A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000. The grim milestone came on a day when at least 61 people were killed across the country.
Rockets and mortars pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.
The soldiers with Multi-National Division — Baghdad were on a patrol when their vehicle was struck at about 10 p.m. in southern Baghdad, the military said. Another soldier was wounded in the attack.
Identities of those killed were withheld pending notification of relatives.
Another milestone. Or is that millstone?
As VP Cheney says, “So.”
I bet if you asked the general public how many casualties there are, they couldn’t give you an accurate answer within 100. Though maybe today, with the mainstream media covering this, that may not be true.
Mission Accomplished indeed !!! Haliburton/KBR, Bechtel, and Blackwater got really fat, no-bid, blank-check contracts that can’t even be audited !!! Now they are busy OFF-SHORING THEIR LOOT !!! And the American casualties and the Iraqi and Afghani ??? Collateral Damage, in the real mission – LOOTING THE US TREASURY !!! Follow the money !!!
Well, to be fair, the mission in question was the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The subsequent keeping of the peace while waiting around for the Iraqis to govern themselves is what has proven to be less than successful.
Here is the grim body count.
http://icasualties.org/oif/
This is my republican father’s typical response (that’s how I keep tabs on what Fox News is saying)
* Oh, that many would have died anyway
* That’s what they signed up for
* A lot more died in WW2
* It’s God’s will
* We killed more of them
Why do people still use that pic? It had nothing to do with Bush, the ship he was aboard had just celebrated a milestone and the banner refers to that.
5,
Yeah, right.
#3. #5. The Bush Administration is VERY careful about the imagery surrounding Dubya. Look at videos any of the speeches he gives. It is impossible to believe that the White House did not approve the presence of that banner, explicitly or tacitly.
Also, the theme of the speech was ‘Mission Accomplished.’ I mean, remember how he got to that carrier? He flew in a freakin’ fighter-bomber! It was a victory lap, plain and simple. It was not ‘there’s a lot of hard work left to do’ lap.
#7,
I’m not disputing that the belief that the subsequent reconstruction of Iraq was going to be a cakewalk was extremely simplistic and misguided. What I’m saying is that the mission of the ground invasion (the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein’s government) was accomplished, and that is what the event of that photo-op was centered around.
>>> # 3 Sea Lawyer said, on March 24th, 2008 at 5:45 am
>>> Well, to be fair, the mission in question was the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
No, that was the Whitehouse spin about a year after the speech when we were still in Iraq.
#8. But at the time, toppling Saddam was going to be The War, therefore doing so was the Big Win. There wasn’t going to be an insurgency, remember? Per Cheney, we were going to be “greeted as liberators.” The Administration rejected any inkling that this was going to be a prolonged endeavor – that was why there was going to be no need for a big force to hold a lid on the place.
Thus, Mission Accomplished meant that the War was Won. You don’t celebrate the end of Phase One, if Phases Two and Three are going to be long and bloody.
No way around it – it was “WE WON!” moment.
#10,
We went to war with the sovereign nation of Iraq. We toppled that nation’s government, and have since ceased hostilities with it. So yes, technically, we did “win.”
What we have been involved with since then is a prolonged peacekeeping/police action against a non-governmental insurgency.
Spin it anyway you want, but the facts are they died doing something that didn’t need done. Something done only to monetarily profit the highest levels of US government.
W wanted a parade.
He also wanted to show his daddy that he was a better man.
This is what you get when you elect/have appointed to the presidency a dry-drunk with the mind of a child and the attention span of a terrier.
You get a lot of kids growing up without their dad.
For those that doubt the intensity of this war, and the effectiveness of the opposition, please keep inn mind that the death toll among US servicemen has been enormously held down by modern medical technology.
In Vietnam, ratio of killed to severely wounded was 1:2.6, in Iraq the same ratio is 1:15
This means that if we are to compare the two wars, we need account for that change in death ratio.
Removing the modern medical technology factor, the equivalent death number for US Servicemen in Iraq would be 23,000
Also do not forget that last year was the deadliest in the war… the surge is succeeding in bringing the numbers down from that waterline.
As far as those claiming that the “Mission Accomplished” banner was the ship’s idea… one small detail… the White House brought the banner with it, provided it to the ship and instructed it’s placement. Only after many months of spin did the story evolve that the banner was brought to celebrate only THAT ship, not the whole Iraq war effort.
So a 5 year death rate of 3%, versus the peace death rate of 4%. So going to war saves lives, and George Bush has saved about 1300 lives.
3,000 innocent Americans are killed by 15 lunatic Saudis.
The most powerful man in the world’s response is to send 4,000 Americans to their death in Iraq, (close enough to Saudi Arabia, I guess), at a cost of $1 trillion, and 100,000 innocent Iraqi lives.
Oh, and the leader of the terrorists is still out there plotting more attacks.
#11. There is simply no way to separate out the fight against the insurgency from the initial invasion. The insurgency itself began as part of the Iraqi government’s resistance to the invasion – remember the Saddam Fedayeen?
For some time after the Baathist government was driven from Baghdad, the insurgency was carried out, coordinated and financed by the same Baathists that once had offices there. And now it continues, with different players and faces, but it is part of a single war.
Second of all – one “wins” a war by achieving one’s strategic objectives. The two objectives put forward by the Bush Administration were eliminating Saddam’s WMD threat and establishing a democratic government in Iraq. (Of course, the second one was played up, once it was revealed that the first was a fraud/mistake).
