Land of Oz

It's Getting Better

Here's an excerpt from a recent Reuters article:

At least 76 U.S. troops were killed this month, reflecting a steady increase in American deaths since the United States transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on June 28, officially ending the occupation, according to a count of U.S. fatalities announced by the Pentagon.

Forty-two U.S. troops were killed in June, 54 in July and 66 in August.

Only three other months have produced a higher American death count than September since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 to topple President Saddam Hussein.

The highest death count, with 135 U.S. military fatalities, came this past April, with the simultaneous flaring of the insurgency in the so-called Sunni Triangle and in the Shi'ite south. Eighty were killed in May as well.

In November 2003, 82 U.S. troops died during a spike in insurgent violence that coincided with the Islamic holy month Ramadan.

Yes, I will admit there's been successes in Iraq. And maybe the press emphasizes the bad instead of the good, but it's kinda hard to dismiss statistics like this. And these are just deaths - there's little mention anymore about wounded. How many G.I.s don't fit into this metric, but are instead wounded. They're not dead, but they're missing an arm or a leg or an eye.

Today's body armour is pretty good stuff. It keeps you alive while the blast takes off your appendages. I know it cliche by now, but this sure does sound a lot like 'Nam. They were both started by a president under somewhat shaky reasons - the Gulf Of Tonkin and WMD - both of which history shows to be less than what was believed at the time. Both contain good guys and bad guys who can't be told apart. Both involve shoring up or building an existing weak government. Both have adversaries who have no problems blowing themselves to bits as long as they take a couple of infidels/non-communist bodies with them. Both have small strongholds of safety while most of the countryside belongs to the bad guys. However, we lost in one and in the other...