A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq -464 U.S. service members have died

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_deaths&cid=540&ncid=1480

As of Wednesday, Dec. 24, 464 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq (news - web sites), according to the Department of Defense (news - web sites). Of those, 317 died as a result of hostile action and 147 died of non-hostile causes, the department said. snip

On or since May 1, when President Bush (news - web sites) declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 326 U.S. soldiers have died — 202 as a result of hostile action and 124 of non-hostile causes, according to the Defense Department's figures.

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[Journeyman]

1. Anyone know how many have died. . .

in December? Or the count since Saddam's capture was announced. The LA Times had a listing the other day. . . seemed like a far greater number in just the past few days than I've seen in the daily reports.

[Mr. Brown of MD]

4. Not off the top of my head

But, a good resource on coalition casualties in Iraq is http://www.lunaville.org .

A lot of DUers use it because it is very thorough in what it reports.

-CollegeDude
Checks daily, morbid as it is

[Journeyman]

5. I've been unable to access lunaville. . .

for most of the day. . . you experiencing the same problem?

[Mr. Brown of MD]

6. No...

It's working for me right now.

But, I can give you the stats since you can't get on there right now. 20 US soldiers and 1 Polish soldier have died this month in Iraq, 18 of which were hostile and 12 of which were non-hostile.

Since Saddam's capture, there have been 13 coalition fatalities, 8 of which were hostile. I hope that helps.

-CollegeDude
The one a day average continues...

[tbeatty]

7. Down from November which looks like anomaly

It appears to be about 1 American killed per day. November was much higher. I don't know if Sadaam's capture is related to the drop from November (doesn't appear to be from the raw numbers).

[Mr. Brown of MD]

8. November had a lot of multi-casualty attacks

November 2 - a Chinook carrying soldiers heading home for R&R was shot down near Fallujah. 16 died.

November 7 - a 101st Airborne helicopter was shot down in Mosul. 6 died.

November 12 - car bombing of the Italian base in Nasiriyah, 17 were killed.

November 15 - two Black Hawks collided over Mosul due to hostile fire. 17 were killed.

November 29 - a convoy of Spanish vehicles was ambushed in Latifiya, 7 were killed. I think this may have been a total overwhelming of the convoy, as well, as there were pictures in the media of people dancing over the bodies of the Spanish soldiers.

Those five events account for 63 of the 109 coalition fatalities in November. Thankfully, nothing on that scale has been accomplished yet this month, but I think it would be a mistake to believe that Saddam's capture directly influences the chances of something like that happening again.

One thing I've noticed this month is that there seem to be many reports of members of the Iraqi police being targeted in attacks. Those attacks aren't reported in coalition casualties. The multiple death attacks are still there, though...

In any case, an average of a soldier dying per day is enough to tell me that things aren't so rosy over there. It's certainly not "a sign of progress," or whatever that stupid line Bush or Rummy or whoever it was trotted out on the subject.

-CollegeDude
One is too many

[caledesi]

2. I am sad on this Christmas Eve.

Bec I am thinking about our troops in that f*cking "shooting gallery" in Iraq. For what? For what?

[leetrisck]

3. Anytime I see the deaths posted, I feel

I should say something, but don't know what to say anymore. Prayers for all the families. When, oh when, will this end? Perhaps never.