If the US does not establish a democratic government in Iraq that can maintain itself, it will have lost the Iraq War, despite winning the initial battle to oust Saddam.
Thus, one cannot maintain that any Mission has been Accomplished until that is done. And that is no where in sight. The victory lap in this photo is a classic embodiment of the Bush Administration’s (1) arrogance, (2) stupidity, (3) confusion of tactics and strategy – winning one battle takes tactical skill, winning a while war requires a strategy, and the Bushies had none of the latter.
If getting rid of Saddam was the major goal, (not a good idea given the regional conditions) assassination would have been better & cheaper.
At least when the next guy stepped up you just remind him to stay in line or else…
I don’t think it was any of our business in the 1st place though…
You guys can argue, accuse, bitch, moan and groan all you want about the war and GWB. The bottom line is, WE allowed this mess to be created and therefore, WE have a obligation to clean it up.
WE NEED:
New President, New Congress, New plan in Iraq.
#19 – Easy pull out and let what is bound to happen, happen. The faster this process goes the better.
19, Too bad the liberals don’t agree with that. They find a hard time taking responsibility for any of it which is why they always use the “Bush lied” mantra so they can wash their hands of it.
Although each and every death was a great loss, we are nowhere near the death toll of Vietnam. We have yet to reach 10% of American deaths in Vietnam. Talk about blowing things out of proportion.
Anyone who thinks going to war will usually be low in casualties is naive. Each congress person knew what was at stake and what they were sending our troops in to do. Each military service member is FULLY aware what their service in the military could cost them.
Suck it up.
20. Easier than you think. Congress only needs to cut the funding. This could have been done the day the Democrats won control of Congress. Congress needs no legislation nor approval from the President to do so.
Gee, it’s strange that we’re still in this war when the Democrats promised to end it “tomorrow”.
#22 – Yes, I know. Then Dems did this throughout Vietnam. Kennedy started it and congress (dems)kept it going the whole time.
I was naive. I thought Pelosi & crew would just not fund the continuing war.
Mission isn’t accomplished until bushie owns all of the country, including the oil fields.
#21,
I agree with you 100%. I really liked your statement too, couldn’t have said it better myself.
~20K people die from the Flu each year in the US.
~42K people die in car crashes each year in the US.
~15K are murdered in the US each year.
And what do the anti war nitwits focus and complain about? The 4000 brave service men and women who signed up to give their lives to their country that’s what.
Their deaths should never be forgotten but to use their deaths as a symbol as to why we should leave is cowardly.
I would rather that we never have invaded. I would rather that we never have gone to war. But we didn’t hijack two planes and fly them into the WTC (yeah, their are morons out there that think the US was behind it).
We also know that IRAQ and Sodamninsane did have ties to Terrorism and Al Qaeda. Today’s WSJ further details it and documents secured from IRAQ prove it.
What we need to complain about is that our soldiers are taken care of.
If you really want to help, donate your time or money to the injured soldiers and support those that are still fighting.
War isn’t perfect nor is it bloodless. But I can tell you we are doing a much better job of keeping our soldiers alive than we ever have.
Harping about the dead is helping no one but the enemy which makes me believe that some of you might just be the enemy.
And still the most successful military campaign in the history of US warfare. Check out US military casualities for previous wars and get some perspective.
Just think, soon we can all visit the Colossal desert theme park developers are transforming 3 billion square feet of desert into Dubailand.
and and don’t forget Rocker Amanda Overmyer got the boot from “American Idol”‘s huge fan base on Wednesday, leaving 10 finalists singing their way to possible victory in the hit TV talent show’s seventh season.
#7 doug – I can’t remember laughing harder at a posting.
Fighter-bomber? That’s a good one.
#26, Warden,
So the 20,000 that die from the flu each year are even less important?
The 42,000 that died in an automobile crash mean that much less?
I suppose you consider those 15,000 murdered to worth nothing.
Why? Simply because you can justify the death of 4,000 as noble. Those who were sent to die needlessly almost halfway around the world were somehow protecting America which makes them better than my neighbor’s father who was killed by a drunk?
But we didn’t hijack two planes and fly them into the WTC (yeah, their are morons out there that think the US was behind it).
And Iraq didn’t hijack two planes, or four planes and fly them into buildings. Ya, there are morans that think Iraq was behind it.
We also know that IRAQ and Sodamninsane did have ties to Terrorism and Al Qaeda. Today’s WSJ further details it and documents secured from IRAQ prove it.
Ya, right. I don’t know about WSJ, but no one else has picked up that story as of 4:30 CST. What is known is that Iraq had NO contact with al Queda before or after 9/11. Now did Iraq promote terrorism or were they America’s puppet. Did you forget that Cheney and Rumsfeld visited Saddam and showed him how to use chemical weapons.
15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Saudis also blew up the truck bomb that took 19 American servicemen June 26, 1996. Let me count the number of Iraqi terrorists that killed Americans. 0
If you really want to help, donate your time or money to the injured soldiers and support those that are still fighting.
Donate time or money to support those soldiers wounded in battle? Where the fuck is our government? These “heroes” that went to “defend” America? Where the fuck are all those outsourced contracts that would save us money? What do you want me to do, send a soldier some body armor because what the government bought is useless?
Harping about the dead is helping no one but the enemy which makes me believe that some of you might just be the enemy.
We are the enemy? Jesus H. Christ !!! No wonder America is losing with people like you around. Are you one of those 25% that solidly support the President?