U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Worst in a Year

[Patrocles]

geez, I leave a for a few weeks and when I come back I found out October is a deadly month for our troops!


U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Worst in a Year
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

43 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The number of American troops killed in Iraq in October reached the highest monthly total in a year Thursday after four Marines and a sailor died of wounds suffered while fighting in the same Sunni insurgent stronghold.

The U.S. military said 96 U.S. troops have died so far in October, the most in one month since October 2005, when the same number was killed. The spike in deaths has been a major factor behind rising anti-war sentiment in the United States, fueling calls for President Bush to change tactics.

In other violence, 12 police officers were killed in fighting with suspected militia gunmen in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, officials said. Eighteen militants also were killed.

The deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq was November 2004, when military offenses primarily in the then-insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, left 137 troops dead, 126 of them in combat. In January 2005, 107 U.S. troops were killed.

Polls show a majority of Americans are opposed to Bush's handling of Iraq, and at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, he indicated he shared the public's frustration even as he pushed back against calls for troop withdrawals.

"I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq," Bush said. "I'm not satisfied either."

Gen. William B. Caldwell, the U.S. military spokesman, said there had been a marked decrease in violence in Baghdad since the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, earlier this week.

Caldwell said violence has in the past tended to spike during that month, then fall off. He also said it was possible increased U.S. patrols and roadblocks in the search of a missing American soldier could be having an effect.

"Everyone is asking this very same question ... whether this is occurring naturally or is it due to the fact that we in fact established and are conducting these additional operations," he said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the United States would increase its support for Iraqi security forces.

"We intend to increase their budgets," he said, as well as their capabilities, and officials will work to help make the improvements more quickly. He did not cite any figures.

Rumsfeld also said people ought to "just back off" and stop demanding specific benchmarks or timelines for progress in Iraq, saying it is just too difficult to predict when the Iraqis can take control of security.

Fighting continued Thursday with fresh clashes between Iraqi security forces and militia groups linked to major Shiite political parties, part of an ominous new trend adding to the violence wrought by the Sunni-led insurgency against U.S. coalition forces and their Iraqi allies.

At least 12 policemen were killed in fighting near Baqouba pitting Iraqi security forces against gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia, who are loyal to fiery anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. At least 18 militants also were killed, said Ghassan al-Bawi, police chief of surrounding Diyala province.

Mahdi militiamen have flooded into the area 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, forcing large numbers of residents belonging to Iraq's Sunni Arab minority to flee their homes. Mahdi fighters killed scores of Sunnis in massacres last week in the nearby city of Balad, forcing U.S. troops to return to the area after Iraqi security forces were unable to stem the bloodshed.

The U.S. military said the five service members killed in volatile Anbar province included a sailor assigned to the 3rd Naval Construction Regiment. Two of the Marines were attached to Regimental Combat Team 5, and two others to Regimental Combat Team 7. All died from wounds suffered in attacks Wednesday in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency.

According to Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, about 300 Iraqi police and soldiers died during Ramadan, while altogether, more than 961 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence this month, the highest level since The Associated Press began tracking civilian deaths in April 2005.

That amounts to an average of more than 41 each day, compared with a daily average of about 27 since April 2005, as more Iraqis fall prey to sectarian death squads affiliated with the militias.

The AP count includes civilians, government officials and police and security forces, and is considered a minimum based on AP reporting. The actual number is likely higher, as many killings go unreported. The United Nations has said 100 Iraqis are being killed each day.

[trailboss49]

Let's see, first General Casey says about 1,000 Iraqis died and the U.N. says about 3,000 Iraqis died. Man, look at how many fewer deaths there are under US verse UN jurisdiction.

You can almost feel the barely contained glee the AP writer has hoping that the US death count by the end of the month will set a new record.

For some reason this reminds me of the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. It ended up the USA and ARVN kicked the VC and NVA rears all over the place. Yet, because the fighting was much fiercer than it had been the infamous war correspondent Walter Cronkite pronounced it an unwinnable war and the liberals took off from there.

[Tater]

Originally Posted by Patrocles

geez, I leave a for a few weeks and when I come back I found out October is a deadly month for our troops!

As if cutting and pasting body bag stories indicates any real concern...geez.

[TigerVI67]

All casualties are bad, but the casualties incurred so far (even this month) are negligible. We have has about 25,000 casualties in both OIF and EF in close to 5 years of war. Actually, this is quite remarkable and the military and civilian leadership should be praised for having the casualty rate so low.

Additionally, what fool thinks that the Islamo Facists wouldn't step up their attacks to help influence an election regardless of the punishment they take. This may resemble Tet, but is a far cry in terms of scale and number of casualties. The political aspect is even alittle murkier but the MSM doesn't have the monopoly it did back in 68 and most Americans understand the importance and the excellence in the mission. The futile attemp will not work.

[Hope&Glory]

This article is just hype. A numbers game played by a news media looking at figures pasted on the wall of a backroom.

How many articles about the dead soliders have been written by "QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer"? Can someone find one?

