"the guerrilla war could last for years...deaths could climb to thousands"

[Q]

Published on Monday, July 19, 2004 by the Boston Globe

US Casualty Rate High Since Handover
Long guerrilla war is feared in Iraq
by Bryan Bender

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0719-01.htm

WASHINGTON -- 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.

The casualties have yet to reach the level they were in April, the bloodiest month of the US-led occupation, when 135 American soldiers died, or May, when 80 Americans died, many of them during a three-week offensive in the southern cities of Karbala, Najaf, and Al Kut against armed followers of a leading Shia cleric. But this month marks an upsurge in the pace and sophistication of the attacks against US and coalition troops, even as more Iraqi security forces, government ministers, and civilians have also become targets. By Friday, more than 10,000 coalition soldiers had been wounded. In all, 893 Americans have died since the war began in March 2003, most of them in hostile action.

"We are going to see more casualties," said retired Army General George Joulwan, who commanded NATO forces during the war in Bosnia. "The insurgents are using some very sophisticated tactics, particularly targeting Americans. You are seeing a much more sophisticated enemy. They are demonstrating coordination and a strategy that is effective."

[jeff30997]

1. It's becoming more and more ugly.

[wryter2000]

2. I wonder

What happens when more Murikans have died in Bush's war than did on 9/11. Will they still be using 9/11 as an excuse?

[Q]

3. A warning neither party wants to hear or acknowledge...

...But we can't 'cut and run' because that would mean we're CHICKEN.

- I wonder how long this illegal, unnecessary war would last if Bush* and his chickenhawk staff had to fight in it?

4. "peace with honor"

I can hear it already.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Not "could", but "will".

Our brainless leader has led us into the brier patch of the middle east and set it alight.

It's not just Iraq where the guerilla war will be fought.