4485: Another American Dies in Iraq

November 15, 2011 // 1 Comment »

From the show that never ends:

The U.S. military says an American service member has been killed while conducting military operations in central Iraq. The military statement released Tuesday said the death occurred Monday. It gave no further details of the incident.

The statement said the incident is under investigation. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The death raises to at least 4,485 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

Posted in Iraq, Military

Another US Iraq Death: 4477

October 12, 2011 // Comments Off on Another US Iraq Death: 4477

As of Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 4,477 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The latest identifications reported by the military: Chief Warrant Officer James B. Wilke, 38, of Ione, California; died October 10, in Doha, Qatar; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

Posted in Iraq, Military

Deadliest Day Since 2009 for US in Iraq

June 6, 2011 // Comments Off on Deadliest Day Since 2009 for US in Iraq

Sadly, another five Americans lost their lives today in Iraq.

Details are limited at the moment, no doubt pending next of kin notifications, but Iraqi security officials said the troops died when three rockets hit near their living quarters at a joint US-Iraqi base in the Baladiyat neighborhood (southeastern Baghdad) where US forces were partnering with Ministry of Interior troops.

The overall US death tool is now 4459 lives lost.

The deaths mark the deadliest day for the US in Iraq since 2009, and may be a dark sign of things to come. The State Department is scheduled to take over the training missions the soldiers were executing, albeit using contractors not diplomats for the mission.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a total of twenty non-American people were killed in Tikrit and the capital Monday morning. On Friday, attacks at a mosque and at a Tikrit hospital killed 23 people and wounded 60.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

Posted in Iraq, Military

Empty Spaces. 4454 Dead in Iraq.

May 27, 2011 // 6 Comments »

We honor them this Memorial Day not by sending more of their brothers and sisters to die. Do the dead lack company?

Since the invasion of 2003, 4454 Americans died in Iraq. How many is that? I decided to show myself, typing one X for each of them.

It did not take that long– a soldier hit in a major vessel can bleed out in only a few minutes– one key after another. Joshua, Jacob, Rahim, Carol, Towana, Richard, a couple of Peters, another with the same name as my own military-age child. Too many took their own lives, but just an X below nonetheless because they died of this war same as those who died in it.

Pick one X and think about him. Eleven died in April alone. Alone. Two more in May.

For every X is a space, 4454 of them too, moms and dads, brothers, friends, girlfriends, dogs, empty spaces.

Type it out yourself, then do what I did, lock yourself in the bathroom and curse.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X

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Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

Posted in Iraq, Military

4452 Dead: April is deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since 2009

May 1, 2011 // Comments Off on 4452 Dead: April is deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since 2009

April was the deadliest month for US military forces in Iraq since 2009.

US forces said an 11th soldier for this month died Friday while conducting an operation in southern Iraq. With that death, the US military tied its highest body count in Iraq since November 2009, when 11 soldiers also died, according to icasualties.org.

A bunch o’ Iraqis also died.

We all voted for change; time to pay up. Can we just call this a tie or something and get the hell out of Iraq please? Thank you.

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

Posted in Iraq, Military

MidEast Govt. Fires on Own Citizens

April 18, 2011 // Comments Off on MidEast Govt. Fires on Own Citizens

Alert NATO to schedule another bombing run against a corrupt Middle Eastern government that uses foreign-equipped paramilitary police forces to fire into crowds of protesters outside their own homes.

Oops. It was Iraq. Iraqi police shot seven people in Sulaimaniya yesterday. At least nine protesters have been killed since Feb. 17 in antigovernment demonstrations in the semiautonomous Kurdish region. No official reaction from NATO or the US for the same government actions that result in bombing runs and sanctions in neighboring countries.

You can see a clippet of video from the protests on America’s prime news source, YouTube.

American Idol Prime Minister Maliki met in Baghdad on Saturday with orange-colored circus freak John A. Boehner (R – Tears of a Clown), and said that “The Iraqi armed and security forces are able to handle the responsibility of maintaining security and work in a professional way.” Boehner issued no statement but no doubt will encourage Republicans to oppose weather, daylight and the force of gravity.

 

 

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

Posted in Iraq, Military