In Iraq, Pace of U.S. Casualties Have Accelerated

[kskiska]

Sunday, December 28, 2003; Page A01

The number of U.S. service members killed and wounded in Iraq has more than doubled in the past four months compared with the four months preceding them, according to Pentagon statistics.

From Sept. 1 through Friday, 145 service members were killed in action in Iraq, compared with 65 from May 1 to Aug. 30. The two four-month intervals cover counterinsurgency operations, far costlier than major combat operations, which President Bush declared over on May 1.

Increases in those wounded in action have been equally dramatic this fall. Since Sept. 1, 1,209 soldiers have received battlefield wounds, more than twice the 574 wounded in action from May 1 through Aug. 30.

Nor have casualties tapered off since the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on Dec. 13. Through Friday, 12 service members were killed in action and 105 were wounded with Hussein in custody.

After a summer in which U.S. military commanders believed they were about to turn a corner and see a significant decline in casualties, attacks on American forces increased dramatically in October and early November, prompting a U.S. counteroffensive that culminated in Hussein's capture near Tikrit.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34702-2003Dec27.html

[TrogL]

1. I miss the Vietnam days

when the body counts (both sides) were front-page news.

[diamond14]

10. ...there was little truth to the body counts from Vietnam....

the true number was hidden until the Vietnam Memorial Wall was finished and many victims families came forward to get their loved one's name on the Wall...the pentagoon feigned surprise as the list continued to grow....

it is likely the same in Iraq...everyday, we hear of explosions, fires, attacks...and rarely does an American soldier die...it's just unbelievable...

here is the typical Vietnam scenerio....
-----------------------------------------
They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967

By David Maraniss
Simon & Schuster, 572 pages, 2003

Reviewed by Linda Linguvic

It’s October 1967, only one month in time. Yet David Maraniss, an esteemed Washington Post journalist, has woven together a unique history of the Vietnam era in this one month. The focus is on one infantry battalion in Vietnam, a student protest at the University of Wisconsin and President Johnson's decisions in Washington. It's a stirring narrative, woven together from hundreds of archival documents and interviews. Add to this the writer's skill in bringing to life each of the many real people in this unfolding drama and weaving it all together in an interconnected story that held me spellbound throughout its 528 pages.

We get to meet the soldiers and read excerpts from letters they sent home. There's Terry Allen Jr., the commander, whose father was a WW2 hero and who's struggling with marital problems. There's Lt. Clark Welch who feels self confident and invincible. There's Michael Arias, who carries the heavy radio through the jungle. There's Daniel Sikorski whose sister back home is having nightmares. And then there is Vo Minh Triet, the Viet Cong commander who engaged the Americans in conflict. They meet in battle and we share the terror as well as the excruciating details of carnage and death. Fifty-eight Americans died that day and more than 60 were wounded. And yet the truth was only known to the men in combat as the media accounts were based on deceptive spins of military and Washington politics.

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=592

[thebigidea]

2. this just shows how much progress we're making

[Scott Lee]

3. Dean was right.

But then again, most of us knew this.

[IndianaGreen]

4. But Kerry, Gephardt, and Lieberman said we were safer

after Saddam was captured. What went wrong? Our most experienced candidates, with years of service in Congress, joined the White House in lauding Bush for making us safer, and they chided Dean for being so "negative".

I don't know what to think if our candidates that voted for IWR, expecting flowers and singing in the streets, are found to also be wrong about America being safer.

What are we to do????? Who can we trust????

[Columbia]

6. Excuse my ignorance

But what does IWR stand for?

[Cooley Hurd]

8. IRW - Iraq War Resolution

...the one which gave Shrub the power to invade Iraq.

BTW - Welcome to DU! :hi:

[NickB79]

5. But, but

We got Saddam!?!? *Freeper scratches head in confusion*

[diamond14]

7. spinning, as rummy wanted...substitute other 'cannon fodder' and

suddenly, the whole debacle appears 'under control'...by paying billions for other countries to substitute for OUR 'cannon fodder', now, soldiers from Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, Australia, and Iraq are KILLED instead of American Soldiers...

and since rummy paid so much for those 'substitutes', it makes the war look real nice and happy....

and the total 'casualties' are real high (as the article noted)...
and totally just as high as Vietnam...except now, with advances in Chemistry, we have 'walking dead' instead of just 'dead'...and the costs $$$$ to the American taxpayer is much much much higher than the unmarried 19 year olds KILLED in Vietnam...now we have just as many saved, but BADLY disabled, with families and dependents
...living for years needing medical care and $100,000 legs/arms which need regular adjustment/replacements....and constant expensive medical care for the rest of their painful days....

------------------------------------------

Chemists have made the BIG difference in Iraq by creating TWO products, which reduce fatalities, leaving MAJOR horrendous injuries (which cannot be shown to the public):

1. Kevlar vests to protect your legs and head...leaving just arms and legs and faces to get blown off (which is what is happening A LOT)

2. QuikClot...a wound dressing that can be applied by the wounded soldier, stops infection, adsorbs all the liquid in the blood, and leaves behind the clotting factors so you won't bleed to death...when your leg is blown off, this dressing can be quickly applied (even by the wounded soldier) and your life is saved...sadly though, you still have no leg, and maybe no hearing or arms or eyes or mind...but still, you are alive...just another 'walking dead' instead of another 'dead'...that's the main difference between Vietnam and Iraq...better living through Chemistry....

http://www.globaltechnoscan.com/11thJune-17thJune03/blood_clotting.htm

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. My my, but they told me it was gonig to be a cake walk

and candies and flowers were going to be given to our troops

What Happened?

Did they lie and thousands die?

Oh now seriously we are quicly aproacing 1966 casualty numbers folks

[NNN0LHI]

11. If this is true and the number of attacks has reduced also, that means...

...the Iraqis are getting better at what they do. Kind of thought this is what would happen 6 months ago. The Iraqis are in no hurry for us to leave. They are not going anywhere anyway. And it appears that they have turned hunting and killing soldiers almost into a sport. Problem is they will be even better after another six months of practice. We are in an unwinnable situation.

Don

[0007]

13. A very good observation!

I also believe that when the Wahhabi,Sunni, Kurdish, Bat’this and the Shi’ite all unite that Iraq will be completley uncontrolable.

Perhap this will bring all the Iraqis closer together?

[Mari333]

12. Hell

and my 21 year old, very naieve, very immature stepson is walking right into it on Jan 4th for one year.
I hope we make it thru 2004 without losing our minds.

[Barrett808]

14. But, but...Colonel Russell says resistance is "waning" in Tikrit! n/t