Look! i found some figures to show people, right here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_toll

3,000,000–8,000,000 - Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)
2,000,000–4,000,000 - French Wars of Religion (1562–1598)
36,000,000 - An Lushan Rebellion (756–763)
1,000,000 - Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988)
100,500 - Chaco War (1932–1935)
5,000 - Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974)

Anyone think there was 1 month out of any year that had a higher total of deaths, during these wars?

How about Battles? Many not even lasting a month, Some only a day!
552,000 - Battle of Gallipoli (1916)
280,000 - Warsaw Uprising (1944)
90,000 - Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC)
50,000 - Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo (1917)
32,000 - Battle of Lepanto (1571)
30,000 - Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9)
4,329 - Battle of Isandlwana (1879)

A numbers game. What is different?

We are living it, the news reports numbers.
I want to know the name.

And voice my sincern prayer for that soul and the people who knew who He/She was.

Thats not asking lot from "reporters", taught to find facts.
Well, maybe it is...

[Fister]

Hell, we lost more men on Omaha beach getting ashore to get at the Krauts!

[piero1971]

oh... does that mean you dont' care about your troops??? that you'd only care when the numbers would be higher than, say, the Somme offensive??

that victory at ANY cost is worth it?

what is victory again? let's us all remind of the objectives?

- make sure all muslim world is in arms against hte west?
- bring democracy to IRaq`?
- find WMD`?
- remove Saddam?

help me, I 'm lost in the objectives of this thing, that is so peacefull that having caused the death fo 600'000+ iraquis, 4000+ US and coalition troops, and 20'000+ limbless US soldiers and 100'000 US troops treated for mental problems is worth it....

just asking...

[Tater]

Originally Posted by piero1971

oh... does that mean you dont' care about your troops??? that you'd only care when the numbers would be higher than, say, the Somme offensive??

It is called "perspective"...something you completely lack.

that victory at ANY cost is worth it?

Much preferred to defeat at any cost...don't you think?

what is victory again? let's us all remind of the objectives?

- make sure all muslim world is in arms against hte west?
- bring democracy to IRaq`?
- find WMD`?
- remove Saddam?

help me, I 'm lost in the objectives of this thing, that is so peacefull that having caused the death fo 600'000+ iraquis...

That 600K number is farcical...I had expected that only the ignorant fools among the loony left would use it in their debates...that expectation appears to have been misplaced...hmmm, or was it?

...4000+ US and coalition troops, and 20'000+ limbless US soldiers and 100'000 US troops treated for mental problems is worth it....

just asking...

The answer is maybe...unless you can foretell the future...can you.

Or can you tell us how many more "9/11-esque" type attacks the US would have suffered had we not confronted terrorists and terrorist supporters.

But no, you can't answer those questions...all you can do is ask "strawman", biased questions.

BTW, why don't you and your ilk ever question the AQ victory conditions...or whether they think it is worth it?

[Hope&Glory]

piero1971,

what is victory again? let's us all remind of the objectives?

- make sure all muslim world is in arms against hte west?

Where did you read this was a goal?
Seems the arms of the muslim world has been against the west far longer than you have been alive to read about it. Go read more history, especially European.

In case you have not noticed, Fister, stated a fact of numbers,

Hell, we lost more men on Omaha beach getting ashore to get at the Krauts!

Yet you respond in such an emotional way. Get a grip!
Why not respond to the Article which is far worst, than to a statment of fact?

Lets look closely,

The Americans suffered 2,400 casualties at Omaha - and this is principally why the attack is remembered. It is easy to overlook the fact that despite the casualties, 34,000 troops had been landed by the end of the day on this blooded beach.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/omaha_beach.htm

The U.S. military said 96 U.S. troops have died so far in October, the most in one month since October 2005, when the same number was killed.

Interesting how, QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer, gets no feeling from you, but you have so much for 1 sentence.

BtW, piero1971,

How many articles about the dead soliders have been written by "QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer"? Can someone find one?

Looking forward to your emotion filled, numbers game response.

[piero1971]

H&G
I think you are confused.... I think you confuse posts and posters here.

[trailboss49]

Not to a logical thinking sane person.

[Patrocles]

an update from AP...

October U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 100
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
10/30/2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb tore through food stalls and kiosks in a sprawling Shiite slum Monday, killing at least 31 people, while the U.S. military announced the death of the 100th servicemember in Iraq this month.

The 6:15 a.m. explosion in Sadr City targeted poor Shiites who gather there each morning hoping to be hired as construction workers. At least 51 people were wounded, said police Maj. Hashim al-Yasiri.

Meanwhile, new details emerged about a U.S. soldier who went missing last week, sparking a massive manhunt. A woman claiming to be his mother-in-law said Monday that the soldier was married to a Baghdad college student and was with the young woman and her family when hooded gunmen handcuffed and threw him in the back seat of a white Mercedes. The marriage would violate military regulations.

The area of Monday's attack, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has witnessed repeated bombings by suspected al-Qaida fighters seeking to incite Shiite revenge attacks and drag the country into full-blown civil war.

