US casualty rate high since handover

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/07/19/us_casualty_rate_high_since_handover?mode=PF

Nearly as many US soldiers lost their lives in Iraq in the first half of July as in all of June, even as Iraqi insurgents seem to have shifted focus from attacking US targets to aiming instead at Iraqi security forces and government officials.

The relatively high rate of US military casualties has dimmed hope that the handover of power to the Iraqi government would help stabilize the country and reduce pressure on US soldiers.

June was substantially less violent for US and coalition troops than the two preceding months, fueling hopes that US casualties were on the downswing. However, military officials and defense specialists are increasingly concerned that the guerrilla war could last for years and the number of dead could climb into the thousands.

Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day, among the highest rate of losses since the war began 15 months ago. By Saturday, 36 US soldiers had died this month, compared with 42 last month, according to a Globe analysis of official statistics.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. really!

You'd NEVER know that from watching the news. This month I might have seen stories on maybe, six soldiers killed, at most.

[Cocoa]

2. yep

they followed Rove's instructions to downplay Iraq.

[mia]

12. Anyone else downplaying Iraq? n/t

[gasperc]

19. minister killed in Bagdad, govenor killed in Basra

justice minister "barely escaped" assasination the other day. Just short of anarchy but you'd never know it watching CNN.

[htuttle]

7. They've apparently supported the troops to the point of being unpersons

Don't show the coffins, don't mention their deaths.

They die in ignominity.

Have a flag, mom -- we'll send it via UPS.

[DeaconBlues]

15. Didn't the Soviets do the same thing during

their losing war in Afghanistan.? There was a concerted effort by those in power to hide the number of dead. Of course its not the same, since we are a democracy and they were a dictatorship .

Someday the truth will come out about the war dead in Iraq. The brain-dead bodies that are sent home as merely "injured," the dead American mercenaries, etc. - all these people will be accounted for. And hopefully the American people will be as outraged and ready for change as were the citizens of the Soviet Union.

[Tommy_Douglas]

24. America's a democracy?

Well if it still is its a real sick one, but I agree with you I hope people get sick of this and want real change in their government and its policies.

[DulceDecorum]

3. Diminishing returns

is not a term that the Bushniks comprehend,
what with being chickenhawks
led by a deserter.

[RoyGBiv]

4. "Dimmed Hopes"?

What moron actually had hope that the handover would help stabilize the country?

Oh yeah, forgot ... Shrub is still around, huh...

Anywho, I just love the way articles like this are written -- all these hopes and dreams and possibilities and not one indication of who besides politicians and pundits spouting baseless rhetoric may have actually thought such hopes and dreams and possibilities were realistic.

[hansolsen]

23. Let's check the record:

Bush et al said Iraq had WMD: Wrong

Bush et all said Iraq tied to 9/11: Wrong

Bush et al said war in Iraq would be cakewalk: Wrong

Bush et al said troops would be welcomed with flowers: Wrong

Bush et al said violence would end whe we caught Saddam' sons: Wrong

Bush et al sure violence would end we we caught Saddam: Wrong

Bush et al sure violence would end with handover: Anybody who still believes this needs to have their head examined.

[Halliburton]

5. Did they actually think the violence was going to stop?

The insurgents now have sanctuary in places like Fallujah, Samarra and Ramadi. U.S. forces are on the outskirts of the city and are forced to cede the city to Iraqi police forces who do absolutely nothing.

[LizW]

6. I'm shocked

to see this in the U.S. media. I just checked icasualties and saw that the death rate is still over 2 a day. July is, so far, the sixth deadliest month of the war and occupation.

Remember when the question was whether Americans would tolerate a death a day in Iraq? Of course they will. They'll tolerate more than that. Especially if they don't know about them.

The number of coalition dead will hit 900 this week. :(

[aneerkoinos]

11. correction

Coalition fatalities went 1000 couple weeks ago. US casualties will hit 900 this week.

[Mr_Spock]

8. Duh, I'm now more sure than ever that Shrub, Rove, Cheney are retarded

There is no other explanation.

[catmandu57]

9. Nary a word about it either

One would think everything is pie and icecream in Iraq, when right now it's worse than ever. It's been so quiet in the last few days, a news blackout has fallen, I'm developing the feeling of sitting on a bomb, something big is going to blow.

[daleo]

10. I assume coalition death rates vary with exposure

I have just assumed that when deaths and casualties are fairly low, it means soldiers are trying to stay out of harm's way. When they go up, it implies that coalition forces are being more active. I imagine these tactics are based on orders from the top, depending on the political needs of the Bush administration.

It seems like attacks on Iraqis that are cooperating with the occupation, and attacks on oil infrastructure go up if coalition troops get too far out of the picture, though.

[Ernesto]

13. KICK

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. As if installing a new "authority" makes any difference

The writer of this piece actually seems surprised that things haven't changed for the better! So, now what's the excuse for this killing, the run up to the the Iraqi free election?

It seems that chimp has let the genie out of the bottle over there in Iraq, and these naive writers are just now noticing it.

[true grit]

16. What about the injured...

Thousands of men were injured-lost sight, limbs, etc... They will never be able to return to their way of living and support their families. Unfortunately, the GWB Admin has gutted their benefits.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi true grit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ursacorwin]

22. damn skippy, TG!

i'm so angry i could scream. i HATE bush for doing what he's done to our service folk, and for all the lying media people who go along with rove's orders to play down the truth.

there is no reason for our people to die, just not one. get them OUT!

[maddezmom]

18. kicking

:kick:

[gratuitous]

20. It's the old zen question

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

If a soldier dies in Iraq and no one reports it, did we really sustain another casualty?

The media has been singularly uncurious about the "collateral damage" (that's dead and maimed civilians for those of us who actually recognize other human beings as persons) in Iraq. Now that the number of Americans killed in Iraq approaches 900 (and the total American dead in Iraq and Afghanistan has gone over 1,000), the national media seem to have lost interest in continuing to report on this old story.

Of course, the grief and the sadness are new all over again for the families of the newly dead, but they shouldn't expect to have their loss noted on the national stage anymore. And if it don't make the national news, it didn't happen -- there will be more than enough people saying that in the weeks to come. Tucker, Bob, Rush, Michael, Ann, and a couple dozen clones and wannabes will see to that.

[saigon68]

21. BRING EN ON" shouted the Draft Dodging CHIMPANZEE

"My freinds at Halliburton are making BILLIONS", he continued

[jmcgowanjm]

25. The 200 men of India Company of the 3rd Battalion, First Marines

Well, 200 - Denton, Webb, Reed.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-fall0711,0,1033789.story?coll=ny-world-big-pix

Guardian reporter with the same group.

The tarmac had softened in the heat so that boots sank into
it. When the parked Humvees moved, the Tarmac came away
in strings, like toffee in a Mars
bar.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1264208,00.html

[Ernesto]

26. But, But, the lie-house

brought Rummy out of cold storage just yesterday to tell us that in the last 3 weeks "things have been calming down".