Americans Squirm as U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Surges (65% say unacceptable)

[Barrett808]

Americans Squirm as U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Surges
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. troops are dying in higher numbers in Iraq this month than at any time during the war, with polls showing rising unease among Americans over the mounting death toll and doubts about the conflict's merits.

At least 106 U.S. troops have died in April amid fierce attacks by insurgents in both Sunni Muslim and Shi'ite regions -- far more than any month since the U.S.-led invasion to oust President Saddam Hussein. The previous peak was 82 deaths in November during an earlier spike in attacks by insurgents.

In 13 months of military involvement in Iraq, 709 Americans have been killed in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The death toll in the first three weeks of April has about matched the 109 killed in combat from the March 2003 start of the invasion until President Bush declared an end to "major combat" operations six weeks later. Bush made that declaration aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln standing in front of a banner stating, "Mission Accomplished."

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll of 1,201 U.S. adults published on Tuesday, 65 percent said there had been an "unacceptable" number of U.S. military casualties while 33 percent said the level was "acceptable."

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040420/us_nm/iraq_usa_toll_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1480

[lightbulb]

1. squirm?

How about "fume"?

[denverbill]

2. Hmm.

33 percent said the level was "acceptable."

Let me guess exactly who that 33% is? And let me guess exactly how many of those 33% have loved ones whose life is on the line over there. (My guesses? Republicans and zero).

[saigon68]

13. Words fail me

I'd better shut up today or I'll be banned

[UpInArms]

3. squirm is so inappropriate a term

that I cannot even respond.

Agonize? Fume? Scream? Demand accountability?

Where the hell is the outrage in this country?

:nuke:

[curlyred]

4. so was the "war" ok until it made us uncomfortable?

Until too many Americans were killed? Doesn't it make people "squirm" when Iraquis are being killed in countless numbers?

[Skittles]

8. sickening, huh?

no doubt many of these people are in church every Sunday too.

[Az_lefty]

5. Acceptable?????

what are these freeking idiots thinking????

[Just Me]

6. What!!!! People failed to consider the consequences of war,...

,...until the horrors land at their freakin' front door steps?

Or, is it because they were told over and over that this was gonna' be like a walk in the park, with flowers and candy falling all around our righteous feet for being heros,...after that "shock and awe" testosterone-strong fireworks show?

Or, is it because people just forgot to think?

Yak!!! :puke:

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

THIS IS WAR!!! :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[Prodemsouth]

7. No problem with the word "squirm". The fat rats were saying in

USA Today this morning that we should send more troops, just saw the headline, maybe jumping the gun. I wonder is USA today asked about a Draft? And what the response was after that if they did?

[skooooo]

9. Squirm away, but will vote for Bush.

DUH!

[leftchick]

10. THOUSANDS of Iraqi Dead are No problem?!?

murikans are so fucking stupid....



An Iraqi youth cries near the grave stone of Falluja resident Abu Abdullah, at a makeshift cemetery in the besieged town, April 20, 2004. The script in Arabic reads, 'Abu Abdullah the martyr, mutilated by Americans.' Arabs in the Middle East hate the United States more than ever following the invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) and Israel's assassination of two Hamas leaders, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) said in comments published Tuesday. Mubarak, who visited the U.S. last week, told French newspaper Le Monde that Washington's actions had caused despair, frustration and a sense of injustice in the Arab world. Photo by Akram Saleh/Reuters

[saigon68]

27. This is the "RATS NEST" that War Criminal Myers talks about




Gen. BLUE SUIT MEYERS puppet boy, US military catamite, appointed by Caesar Cheney in the year of Our Lord 2001

His quotes “Duh, we are winning” and on the increased violence that flared up this month is "a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq"

And "No my hand is not grabbing at her breast"

Also on the subject of Fallujah "We went in because we had to find the perpetrators and what we found was a huge rat's nest that is still festering today. It needs to be dealt with,"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/newstmpl=story&u=/afp/20040420/pl_afp/us_iraq_fallujah_myers&cid=1521&ncid=1473

[Just Me]

29. I wish I could hug that child,...

,...well, i am hugging that child, right now. In a way, I know that I feel a sense of powerlessness that he feels,...although I do not know his element of loss,...