Ali Abdul-Ridha, being treated for head and shoulder wounds at a hospital, said he was waiting for a job with his brother and about 100 others when he heard a massive explosion and "lost sight of everything."

The U.S. and Iraqi military have kept a tight cordon around Sadr City since a raid last week in search of an alleged Shiite death squad leader, who was not found.

Abdul-Ridha said the area had been exposed to attack because U.S. and Iraqi forces had driven Mahdi fighters who usually provide protection into hiding.

"That forced Mahdi Army members, who were patrolling the streets, to vanish," Abdul-Ridha, 41, said from his bed in al-Sadr Hospital.

However, Falih Jabar, a 37-year-old father of two boys, said the Mahdi Army was responsible for provoking extremists to attack civilians in the neighborhood of 2.5 million people.

"We are poor people just looking to make a living. We have nothing to do with any conflict," said Jabar, who suffered back wounds. "If (the extremists) have problems with the Mahdi Army, they must fight them, not us."

The last major bombing in Sadr City occurred on Sept. 23 when a bomb hidden in a barrel blew up a kerosene tanker, killing at least 35 people waiting to stock up on fuel for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

October has seen rising civilian casualties and has been the fourth deadliest month for American troops since the war began in March 2003. The highest was November 2004, with 137 killed, followed by 135 in April 2004 and 107 in January 2005.

The U.S. military identified the latest casualty as a Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 who died in combat Sunday in Anbar province west of Baghdad, a hotbed of Sunni resistance to U.S. forces and their Iraqi government allies. The Marine's name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi woman claiming to be the missing soldier's mother-in-law said several of his in-laws put up a desperate struggle to stop the abduction.

The U.S. military has said the soldier was of Iraqi descent and that he was visiting family in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karadah when he was abducted. It did not identify the soldier or give further details. The soldier's inlaws said his name is Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie.

The woman, who identified herself as Latifah Isfieh Nasser, told The Associated Press in the family home in Karadah that her daughter, 26-year-old physics student Israa Abdul-Satar, met her husband a year ago and the couple were married in August and spent their honeymoon in Egypt. She showed an AP reporter photographs of the couple in Cairo.

Since a brief lull during Muslim holy days last week, violence has rebounded sharply, marring U.S. efforts to bring Sunni insurgents into a reconciliation process.

Last week also saw an embarrassing public squabble between the U.S. and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over a schedule for achieving breakthroughs in security and political goals.

Political tensions deepened further Sunday when Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's ranking Sunni politician, threatened to resign if al-Maliki did not move swiftly to eradicate militia groups.

Mohammed Shaker, a key aide to al-Hashemi, said the threat was intended to send a message to the government over the rising sectarian violence. "We cannot live with this situation indefinitely," he said.

Al-Maliki depends heavily on the backing of a pair of Shiite political organizations and has resisted American pressure to eradicate their private armies _ al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade, the military wing of Iraq's most powerful Shiite political bloc, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

The gunmen, especially those of the Mahdi Army, have been deeply involved in months of sectarian killings in Baghdad and central Iraq.

The militias have also infiltrated the predominantly Shiite security forces, who suffered around 300 deaths during Ramadan, mainly at the hands of Sunni insurgents but also in fighting between police and militia fighters.

At least 26 policemen were killed Sunday. In one attack in Basra, gunmen dragged 15 policemen and two translators _ instructors at the Basra police academy _ off a bus at the edge of the city Sunday afternoon. Their bodies were found dumped throughout the city hours later.

Three other policemen were killed when a car bomb hit a patrol Sunday night in northeastern Baghdad's Bunook neighborhood, police Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said.

On Monday, unknown gunmen killed Essam al-Rawi, head of the University Professor's Union and a senior member of the hardline Sunni group, the Association of Muslim Scholars. One of his bodyguards was also killed.

The association, which is believed to have links to the insurgency, has boycotted elections and other aspects of the political process that seeks to bring stability and end rampant sectarian violence.

At least 154 university professors have been killed since the March 2003 U.S. invasion, Education Ministry spokesman Basil al-Khatib said Monday. Hundreds, possibly thousands, more are believed to have fled to neighboring countries.

While sectarian hatred is blamed for some of those attacks, professors have also been killed because of past membership in Saddam Hussein's now-outlawed Baath Party, or by students angered over poor grades or with other grievances.

[jaegertech]

Coalition casualties will be highest during Ramadan until they are out of Iraq, (barring open combat clearing cities). It isn't really a statement on the overall level of violence except in comparison to past Ramadans.

[Boonierat]

Originally Posted by Fister

Hell, we lost more men on Omaha beach getting ashore to get at the Krauts!

That is not correct, total loss on Omaha at the end of day is (by most accurate accounts) 3,881 killed and wounded (number of killed is hard to tell but must be around 1,000)

[trailboss49]

It is my OPINION (not fact) that Al Queda is trying to cause a lot more deaths than normal right before the American election in an effort to nudge voters towards those candidates most vocal against the USA being in Iraq.