Body bag count puts strains on coalition

[stevedeshazer]

A weekend of bloodshed across Iraq saw November chalk up new and grim records, including the highest number of casualties among coalition troops and the deadliest single month for America's armed forces since the 1991 Gulf war.

The killings of seven Spanish military intelligence officers in an ambush at Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, together with the deaths of two more US soldiers brought the monthly toll of coalition dead to 111.

It also brought to 79 the number of US troops killed in Iraq, outstripping the total for September and October.

The flow of body bags back to the US and other countries made its mark on the political arena, with the Democratic party presidential candidate Wesley Clark, a former Nato supreme commander, yesterday describing Iraq as "a distraction from the war on terror".

"Are we safer with Saddam Hussein gone? That's a very tough case to make," he told CNN.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1096901,00.html

[Myra]

1. Hey! There are no "body counts" in Orwell's Amerika

“We don’t do body counts”
General Tommy Franks, US Central Command

http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

[cliss]

2. The Iraqi resistance fighters

seem to be targeting coalition forces. I suspect the Iraqis realize support is paper-thin and half-hearted. Coalition forces also realize they are fighting Iraqis on their home turf.

They rightly realize the Italians, British, Spanish and Poles have less to gain than the US. This may tip the scales to them pulling out altogether and leaving the US to fight the battle alone.

[dbt]

3. A Transfer Tube KICK

Back to the front page with the Emperor's clothes!

:freak:
dbt