AP: 1 Army Soldier Killed 7 Wounded

[bluestateguy]

There are now five American military deaths reported in a pair of attacks today in Iraq.

cut

Also today, U-S command says a mortar attack in north-central Baghdad killed an Army soldier and wounded seven others.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=1958023

This is apparently new.

[daleo]

1. Things got slower for a while

But I guess they are preparing for the so-called handover of power, so the dying will pick up, on all sides.

[Longhorn]

2. It only seemed slower.

There have been about 26 deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan since June 1 through June 18 but most went unreported because of the Reagan funeral coverage. Check out http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

[Barrett808]

3. Death rate flattened somewhat: graph

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/USfatalities.html
We saw this in March -- the insurgency simply redirected resources to killing Iraqis (collaborators and such). It's also possible US troops have been withdrawing to bases in preparation for the "handover". But it seems the pace of US deaths has picked up again.

[saigon68]

4. Nice Graph

Especially the term "BRING EM ON"