I know that child, and I love that child and I embrace that child.

My heart and soul and being is with that child and the children and innocents who have been sacrificed in this awful circumstance.

:cry:

Light to You All

I know you have peace :cry:

[samsingh]

11. 33% of the public don't care about our soldiers

these were probably the same jerks who were supporting the war and describing anyone warning against it as unpatriotic and unsupportive of our soldiers.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

12. 1/3rd of Americans don't give a damn about the soldiers.

hmmmm....that one third must be the Repubs!

:eyes:

[malachi]

15. "1/3rd of Americans don't give a damn about the soldiers."

That should be the GD headline!

[mbperrin]

14. If Bush would allow coverage of the coffins coming in

at Dover, squirming could increase quickly, maybe even quickly enough to save some lives (both American and Iraqi)!

[riverwalker]

16. the 33%

say the death toll is acceptable? mmmmmph mmmmph censoring myselfx(

[imax2268]

17. I find

the death of our soldiers as unnacceptable...and also the death of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children...BushCo is a lying little shyte and should be impeached...

[maggrwaggr]

18. when your head's in THIS sand, blood gets in your eyes

squirm = finding it difficult to ignore

I'm about ready to say fuck it all to this country. Half of Americans are simply despicable.

[robertpaulsen]

24. I've run out of patience myself.

After reading this, along with the USA Today shitpoll showing majority support for Bush and a support for an INCREASE in the number of troops to Iraq, despite the fact most doubt we can create a stable democracy in Iraq, I am FUCKING FED UP! If on November 2, Bush is elected, not selected, but actually voted into office, then I too say fuck this country, America fucking deserves every evil desire the PNAC kills for. STUPID FUCKING SHEEPLE BETTER WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!

Sorry for the rant, I'm just so disgusted by everything I've been reading today.

[maggrwaggr]

25. I'm with you on that. To hell with 'em all at this point

I'm about ready to totally tune out.

[PassingFair]

28. I'm starting to feel the same way, magg...

When we started laying medieval sieges around Iraq, I got so angry. Now, understand, my usual reaction to any stress is sadness, empathy. But I realize that it's different now. What I feel, deep inside, is rage. Rage at the people around me who supported and continue to support this invasion and occupation. They do not have a moral leg to stand on. They are no better than Nazis. Soon, I hope the weight of this administration's wrongdoings and lies will begin to collapse in on them. All those who supported the rape of Iraq should be forced to view footage and stills of the innocent victims of Bushco's Oil War. For shame!

[Piperay]

34. Also when Americans heads are up their ass's

they (are apparently willing to) swallow whatever shit they are fed.

I'm about ready to say fuck it too. :argh:

[Malva Zebrina]

19. Excuse me -- did I see that Americans squirm overt this?

excuse me but it is perfectly fine, morally and ethically to kill dead, thousands of innocent people , including women and pregnant women and babies and toddlers and children and old men?


That that is perfectly OK because according to the testimony of Wolfowitz today, these dead people needed to be liberated and relieved of their awful and terrible tyrannical leader SAddam

Oh please


It is all a bunch of toro patties and is, to be frank ,bullshit.

So what do we do? err, actually what is being offered to us as a choice?

err=---NOTHING

All Bush, err well let me say Cheney wanted was those oil fields. They got em--is that not the truth

and that may be the entire goal of this war instigated by Cheney, a person , intrically involved with the Halliburton corp who is making billions on this invasion , this murder, this occupation of a country using our children to grab these oil fields

do NOT believe it is for any other reason., IT IS NOT>

IT is not to establish the "freedom" that a stupid, puppet such as George Bush spouts time after time in his money making appearances.
He is merely a puppet and one that is willing to be a puppet as long as he gets to be the "tough"
mano mano tough guy.

That is all his stupid intellect can absorb.

and thousand upon thousand were bombed and killed and mutilated--little children were left without arms and legs because of a stupid man's desires to enhance his own image.

and it is being justified by evil persons such as
'Wolfowitz and being justified in order to "free" the Iraq people


It is bullshit'

It is bullshit.

It is nothing but propaganda that serves the neo cons who wish to protect Israel anbd who wihs for the US to invade and steal from those countries it deems evil , their stuff

I cannot subscribe to this. It is barbaric--it is against every humanist impulse that would have a world peace.

