THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

... Another horrible landmark passed.

The really sad thing is that the true number of dead for the US is much higher. They massage the numbers as much as possible to keep them low... and we're STILL over 1500....

I understand to you oldsters who lived through/around WW2 that that number doesn't sound high... but it does to me... Cycloptichorn

Got to you didn't it Ican.....
MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

By the Way, are you one of those posting bad news articles and cartoons in this forum who actually believes those articles are reliable descriptions of what is true?

yada yada yada yada...

U.S. troop deaths fall in Feb.
By John Diamond and Dave Moniz, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD ?- Fifty-eight American troops died in Iraq in February, the fewest fatalities since 54 died in July, preliminary Pentagon statistics show.

Translating the death count into a daily rate, February's losses were down sharply from January and less than half those in November, the war's bloodiest month for U.S. forces.

The February figures raise the total U.S. death toll in the war to 1,500.

A U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday in Babil province, just south of Baghdad, part of an area known as the ''Triangle of Death.' The soldier, assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed in action ''while conducting security and stability operations,'' the military said.

One reason for the drop in fatalities may be a shift in insurgent attacks toward Iraqis. In the latest violence, two car bombs killed at least 14 Iraqi soldiers and civilians in Baghdad on Wednesday. On Monday, a suicide attack on police and army recruits in Hillah killed at least 125. It was the single deadliest attack in the nearly 2-year-old insurgency.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. forces in the Middle East, and other top U.S. commanders say the war may be entering a new phase. Among the reasons they cite:

• The Army and Marines have dramatically improved their ability to electronically jam remotely detonated roadside bombs.

• The military is getting more intelligence tips since Iraq's Jan. 30 elections, Abizaid told Congress this week. He said he believes the elections have prompted many moderates to cooperate with U.S. and Iraqi forces.

In Baghdad, Army Capt. Michael Burgoyne says U.S. forces have become adept at spotting roadside bombs hidden in piles of trash or even dead dogs.

Lt. Brad Gannaway, an intelligence officer, agrees that threats have ebbed. "We haven't had a mortar attack in six weeks here," he says, knocking on wood.

Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, cautions against reading too much into one month's number. "What we are seeing now is a return to the level of violence we saw for much of 2004," not a major shift in fortunes, he says.

Mideast Photos - AFP
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General Mohamed Faik Raouf holds his Kalashnikov rifle on patrol in Baghdad's Haifa street district. Raouf likes to boast that he shot down an American fighter jet over Baghdad in the 1991 Gulf War. It is on men like him that the United States is now pinning its hopes for a speedy withdrawal of its troops from Iraq.(AFP/Karim Sahib)
Sun Feb 27,11:16 AM ET
AFP

1) Be courteous. You agree that you will not threaten or verbally abuse other members, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt topics with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or "spam." Spammers will be removed from the service, and their accounts terminated.

By The Way, are you one of those posting bad news articles and bad news cartoons in this forum who actually believes those articles are reliable descriptions of what is true?

...Tell me, who do you believe? The government? I don't think so. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, as with pretty much everything in life. As for your straw-man arguments, I'm uninterested. Find someone else to berate for a while. Cycloptichorn

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... See? Tico just posted a good news article! Still, 1,500 dead....

Heck, good graph, Gel!!! I was just looking up the same thing!!

Gelisgesti wrote:

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Am I correct in inferring that you want the US to pull out of Iraq now?

Am I correct in inferring that you want the US to emulate the US's South Vietnam behavior, and desert the Iraqis people's quest for a democracy of their own design, and flee from Iraq now ?

Am I correct in inferring that you believe US desertion from Iraq is a necessary step toward solving the terrorist problem now ?

Are you one of those people who believes there should not be any cost to securing freedom, or, in other words, freedom should be free?

By The Way, are you one of those posting bad news articles and bad news cartoons in this forum who actually believes those articles are reliable descriptions of what is true?

I don't care what your answer to my question is; I don't care to answer your questions, either. You ARE bringing straw man arguments, and I'll have none of it. Once again, I'm asking you to stop posting crap over and over again. I'm attempting to be cordial here; I won't ask again. Cycloptichorn

I don't care what your answer to my question is; I don't care to answer your questions, either. You ARE bringing straw man arguments, and I'll have none of it. Once again, I'm asking you to stop posting crap over and over again. I'm attempting to be cordial here; I won't ask again. Cycloptichorn