U.S. Death Toll Passes 1000 in Iraq ...

[Gatekeeper]

... it's just breaking on the wires ... I'll see if I can round up an article shortly.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

Everyone:

Aha! Here we go ...

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed 1,000 Tuesday, an Associated Press tally showed, as a spike in fighting with both Sunni and Shiite insurgents killed seven Americans in scattered clashes in the Baghdad area.

The count includes 998 U.S. troops and three civilian contractors killed while working for the Pentagon. The tally was compiled by the AP based on Pentagon records, AP reporting from Iraq, and reports from soldiers' families.

It includes deaths from hostile and non-hostile causes since President Bush launched a campaign in March 2003 to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. A few deaths occurred in neighboring Kuwait.

The grim milestone was surpassed after a spike in clashes that has killed 14 American service members in the past two days. Two soldiers died in fighting Tuesday with militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Five other Americans died Tuesday in separate attacks, mostly in the Baghdad area.

Earlier Tuesday, during a news conference at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sought to play down the impact of the milestone, saying the "civilized world" had long passed the 1,000th death at the hands of terrorists.

The Bush administration has long linked the Iraq conflict to the war on terrorism. The Sept. 11 Commission concluded that Iraq and al-Qaida did not have a "collaborative relationship" before the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, and some have questioned to what extent foreign terror groups are involved in the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq.

It's the small town funerals for the soldiers that could put more of a dent in Bush's reelection campaign than any amount of whitewashing by Rumsfeld, et al.

I was with Bush through Afghanistan, and still am. After that point, though, the man lost me, and has yet to convince me he's worth voting for again.

Gatekeeper

[Gibsie]

/liberals everywhere celebrate

[MichaeltheGreat]

And we're close on 7,000 wounded, but Bush/Iraq apologists will say that everything's going fine and 8,000 casualties is nothing.

[NeOmega]

Originally posted by Gibsie
/liberals everywhere celebrate

I think it is the conservatives who love this war.

[MikeH]

Originally posted by Gibsie
/liberals everywhere celebrate

As a liberal, I'd never celebrate the deaths of the US or UK or any other soldiers who are out there. They are doing an incredibly difficult job that I could never do. Whether or not I agree with why they are there is irrelevant, it's not their fault and my sympathies go out to their families.

[Provost Harrison]

So how many Iraqis have died so far?

[GePap]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
And we're close on 7,000 wounded, but Bush/Iraq apologists will say that everything's going fine and 8,000 casualties is nothing.

Well, obviously we have been there more than a year, and yet we have not had even as many dead as we had in the 8 years of our involvement in Vietnam! Not to compare to our loses in the Civil War or WW2!

So 1000 dead is a meaningless number!

[Flubber]

Originally posted by GePap


So 1000 dead is a meaningless number!

1000 might seem meaningless-- but each and every SINGLE ONE of those dead people were meaningful to someone.

I continue to question the need for the Iraq war, its purpose and the possibility of an exit strategy that doesn't make it all in vain. That doesn't mean that they all don't matter. I just hope that they are dying for soemthing worthwhile

[gunkulator]

And what exactly did those 1000 men give up their lives for? The ultimate sacrefice was demanded of these men ... and for what?

[Provost Harrison]

I find that extraordinarily obtuse GePap

[GePap]

Have you people not read enough of my work to guess what i said was in jest?!!?

Where have you guys been?!?

[Nubclear]

GePap, when did you become such a Republican?!

[GePap]

That's me, Mr. Repubican. Did you know that I am also the only valid source of news from Iraq? It's true.

[Agathon]

In 20 years they will be a thousand people whose lives were lost for an ignominious cause, and for an administration that had no respect for the covenant a society is supposed to have with its armed forces.