(AP) U.S. Troop Deaths In Iraq Top 1,500

[Mark E. Smith]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq has topped 1,500 an Associated Press count showed Thursday after the military announced the deaths of three Americans, while car bombs targeted Iraqi security forces killed at least three people in separate attacks.

The latest reported American deaths brought the toll to 1,502 since the United States launched the war in Iraq in march 2003, according to the AP count. Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 1,362 U.S. military members have died...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050303/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_050303112521
____________________________________________________________________________________

1,500 dead, over 13,000 casualties overall, all so the Iraqis could elect a theocratic Shi'ite fundamentalist govt under the aegis of an Iran born Grand Ayatollah? Or was that because we wanted to go to war over phantom WMD? Iraq-Al Qaeda connections? No? George? Do we even have a real reason yet?

[Number9Dream]

1. Bring Them Home!

As a Vietnam combet vet, I watch Bush's Vietnam becomes more like the original every day. It tears at my heart. Then, when these poor and middle-class grunts get home, Bush cuts their VA benefits and screws them over in so many ways. The VFW and American Legion refuse to criticize this chickenhawk administration. If any present-day grunts read this, know that we're working to bring you home. Stay safe.

[Roland99]

2. Maintenant!

[arcane1]

10. and Vietnam was merely the Phillipines part 2

same old story :evilfrown:

[saigon68]

11. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

As he APPROVED another no bid contract to the Criminal Hallibutrton Thugs !!!!!

[Qanisqineq]

3. But, but... I thought it was safe now after the elections?

"The story of what we've done in the postwar period is remarkable. ... It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day." George Nethercutt (R-WA)

There are some who, uh, feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: bring 'em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."
- George W. Bush, July 2, 2003

[Tighthead Prop]

14. What the hell?

Excuse me, Mr. Compassionate Conservative, but I would imagine it means a great deal to the family members and friends of those 1,500 who have lost their lives.

[mistertrickster]

4. That's a damn good question--why did we go to war. So far the

reason that makes the best sense is the GW cabal wanted their companies controlling Iraqi oil profits. Saddam had "nationalized" the oil.

But as far as I have heard, not much Iraqi oil is making it to market. What's up with that? Team Bush is too inept to cash in on their crony capitalism?

[dbt]

5. How about this:

Whether bu$hler and company got the Iraqi oil out of the ground immediately was not the issue. The overriding concern was to get between China and the oil in Iraq--quickly and the cost be damned.

[Mark E. Smith]

13. That's What Gets Me...

You see so much in the media about the fact that lots of Iraqis voted, but scarcely a peep about who it is they actually elected.

An election is only a democratic act if those voting elect people dedicated to democratic govt. Is there a knowledgeable person alive who can say without fear of contradiction that once the U.S. military presence in Iraq is wound down its newly empowered leadership will not move to form a close alliance with the very undemocratic Islamic theocracy in Iran?

[UL_Approved]

29. Watch the business reports

Oil prices are peaking out at nearly $60/bbl now. An OPEC spokesman made an unofficial comment about seeing $80/bbl in the coming months.

Its all about the money and control. They want our money so that they can have total control over us and all our money...

Bush wanted Iraq to be a total failure so that the price of oil will skyrocket. This is something I suggested this last December, and now I see it is coming true.

[classof56]

6. Well, as a republican I know says--her stocks are on the rise.

Too bad about Iraq. Also noted on the yahoo message board that there were lots more murders in Atlanta (or somewhere) last year than the 1500 soldiers dead in Iraq. So that makes it all betta, right? Pardon me while I shake my head in despair and weep for the lost soldiers and Iraqis, as I do every time I read the news that reaches us. And try desperately to control my anger, frustration and most of all hatred of this misadministration and everything it stands for and the evil that it does.

Incidentally, welcome to DU. Truth is spoken here. I count on that daily!

Tired Old Cynic

[ktowntennesseedem]

22. So according to the logic of that Yahoo message board,

we should reduce the number of police in Atlanta so that the murder rate will rise in proportion to the body-count in Iraq.

Don't these morons (excuse me, morans) understand that the two are not at all related and both are unacceptable?!?!?!?

Duh! Silly me, I forgot we're talking about morans, of course they don't get it.

[UrbScotty]

7. Ahh, yes, our "Pro-life" President hits a milestone.

What is he going to do now? Is he going to Disney World?

:mad: :wtf: :argh: :freak:

[yorkiemommie1]

26. now... " Watch this shot"

that murdering hypocrite.

[gratuitous]

8. This wouldn't have happened

If all you commie liberals hadn't counted the casualties! You all made us lose 1,500 soldiers by keeping track of the dead. Aren't you ashamed?

