U.S.: 10 Memorial Day deaths in Iraq

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - Ten American soldiers were killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash in a restive province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military reported Tuesday, making May the deadliest month of the year for U.S. troops in Iraq.

In other violence, at least three Westerners were kidnapped Tuesday from an Iraqi Finance Ministry office in Baghdad, according to Iraqi government officials, and two car bombings killed 40 people and destroyed a Shiite mosque in the capital, police said.

The Americans — all from Task Force Lightning — were killed Monday in Diyala as the United States commemorated Memorial Day, bringing the number of American forces killed this month to at least 110, according to an Associated Press count assembled from U.S. military statements.

In statements issued Tuesday by the public affairs office of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq office at Camp Victory at Baghdad Airport, the military said six of the soldiers died in explosions near their vehicles and two others were killed in the helicopter crash. The statements did not say if the helicopter was shot down or suffered mechanical problems.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070529/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

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Two more U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq - military
BAGHDAD, May 29 (Reuters) - Another two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Tuesday, bringing to 114 the number killed in May and thus making it the deadliest month for U.S. troops since November 2004.

Eight soldiers had earlier been reported to have been killed on Monday, Memorial Day in the United States. November 2004 was the worst month for U.S. forces, when 137 soldiers died. Another 135 died in April 2004.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2952232.htm

[wakeme2008]

1. And we have three more days

:cry:

[acmavm]

2. Well now we're getting up to Viet Nam type speed. Ramp it up

a little bit more and we'll be there.

[Massachusetts]

3. FUBAR!

Cindy S. is right, Most Americans are more interested in who is the next idol. Pathetic!

[Cant trust em]

4. I can't deal with the war anymore

Every time I read something about this all of my ideas sooner or later turn to "We should never have come here in the first place." I know that this is backwards thinking and we're already here so we have to deal with it, but nothing I've come up with seems to be gaining any traction in the debate. It's either we leave and millions will be killed in the aftermath, or we stay forever since the Iraqi troops aren't ever going to be capable to secure the country by themselves. Which brings us back to 2002 when I was saying that this whole thing is a bad idea. I'm going to spend my mental energy thinking about domestic issues now.

[Hand]

6. Unfortunately, you're right.

It's a terrible, simple equation--bad ideas lead to bad outcomes. There isn't a "good" outcome from this godawful mess.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. Nixon predicted a bloodbath in Vietnam: none materialized

So, I'm skeptical of the "they'll all kill each other if we leave" business. Smells of patriarchal bullshit.

(The Cambodian genocide was very specific. No similar atrocity happened in Vietnam itself)

[RamboLiberal]

5. Iraq Coalition Casualties Site has it at 115 for this month

Which is highest number since 11/2004 when there were 137. And this is the 2nd month in a row there were over 100.

Dec 06 112
Jan 07 83
Feb 07 80
Mar 07 81
Apr 07 104

Same periods a year ago the tolls were 68, 52, 55, 31, 76, 69. Gee that sounds like the good old days. What happened to the mantra of last year "when Iraqis stand up we'll stand down"?

Yep, that's some supporting the troops congressional Dems that voted Yes to the funding.

[billyoc]

7. Where are the numbers for Sunday?

icasualties.org has 5-27 missing. :shrug:

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. None were killed on Sunday.

n/t

[krkaufman]

8. Chopper attack, bombs kill 8 U.S. troops in Iraq

Source: CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Eight U.S. troops were killed in Iraq on Monday in a deadly chain of events that began when a U.S. helicopter crashed, apparently shot down by small-arms fire, according to a U.S. military official.

A military vehicle rushing to the helicopter crash site was hit by an exploding roadside bomb, and a second "quick-reaction force" vehicle also was hit, the official said.

The two pilots of the Kiowa helicopter were killed in the crash; six soldiers died in the bombings of the two vehicles, and three others were injured.

The eight Memorial Day deaths occurred in volatile Diyala province between Baquba and Muqdadiya, the U.S. military announced on Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/29/iraq.main/index.html

---

This article reminds me of one from just a few weeks back, where the General in charge was bemoaning the lack of troops in Diyala to combat the increasing violence -- due to the "surge" of US troops in Baghdad causing insurgents & militia to move their fighting elsewhere...

General says he needs more troops
U.S. commander for northern Iraq cites the growing violence in Diyala province.

BAGHDAD — The commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said Friday that he did not have enough troops to deal with the escalating violence in Iraq's Diyala province. Diyala borders Baghdad on the east, and violence in the province has grown as U.S. troop levels have been bolstered in the capital. ...

(Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. "Randy") Mixon, speaking Friday by teleconference from Camp Speicher, outside Tikrit, to a Pentagon news conference, said that he did not have enough soldiers to provide security in Diyala. The local government is "nonfunctional" and the central government is "ineffective," he said. ...

"I'm going to need additional forces," he said, "to get that situation to a more acceptable level, so the Iraqi security forces will be able in the future to handle that." ... Mixon emphasized that he had asked for more troops shortly after arriving in Iraq in September, well before the U.S. troop buildup began in Baghdad.

[madrchsod]

9. third worse month in the war with two days left

there`s nothing left of our military...according to a republican this morning on npr we do not have the troops or material to respond to an incident . 18 billion dollars is needed to repair and replace support vehicles and rotor and fixed wing aircraft are worn out due to the sand in iraq.

george is now waging a war with just words

[coalition_unwilling]

12. Think Stalingrad, as Zhukov moves to encircle von Paulus -n/t

[krkaufman]

15. Which one is Jude Law?

[krkaufman]

14. I believe it's (very) safe to say ...

... that we have zero clue as to what this war has cost us.

[tabasco]

13. A very sophisticated ambush.

Thanks to GW Bush, terrorists have a training camp with live targets.

This ambush hit TWO reaction forces as well as the chopper. Stunning.

Our troops are stuck in a hopeless, bloody, unjustified quagmire due to the greed of the corporate robber barons in the White House.

On edit: I do not consider the Iraqi resistance to be "terrorists," but that is how the whore corporate media labels them.

[krkaufman]

16. To emphasize... This is the province where the General declared he didn't have enough troops!!

See original article Re: Army Maj. Gen. Mixon, "Gen. says he needs more troops", in the above post...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2862059&mesg_id=2862256

[rodeodance]

17. RECOMMEND

[rodeodance]

18. k

[rodeodance]

19. k

[rodeodance]

20. k

[rodeodance]

21. k

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

22. A sign the times have changed.....

this should be front page news, especially the irony of making the ultimate sarifice on Memorial Day. Instead it's buried amongst all the other issues we are dealing with.
There is no other issue so critical to the health of this nation than resolving our nation's position on Iraq. None other. Not immigration, not bird flu, not impeachment, not who wins American Idol. Iraq............. :cry: