May deaths could be least of Iraq war

[unhappycamper]

May deaths could be least of Iraq war
By Charles Levinson - USA Today
Posted : Friday May 30, 2008 11:31:25 EDT

BAGHDAD — This May has been one of the least violent months of the Iraq war. The relative calm follows a cease-fire agreement by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia in the face of steady pressure from U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Eighteen U.S. service members have been identified as having died in Iraq so far in May, according to the Pentagon. To date, the least deadly month of the five-year war was February 2004, when 21 U.S. troops were killed in a 29-day period. The number of wounded also has fallen.

Overall, militant attacks in Iraq have dropped to levels not seen since spring 2004, U.S. military spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll said this week. Attacks are down 70 percent since President Bush ordered a U.S. troop increase, or “surge,” early last year.

Sadr agreed to a truce earlier this month after two months of clashes with U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces. The fighting followed a decision by the Iraqi government to rein in al-Sadr’s Mahdi army and other Shiite militant groups. Iraqi forces have also intensified their offensive against Sunni militants, including al-Qaida, in the northern city of Mosul.

“We’re seeing progress because we’re getting more capability out of the Iraqi security forces,” said Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin III, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/gns_iraqdeaths_053008/

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

1. Wow, "only" 18.

yippee.

[NYVet]

2. Let me put it into perspective

We lost more teens due to DWI in 2005 and 2006 than we have since the war began. (2,137 in 2005 and 2,035 in 2006)

EACH AND EVERY service member who joins the military knows that they may be sent to fight and possibly die in a foreign country.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

3. EACH AND EVERY service member who joins the military

has the expectation that they will not be sent to fight and die in a bullshit war for corporate profits and presidential cronyism. I'm quite frankly shocked at what you consider "perspective".

[NYVet]

4. News flash.

Iraq and Afghanistan are not

a bullshit war for corporate profits and presidential cronyism.

Afghanistan is a war because they allowed Osama to setup camps to train the bastards who flew planes into buildings here.

Iraq is a war because we had a ceasefire that ended the first Gulf War. A ceasefire that required Saddam follow certain rules. He didn't, we warned him that he had one last chance to comply with those rules, he thought that we were blustering like we had been for many years prior, we invaded, and people screwed the pooch on post invasion planning.

And my perspective doesn't care what you find shocking.
I have been in the military for almost 18 years and I have seen friends injured, wounded, or killed since I first entered the service. While I mourn the loss of every soldier, sailor, airman, and marine, I also recognize that we have been in this war long enough that anyone who was in prior to the Invasion has had their reenlistment window open at least once (some people two or three times) and they believe in the mission that they now have, which is to ensure that the Iraqi military is strong enough and capable enough to take over for us in the internal security mission.