[DS1]

9. Isn't that about a typical Marine Regiment?

:crazy:

[beltanefauve]

12. So why ARE we there?

This quote :"The U.S. exit strategy is dependent on handing over responsibility for security to Iraq's fledgling army and police forces. Forming Iraq's first democratically elected coalition government is turning out to be a laborious process."

Exit strategy?? With fourteen permanent bases being built? With Baghdad housing the largest US Embassy? Lies, lies and more lies.

[ryan_cats]

15. Damn damn damn

That is a damn shame.

[roguevalley]

16. It tops 8000. If they lift you off the ground from from where you are

laying and you die anyway, you aren't counted as a war death. 6500 troops have died from battle wounds elsewhere than where they lay and haven't been counted in the 'war death' total.

[Hamsta1]

24. where do you get that number?

how can i find something on these additional 6500 soldiers?

[ornotna]

25. here are some figures

It's not 8000, but damn it's close.

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1420.htm

[Demeter]

17. Another Milestone (Excuse Me, Tombstone) for the BushCo Regime

What will it take to dethrone the tyrant? What will it take to punish the guilty and educate the ignorant? The answers are blowing in the wind.

[arcane1]

18. this imperial shit has been going on for over 200 years...

and the guilty are NEVER punished :grr:

[BigBearJohn]

19. 1,500 dead. For what? Excuse me while I scream my head off.

[Bo]

20. Sigh..RIP boys and girls.....

There must be a special place in hell for those who start wars.

[mogster]

21. It is sad. These are real people.

It has a beginning and a progress--does it have an end?

Here's some stories:

As War on Iraq Begins, Peace Activists Persevere
March 20, 2003

The bombs are falling over Baghdad. In the U.S. there are people in the streets; there is a roar of protest around the world that is rising in volume even now.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/15429/


War in Iraq - the second day of war
March 23, 2003

<...>
The coalition casualties during the first day of war numbered 23, as war reported to the US Secretary of Defense by the coalition commander Gen. Franks. However, during the next 12 hours the casualties are likely to grow to 40 killed and over a hundred wounded. At the moment the exact coalition casualty figures are difficult to determine due to the continuing evacuation of wounded from the Fao peninsula, the Basra region, and from the battlefield 70 km from the Kuwaiti border.

http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/news070.htm


A Vet Watches Rerun of a Bad War
April 7, 2003.

While the military sings the praises of depleted uranium rounds, a veteran of the first Gulf war says civilians and troops will bear the cost of the Defense Department's lies.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/15563/


Gulf War Syndrome II
April 9, 2003.

A toxic stew of smoke, sand and depleted uranium is already making troops sick, but it looks like the Pentagon is once again ducking its responsibility for their health.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/15590/


Soldier Blues
October 21, 2003

It's becoming more apparent every day that the U.S. military has a serious morale problem. Depression, mild and severe, is plaguing the troops, sometimes with fatal consequences.
A recent survey by Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for soldiers and government civilians abroad, revealed that over one-third of soldiers rate their morale as low, or very low. Suicides of U.S. servicemen in Iraq are running up to three times the usual rate, and news headlines bring daily news of U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2003/10/we_595_02b.html


Insult to Injury
November 4, 2003
For critics of the Iraq occupation, the running tally of American deaths in Iraq, now in the high 300s, has become an index of the failure of the Bush administration's postwar policy. August 26, the day the number of soldiers killed since the president declared an end to major combat surpassed the number killed in the war, was a pivot-point in the U.S. campaign, after which it was possible to talk of "failure" in Iraq.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2003/11/we_601_02b.html


Breaking Ranks
October 11, 2004
More and more U.S. soldiers are speaking out against the war in Iraq -- and some are refusing to fight.
MIKE HOFFMAN would not be the guy his buddies would expect to see leading a protest movement. The son of a steelworker and a high school janitor from Allentown, Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1999 as an artilleryman to “blow things up.” His transformation into an activist came the hard way—on the streets of Baghdad.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_400.html

Some pictures and stories of injured soldiers:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/03/03_100-8.html

I could go on.

[WillyT]

23. The Graph !!!

(The links become clickable if you go to the site.)

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

:cry:

[doc03]

27. What's that close to 500 since the election? I would like to know

if there is any count of the number of civilians that the so called insurgents have killed? It has to be in the thousands.

[superconnected]

28. how many more until america wakes up?

I figure 10k should do it.

[lebkuchen]

30. If Syria/Iran are attacked

that number could come very quickly.

And then all hell will break loose.

If we make it through June with relative calm, I'll be amazed, though I fear our fresh crop of graduates will be too enticing for the DoD to take a pass on.