[thebeaglehaslanded]

20. At the current rate of American deaths in Iraq,

should Chimpy be re-elected he will have caused the death of more Americans than did the attack of 9-11. Everyone should be squirming and trying to ensure that this killer does not get the chance to extend his reign of terror.

[symbolman]

21. This may sound ghoulish

but a friend asked me (he has no compute access) if during Easter we'd somehow hit the magic number of "666" troops dead.

We've been trying to show people the problems with this from the soldiers and veteran's side for quite a while.. remember our ARMY OF ONE ad ran on Cable in New Hampshire 3000 times during the Primaries..

I even offered it to Kerry but never heard back from them.. if you haven't seen it here it is:

This is the flash movie:

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/onearmy.html

there's also a TV version that you can see on the Bush in 30 seconds MoveOn.org contest where we were one of 16 finalists out of 1600 entries..

Here's that link:

http://www.bushin30seconds.com/view/11_large.shtml

At least one third of our country is mentally ill.

[Pretty_in_CodePink]

37. One of the saddest pieces I've seen lately.

I am going to e-mail this link to everyone in my address book!

[xchrom]

22. this survey says americans find the toll

unacceptable -- yet bush's poll numbers keep in a competitive position with kerry.
i find americans are becoming -- unacceptable.

[leftchick]

23. as NCSs posted here.....

There is indeed a parallel universe....


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=498456&mesg_id=498456

[Politicub]

26. Where is the display of outrage?

"Squirmed" is an insult. We are disgusted by the deaths of Americans made to fight Bush's war.

More than 100 soldiers died in April alone. Unbelievable.

[koopie57]

30. this makes me sick

I wonder which soldier was the one too many? I think the first one was. I saw Cheney scowl and mumble at a pro-life luncheon today and it never ceases to amaze me how they fight for the fetus to live, but once it is born they despise the person if the parent/parents are on welfare, they won't fund for it's care, health care, and then kill it if it commits a crime, and send it to war to serve their purposes.

[kitkatrose]

35. They want the fetuses to live

in shitty conditions, so that being cannon fodder for their wars seems like a good idea.

This whole article pisses me off. Why couldn't anyone see that this was going to happen? I could, my family could, DU could, why not the creeps in charge? Why not the American public? You can never have a war without consequences, it just doesn't happen. Where did our empathy for other people go? Oh, I forgot, they're just 'brown mud people' and deserve to die for attacking our 'great bastion of freedom.' :nuke::nuke::nuke:

[despairing optimist]

31. It's like Berlin in '41

Films from the times show well-dressed Germans in outdoor cafes living it up, blissfully ignorant of the ugly events going on in the camps and ghettos and the faraway battlefields. But their world came crashing down on them in short order, as ours will if we can't get enough people off the sedatives daily administered to them by the mainstream news and entertainment media. Add in religious leaders who may be willingly complicit in this charade, perhaps zombies themselves who are too lost among the trees to see beyond the forest, or simply intimidated into silence and venality, and we have a society that has surrendered to corruption. After all these years, H.L. Mencken is still brutally correct. America is the only nation to go from barbarism to decadence without passing through civilization first.

If November brings no positive change, from either political party, we won't need the old Berlin newsreels anymore. We can watch our own. For a while, anyway.

[Laughing Mirror]

38. Great post ceejayay and welcome to the Democratic Underground

[2cents]

32. No need for a draft

I'm sure those 33's would love to volunteer.

[Piperay]

33. chimp is still getting their vote

though I'm sure, no matter what the fuck goes on. :argh: :mad:

[catmandu57]

36. That 33%

in my opinion are the ones cheering on Armmageddon, smiling blissfully, knowing that gw mcchimp* is doing his best to bring jesus back.

[PATRICK]

39. About the blissful awaiters of Armageddon

They might sell or burn their homes if they believed a date. They might take up the sword and slaughter their neighbors. They might follow any Messiah at all to gratify this desire.

But one whiff of real personal danger and change, one manifestation of the merciful yet just God and these "zealots" would be the first to cut and run. Much to your collective amazement or amusement.

[smirkymonkey]

40. How much longer before we get to the point where

we have killed more Iraqis than Saddam??

This is absolute madness.