED AWAY

And the Resistance is taking a couple of days off for the civil War

[Monkeyman]

10. You and I have seen body counts before

Based on numbers put out by DOD ya right just like there is only about 20,000 wounded its more like 25,000

[saigon68]

23. That stat they released is low

I believe there is lots more

Wounded is a statistic easy to fudge.

If someones dead, that one is Hard to hide.

[displacedtexan]

6. "Below the monthly AVERAGE": Fuzzy math?

44 is 44 too many. Period.

Trying to spin that number makes my skin crawl.

And if the only way you can make that number
look "good" is to compare it to a 24+ month
average, you're a Nazi.

Yes, I used the N word.

Now, tell me if my math is fuzzy. It very well
could be. This story just made me so damned mad!

[Barrett808]

7. Odd, because the death rate hasn't declined significantly:

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/USfatalities.html

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Yeah, only 44 were killed this month

Only...:eyes:

[jdlh8894]

9. Only.....

Over 60 civilians were killed last month .......IN Atlanta,GA

[hadrons]

12. but how many more Americans are in Atlanta than Iraq???

there are 400,000 Americans in Atlanta, but 135,000 troops in Iraq ... and how many of those people in Atlanta were killed by IEDs?

[jdlh8894]

15. Maybe not IED's

But I know about drive by shootings,stray shots, and owners of stores getting killed everyday.As to the 400,000 population,I can only wish. (More like 2.5 Million)

[catnhatnh]

21. 'Kay...if 44 0f 135,000 in Iraq....

and 60 of 2500,000 in atlanta than you are saying in Iraq one in 3068, and in atlanta one in 41,666, or a "kill ratio" in Iraq of 13.58 to 1 in relation to atlanta....now if we take the lowest acknowledged rate of total deaths in Bagdad (Some of 44 american soldiers + 1000+ civilians + as many bad guys we can kill (???)) I'll use 1000 and run the same calculation....1000 into the most recent Bagdad census plus for fun will add ALL US soldiers and NO US casualties. Population=7,535,000 and deaths equal 1 in 7535 or 18.86 times the casualties of Atlanta or 1886% more likely to be killed as a non-combatant as anyone in Atlanta... For combat troops country wide it gets worse...Do I take Atlanta as safe-no-but I'd love to have the crime statistics under Saddam...

[struggle4progress]

27. Atlanta population was around 416000 in 2000 according to the Census

http://atlanta.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

I doubt if it has increased by a factor of six since the census, as that would correspond to an annual growth rate of about 35% and would mean the population was doubling every 30 months.

[daleo]

16. Try telling Israel that a few soldiers don't really matter. n/t

[electricmonk]

17. Key word there is civillians

How many Atlanta police were killed? It's a bullshit argument anyway, there is absolutely no comparison to what is happening in Iraq to what happens in a large US city.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/34fb4daa22c84be6a5657810d0e7c0b9.htm">http://www.alertnet.org

"A total of 5,818 civilians were reportedly killed and at least 5,762 wounded during May and June 2006," the report stated. "Killings, kidnappings and torture remain widespread. Fear resulting from these and other crimes continued to increase internal displacement and outflows of Iraqis to neighbouring countries.

In the first six months of the year, 14,338 people were killed, the report added. The statistics were compiled with help from the Ministry of Health."

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. You can't honestly be putting up the stupid argument that Iraq is safe

because more people were killed in Atlanta than troops were killed in Iraq, can you?

Because everyone who knows anything knows that thousands of civilians have been killed in Iraq in the last two months, and the number often was more than one hundred a DAY, right?

The correct comparison would be between US troops killed in Iraq and police officers killed in California. Why? The populations of Iraq and California are close, and the number of troops is close to the number of police officers (about 130,000). Also, police officers have firearms training, command and communication infrastructure, etc, so they would more reflect soldiers than would regular civilians. So, smart guy, tell me, how many police officers were killed in California last month? Actually, let's do one better: how many police officers have been killed in California in the last ten years? Here's a web site so that you can start counting, and determine whether your bone stupid analogy holds any water. Have fun.

http://www.camemorial.org/

[daleo]

24. Like saying "my cousin got hit by a car, so I don't have to quit smoking"

These "people are killed in the U.S. too" arguments are non sequitur. The one fact has nothing to do with the other. It just shows how desperate the apologists are.

[struggle4progress]

25. Frankly, your statistic smells rotten. Have ya got a link to support it?

Typically, there are something like ten murders in Atlanta each month: there were 7 in Mar 06 and 10 in Apr 06, for example, according to http://www.atlantapd.org/index.asp?nav=Stats&menu=23 . There were 112 homocides in Atlanta in 2004 and 111 in 2005, according to http://atlanta.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm and http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2005preliminary/05table4.htm .

Aggregated numbers like this usually don't change very much year to year. And I'm seeing no evidence of Atlanta residents screaming about a huge surge in the homicide rate ...

[minkyboodle]

26. thanks brit hume...

except I think he used the entire country.
Same bogus equation and argument.

[politicaholic]

11. Finally the 10 million "Support the Troops" magnets we sent are paying off

You see one of those on every car, expoding or not, and it really has an impact.

[Magical]

13. Just a Number

Don't worry about it...
Not my kid.

Love,
Snowjob

[otohara]

14. Iraqi Deaths Go Up! So..... Why Are We There?

Now I'm glad US deaths have gone down, but it that means as the occupying force in Iraq, we're not doing our job under the "rules of occupation? The occupiers are supposed to provide basic needs, including "the maintenance of law and order". This clearly is not happening based on the stunning number of Iraqi deaths each and every day.

How the Rules of War Work - from this link: http://science.howstuffworks.com/rules-of-war4.htm

An occupying force has the absolute responsibility of providing for the basic needs of the people under its control, including food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, and the maintenance of law and order.

It's becoming more clear that this war is about money.
American Corporations with help from Washington are going to suck ever last dollar they can make out of this fiasco before any talk of withdrawal.

Thousands of Iraqi's will continue to die.

[uppityperson]

18. ain't statistics wonderful? Lies, damned lies, statistics.

end the occupation, bring them home.

[kurtyboy]

22. July has been quiet for the last four years

2003 -- 48 US casualties, 49 Coalition
2004 -- 54 US casualties, 58 Coalition
2005 -- 54 US casualties, 58 Coalition
2006 -- 44 US casualties, 47 Coalition

But the month ain't over--the Pentagon sometimes delays reports of combat fatalities by a few days, and this month's total could yet approach the July averages of 50 US casualties, and 53 Coalition deaths.

If averages mean anything, we might expect to see 68 coalition fatalities in August, 57 in September, 71 in October, and a big spike in November (the worst month) up to 112 (108 of them US servicemen and women).

By the way, there have been 2,902 US service personnel killed sin Afghanistan and Iraq since September 11th--when 2,973 people were killed by the terrorist attacks. At our current pace, the numbers will match right about the 5th annivesary of the attacks. Weird coincidence, and one that is inderscored by the fact that the Taliban, Al Qaida, bin Laden, and Zawahiri all seem to have eluded true justice for this entire time.

Nice work George, Dick, Donald, Colin, and Condi!

....dumbasses all....

[davhill]

28. They will continue to drop

Until after the election. Troops are probably under strict orders to avoid any risks and hunker down until November so voters will forget about the war.