(Originally posted August 1, 2007)
And I hold George W. Bush, the criminally-insane mass-murderer, responsible for every single death!
Along with the enabling Democra*ic Party!
Every single one!
It is HIS LIES that CREATED THIS MESS -- with Democra*ic ACQUIESENCE!!!!!!
WAR CRIMINALS ALL!
"July American death toll in Iraq lowest in 8 months" by Kim Gamel/Associated Press August 1, 2007
[Yeah, AmeriKa is going to be sold ANOTHER LIE (Pollack has been named in connection with the AIPAC spy scandal) about the SURGE!
It's WORKING! Isn't it?]
BAGHDAD -- American military deaths for July rose to 73 yesterday with the report of a Marine killed in combat, but the toll was still the lowest in eight months as the United States said it was gaining control of former militant strongholds.
By contrast, July was the second-deadliest month for Iraqis so far this year, according to an Associated Press tally.
US military officials, while saying they were heartened by the downturn in American deaths, cautioned it was too early to predict a sustained trend.
"We had said over the summer it's going to get harder before it gets easier," said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a military spokesman in Baghdad. "We're hoping that we're in the easier part, but we still obviously have a long way to go."
Nevertheless, the daily average for US troop deaths in July was at least 2.35 -- higher than the daily average of 2.25 last year, and remarkably consistent with average daily casualties in 2005, at 2.32, and 2004, at 2.33.
This was also the deadliest July for US troops since the war began. For the previous three years, the month of July saw a relatively low death toll. In July 2006, 43 US troops were killed in Iraq, and 54 died in each of the previous two Julys.
The Defense Department, meanwhile, announced yesterday that nearly 20,000 US troops based in the United States will begin leaving for Iraq in December for a regular rotation of combat forces.
[Oh, THERE is my ESCALATION as reported by AmeriKa's MSM!
Sorry, they did report it, didn't they?]
The incoming units from the Army and Marine Corps are not part of the US troop buildup announced by President Bush in January, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. All of the so-called surge forces arrived by mid-June.
Separately, an Apache helicopter went down yesterday after taking ground fire in a predominantly Shi'ite area in eastern Baghdad, but both crew members were safely evacuated, the military said. Also, two unmanned drones have crashed this week at the Balad air base north of Baghdad, the military said.
More than 100 American forces died each month from April to June as the incoming US troops were deployed with the Iraqi Army in Baghdad's dangerous streets and security outposts.
The forces also moved to clear areas that had been militant safe havens in regions around Baghdad and Baqubah, the insurgent and militia stronghold northeast of the capital.
American officials attributed the drop in US casualties to the new strategies put in place by commander General David Petraeus, who has taken the fight to the enemy rather than keeping forces in defensive bases.
"We're chasing them to areas where they're not so well prepared and they don't have time to prepare, so chances are we will have fewer casualties," a senior US military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the sensitive operations. "The tactical momentum has shifted to us."
The number two commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, expressed cautious optimism last week about the decline in deaths.
He said casualties had increased as US forces expanded operations into militant strongholds in the initial stages of the 5-month-old security crackdown to clamp off violence in Baghdad. Now, he said, casualties were dropping as Americans gained control in those areas.
The US military said yesterday that the Marine had been killed the day before in fighting in the vast Anbar province west of Baghdad.
The attack raised to at least 73 the number of US service members who have died in Iraq in July, the lowest number since November 2006, when at least 70 US deaths were reported.
In all, at least 3,652 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians.
Iraqi deaths rose, with at least 2,024 civilians, government officials, and security forces killed in July, about 23 percent more than the 1,640 who died violently in June, according to Associated Press figures compiled from police reports nationwide. That made July the second-deadliest month for Iraqis so far this year; at least 2,155 Iraqis were killed in May.
The figures are considered only a minimum based on Associated Press reporting. The actual number is probably higher, as many killings go unreported.
At least 32 Iraqis were killed or found dead yesterday."
Yeah, as if the Iraqis killed are an afterthought.
Typical AmeriKan MSM coverage.
Muslim lives don't matter much.
How many are being killed, anyway, and how come my MSM does NOT REPORT SUCH?
Hmmmmm!!!
AmeriKan or Muslim, they were all SACRIFICED FOR A LIE!!!!
