Dateline IRAQ - 3 October 08,
With a nod to KO,
OVER FIVE AND A HALF YEARS Since
the Start of the Iraq War and
...the 1,983rd day (OVER FIVE YEARS)
since the declaration of "Mission Accomplished."
(TWO British soldiers KILLED the week ending 29 Mar 08
bringing the United Kingdom's total to 176)
TWO MORE AMERICAN MILITARY
KILLED OVERNIGHT BRINGING THE
UNITED STATES TOTAL TO...
4,178-
FOUR THOUSAND
ONE HUNDRED
SEVENTY-EIGHT
KILLED
ALMOST FIVE YEARS INTO THIS QUAGMIRE, 2007 BECOMES
DEADLIEST YET
FOR U.S. IN IRAQ~
901 KILLED
2 Americans KILLED the first 2 days in Oct '08
25 Americans KILLED in Sep '08
23 Americans KILLED in Aug '08
14 Americans KILLED in July '08
29 Americans KILLED in June '08
19 Americans KILLED in May '08
52 Americans KILLED in Apr '08
39 Americans KILLED in Mar '08
29 Americans KILLED in Feb '08
40 Americans KILLED in Jan '08
23 Americans KILLED in Dec '07
37 Americans KILLED in Nov '07
38 Americans KILLED in Oct '07
65 Americans KILLED in September '07
84 Americans KILLED in August '07
81 Americans KILLED in July '07
101 Americans KILLED in June '07
126 Americans KILLED in May '07, making it the deadliest month since Nov '04
Averaged 4 KILLED per day in May
104 Americans KILLED in April '07
114 Americans KILLED in December '06
106 Americans KILLED in October '06
p.s. Notice the UK has lost 176 troops total (since Mar '03),
to our 4,178 and 126 for May '07 alone?
(UP 18 FROM LAST WEEK'S
30,662 WOUNDED)
30,680-
THIRTY THOUSAND,
SIX HUNDRED
EIGHTY WOUNDED
Sadly, 97% of the US Dead & Wounded
(THAT'S 4,052 DEAD &
29,759 WOUNDED)
occurred since the Bush/Cheney "Mission Accomplished",
"We will be greeted as Liberators", "End
of Major Combat Operations", "Bring 'em on",
"We're Kickin' Ass" statements.
Trivia Question-
How many US Service members died due to hostile action in occupied Japan AND Germany following "Mission Accomplished" in WWII?
ANSWER-
Zero
GULF ONE POST WAR
Dateline 1994~ Dick Cheney explaining that trying to take over Iraq would be a "bad idea" and lead to a "quagmire."
Q: Do you think the US or UN forces should have moved into Baghdad?
A: "No."
Q: Why not?
A: "There would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? ... It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq. ... And the question for the president, in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad, took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? ... Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right." -- Dick Cheney, 1994
Fast forward to the present, with over 34,858 US Causalities (including over 4,178 fatalities) in Iraq; guess cheney was much smarter back then...
There is growing agreement this war has become Ruinous- Militarily, Fiscally, Politically and Morally and that as in Vietnam, it is no longer a question of IF we withdraw in disgrace, but When. How many more young Americans will have to die to save face for the chicken hawks* who dreamt up this wholly unnecessary elective war?
*chick-en hawk - n.- A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm isn't dimmed by personal experience with war; most empathically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person's youth.
synonyms~ see also bush brothers, cheney, rove, libby, snow, wolfowitz, rice, ashcroft, feith, perle, abrams, cox, kyl, shelby, weber, mcconnell, gingrich, lott, hassert, delay, santorum, frist, blunt, pataki, gramm, giuliani, romney, thompson, leiberman, palin, limbaugh, o'rielly, will, buchanan, hannity, bennett, kristol, et al, etc...
DID NOT SERVE!
"It is those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded, who cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell."
William Tecumseh Sherman 1879
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can,
only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity."
Dwight David Eisenhower 1946
Mar 08: Speaking by viedo conference to U.S. military and civilian personnel about their challenges in Afanganistan~ "I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."
"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said.
How might bush's war feelings differed had he actually served during his generation's war instead of having meticulously avoided combat, flying air cover for the Alamo.
"I detest war. It might not be the worst thing to befall human beings, but it is wretched beyond all description. When nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue. The lives of a nation's finest patriots are sacrificed. Innocent people suffer and die. Not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. Whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers most keenly. Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war [see Mar 08 FOOL/FRAUD bush speak].
John McCain Mar 08
I too often find the ones spoutin' the Toughest Talk are generally those who never saw combat. Being shot at focuses the mind wonderfully.
If you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention.
OBAMA/BIDEN '08