U.S. combat mission in Iraq has ended (updated)

[ProSense]

Three deadliest months:

Apr. 2004 - 140
Nov. 2004 - 141
May 2007 - 131

Three months with fewest casualties:

Dec. 2009 - 3
Jul. 2010 - 4
Aug. 2010 - 3

Source

President Obama Salutes the Troops in Fort Bliss: "Thank You" and "Welcome Home"

Posted by Jesse Lee

Over the past week, we’ve been inviting you to join us in saluting the troops for their service. The response has been overwhelming, and has made clear that while the end of the combat mission is an appropriate time to recognize the sacrifice the troops and their military make, the gratitude is always there, and never forgotten with the American people.

It was in that same spirit that the President flew to Fort Bliss in Texas today, home to troops who have served at every stage of the Iraq War, including troops who are redeploying back home throughout the fall, and troops supporting our new support mission in Iraq.



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Updated to add...

Slideshow: Goodbye, Iraq: Many American Soldiers Come Home After U.S. Drawdown

[zipplewrath]

1. So it ain't all that different from last December

So what's changed again? Especially notable since of course there were something like 90K troops last December, but we're down to 55K in August and the same number of folks died. Per capita wise, it's gone up.

[ProSense]

2. Well,

three is a lot closer to zero than 141.

[zipplewrath]

3. There were 3 last December

As I say, not much has changed since then. If anything, on a per capita basis, it's worse.

[phleshdef]

4. Who gives a flying fuck? Last December wasn't very long ago.

Political attention deficit disorder. Jesus.

[ProSense]

7. Sometimes

the responses are so bizarre is hard to know what to make of them. Seriously.

[zipplewrath]

8. Well, the OP listed them.

So I suppose the gave a FF. My entire original point is that there isn't much difference between today and the end of July, and to a great extent the end of last December. This is a process not an event and there's nothing really functionally notible about the end of August.

[ProSense]

6. "per capita"? How on earth can you apply this to these statistics?

This isn't a population statististic and the troops are engaged in many different ways in Iraq, some are/were on their way home.

It's also completely inaccurate because the 2010 casualties thus far are less than 1/3 of the 2009 total.

[zipplewrath]

9. It was pointing out the basis of comparison

Last December there were roughly 90K troops, and in July there were just over 50K and yet the fatality numbers were basically equal. It goes to show that not much has functionally changed since then, except there are fewer troops. It's good that there are fewer troops, but as some soldier pointed out yesterday, we've held troops there for the better part of 9 months not doing much for no apparent reason other than the military didn't want to remove them. They wanted to be able to ramp back up if conditions warranted. We could have been down to roughly zero by now if we had chosen to. Obama didn't want to.

[Lifelong Protester]

5. Nice pictures. Let's get them all home. Soon.

[MadHound]

10. No combat missions, yeah, right

"US solider killed in rocket attack in Iraq

(AP) – Aug 22, 2010

BAGHDAD — An American solider was killed in a rocket attack in southern Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said, marking the first American fatality since the last combat unit in Iraq pulled out of the country.

Lt. Col. Bob Owen, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, said the attack took place while the solider was conducting operations in Iraq's southern province of Basra."

<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQNZ-iDlwjFMX9HrXgX7-7y-RuGQD9HOIFPO0>

It is war, that simple no matter what the president claims.