U.S. military deaths in Iraq at 841 for '05

What "progress"? Oh yeah, chalabi is in charge of the oil now, that's progress.

Death Toll for the American Military in Iraq in 2005 Is 844

By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: January 1, 2006


BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 31 - At least 844 American service members were killed in Iraq in 2005, nearly matching 2004's total of 848, and the number of service members wounded in 2005 was significantly higher than in the previous year, according to information released by the United States government and a nonprofit organization that tracks casualties in Iraq.

In 2005, the number of Americans wounded in Iraq, 9,157, exceeded the number wounded in 2004, when the total was 7,956.

The deaths of two Americans announced by the United States military on Friday - a marine killed by gunfire in Falluja and a soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad - brought the total killed since the war in Iraq began in March 2003 to 2,178. The total wounded since the war began is 15,955.

In 2005, the single bloodiest month for American soldiers and marines was January, when 107 were killed and nearly 500 were wounded. At the time, American forces were conducting numerous operations to secure the country for the elections on Jan. 30. The second worst month was October, when 96 Americans were killed and 603 wounded.

More than half of all 2005 American military deaths, 427, were caused by homemade bombs, most of them planted along roadsides and detonated as vehicles passed. American commanders have said that roadside bombs, the leading cause of death in Iraq, have grown larger and more sophisticated. Many, for instance, are triggered by remote detonators, and are large enough to destroy heavily armored tanks and troop carriers.


snip


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/international/middleeast/01iraq.html?hp&ex=1136091600&en=ce0e8968e150bfe9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Unconscionable.

That's some coalition we have!

Bombings and shootings killed at least 20 people across Iraq on the final day of the year Saturday, while U.S. troops shivered in the cold during a performance by an 'American Idol' singer as part of New Year's Eve celebrations. The U.S. military also reported the death of an American soldier from wounds, bringing its death toll in Iraq for 2005 near last year's record level.

.......

A U.S. soldier died Saturday from wounds inflicted by a mortar attack in Baghdad, the military said. That put the American military death toll for the year at 841 _ five short of 2004's record total despite political progress and dogged U.S. and Iraqi efforts to quash the insurgency. A total of 846 U.S. military personnel died in 2004 and 485 in 2003.

Some Iraqis in Baghdad said their New Year's Eve wish is that U.S. troops will pull out.

'God willing, the occupation of our country will end and we will get rid of the Americans,' said Noor Ali, who shopping at a Baghdad store.



http://www.interestalert.com/story/1231000caaa02114.ap/pkreysa/AFGHANIS/afghanistan.html

as the Iraqis moved forward in an election process. He lied. Yet once again.

Get rid of the Americans? The W oil men will always be there in control throughout eternity or until Iraqi oil runs out.

"There isn't much more leeway for simply moving people around," Mr. Korb said.

That leaves the other option: adding more land forces overall. How many? James Dobbins and James Quinlivan, military analysts at the RAND Corporation, have analyzed historical data on the numbers of foreign troops in various occupations after a war. They found that all the successful missions involved troop levels totaling at least 2 percent of the occupied country's population.

Taking that figure as a rough rule of thumb, securing Iraq, which has 25 million people, would require 500,000 foreign troops. American and coalition forces now total about 180,000.

A force that large probably could have been mobilized to Iraq for some period, maybe for a year. In 2003-2004, before the insurgency got seriously under way, that may have been enough to impose order. But now, it is generally recognized that it's not possible to send any more troops from the Army as it stands.

When Representative John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, advocated withdrawing troops from Iraq in November, he said he did so in part because senior military officers had told him the Army could not sustain even the existing troop levels.

See at www.icasualties.org

How soon 'til the Bush twins suit up?

US Service Casualties in the Global War on Terror (GWOT)
(Don't forget the poor bastards that died in Afghanistan--99 this year, for instance)

2001.....12
2002.....48
2003....543
2004....901
2005....943

Five-year Total..................2,438

Civilian Casualties on 9/11....2,973

Note the global trend in US Casualties. At the current pace, our service personnel killed will exceed 9/11 losses on about July 4th of this year. Happy fucking Independence Day....