US death toll in Iraq hits 2,500; we told you so!


By Sam Johns

NEW YORK (BNW) — It’s hard to say, “I told you so when predicting the troubles our troops are having in Iraq. The number of US troops killed in Iraq has reached 2,500 with the death of a marine, the Pentagon has announced this week. All I can say is I told you so!

It is equally hard to say that we, the American people, deserve what we get by letting Stupid Bush get into this mess, but we do deserve what we get. While the Pentagon did not identify the 2,500th casualty, it don’t make any difference because thousand more will die before this mess is over.

A Pentagon statement said 1,972 of those who died were killed in action.

The campaign group Iraq Body Count estimates that the number of civilians killed since the outset of the conflict ranges between 38,355 and 42,747.

It makes its calculation on the basis of media reports, and believes it to be a conservative estimate.

Other reports put the number of civilian casualties much higher.

Thousands of Iraqi security forces, military personnel from other countries, and Iraqi and foreign insurgents have also died.

'Tremendous sacrifice'

Between November 2005 and March 2006, the number of US military fatalities fell month-by-month, as insurgents seemed to focus attacks on Iraqi security forces and civilians. However, while the death of our children hurts in the US, over 100,000 innocent Iraqis have been murdered in our name.

However, they jumped back above the average for April and May. The Pentagon put the blame on a recent surge in rebel violence.

Polls in the US suggest opposition to America's presence in Iraq has grown - while support for President George Bush's handling of the war has fallen.

The Pentagon notes that the death rate for US troops is much lower than those in the Vietnam or Korean wars, to which Iraq has sometimes been compared.

In each of those conflicts more than 50,000 US troops died.

"It's important to remember that there is a mission, and there is a greater good which sometimes necessitates tremendous sacrifice," said the US army's Brig Gen Carter Ham.

"Rather than focus on an aggregate number, I think it's more important for us to remember that there are individuals in that aggregate number... to whom we should be very, very grateful, and to their families."

The US Senate on Thursday approved $65.8bn for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, following a similar vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the US has now spent or allocated $438bn on its "war on terror", with more than 70% spent in Iraq.



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