"Georgia National Guard Unit Loses 8 Troops" & "Seven Marines Killed "

[GreenPartyVoter]

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Joni Bennett had just left the home of a family mourning one of four Georgia National Guardsmen killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq when her cell phone rang with more grim news of shocking symmetry. Four more deployed members of the 48th Infantry Brigade had died in a similar explosion Saturday, six days after the Georgia Guard suffered its first combat casualties since World War II.

"The greatest stress I've had over these last eight days is I can't be in eight places at once," said Bennett of Brunswick, Ga., family support coordinator for the 4,300-troop brigade. "It's agonizing to express to families I wanted to be there sooner, but I couldn't."

Just two months after the 48th Brigade arrived in Iraq, the pair of fatal bombings in the past week have already made the brigade's yearlong tour one of the deadliest deployments for U.S. citizen-soldiers in Iraq.

Some families on the homefront reacted to the latest explosion with stunned disbelief. Brigade spouse Wendy Brown of Stockbridge said she first thought she was hearing a repeat of last week's news.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050802/D8BNN9I80.html

"Seven Marines Killed in Western Iraq"

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military said Tuesday that six Marines were killed in action in western Iraq, pushing the death toll for Americans since the start of the war past 1,800.

The Marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team-2 of the 2nd Marine Division, died Monday in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.

A seventh Marine was killed Monday by a car bomb in Hit, 50 miles southeast of Haditha in the volatile Euphrates River valley.

Insurgents posted handbills in Haditha, claiming to have killed 10 U.S. troops, seizing some of their weapons.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050802/D8BNO3BO0.html

[BillZBubb]

1. Don't worry, they are in their last throes...

Let freedom reign! Bring 'em on! Mission accomplished!!!!!

[PeachyDem88]

2. Comfort for the families...

"I think about Iraq every day -- every single day -- because I understand we have troops in harm's way, and I understand how dangerous it is there."

--George W. Bush

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Welcome to DU. Don't forget to pound the podium on every syllable when

you recite that.

[Sunkiss BlueStar]

3. I hope this will send shockwaves across the Fall Line

I dont know about south Georgia but North Georgia can be turned all BLUE! We have no need for more yellow ribbons on our streets and cars.
North Georgians should request the return of all the Soldiers in Iraq.

[SoCalDem]

5. So where are the "regular" soldiers these days?

hunkered down in the green zone? protecting Halliburton/KBR caterers?

These guardsmen /reservists seem to be the bulk of casualties lately.. I think the "regular" have bugged out to safer digs and left these people to "mop up":grr:..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Well, they're keeping the worms and war profiteers wallets full.

I'm sure they all died happily, knowing they "sacrificed" their lives for a good cause, and sang "God Blees America" with their last breaths.

Surely none of them writhed in agony or prayed to live or wished they were anywhere else.

At least that's what the politicians want us all to believe.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Those politicians should have to switch places.

[progressivebydesign]

7. This is heartbreaking. My sympathies to the families and friends. n/t