By Here is a headline you will not see talked about much in the mainstream media:
October’s U.S. death toll in Iraq matched the lowest monthly total of the war, with 13 deaths — seven in combat — reported by the Defense Department.
The earlier low came in July of this year, as security improvements throughout the country translated into lowered violence targeted at U.S. troops.
The Pentagon figures for October mark the first time in the war that no U.S. combat deaths were reported in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. The two Baghdad deaths were reported as nonhostile. [Stars & Stripes]
8:51 am on November 2nd, 2008 1
Of course not…then the "Left" would have to admit that our "Military" is doing a fine job…w/o their support, or the support of our useless DoS.
I still harbor ill forebodings that our politicans will eventually walk out on unfinished business there, thus making all of the American lives, limbs and loved ones lost count for nothing.
I still think we should have finished Afghanistan first, as we are now having to refoucus our attention there.
9:09 am on November 2nd, 2008 2
The left never said our military is not doing a fine job. However election seasons work miracles for the military and gas prices.
10:18 am on November 2nd, 2008 3
Your post is ironic. I had noticed that story in the headlines of some major US news portals earlier in the day. Did you even bother to look at the WaPo, NYT, ABC News, or other US media before putting out that tired trope about the liberal US media bias?
11:36 am on November 2nd, 2008 4
Dead on #3. It was all over the news.
It's more fun to whine though. Right, GI?
12:09 pm on November 2nd, 2008 5
I think the point was well taken by CALMSEAS. The media has too often been remiss in reporting what is actually happening on the ground, and too quick to count bodies instead. While only 11 deaths were reported and "made headlines", during March, April and May of 2007, when it was becomming obvious the troops were beginning to win the war, the media could only focus on the number of deaths. Deaths that in any other war in history would have been seen at an all time low. The media has done an astonishlingly poor job of reporting the war in Iraq and skeptisizm on the part of anyone, who has watched the war as it has progressed, is more than understandible.
12:22 pm on November 2nd, 2008 6
Gerry,
We already "won the war". It took just a few days.
What our military is doing now in Iraq is not a war. It cannot be "won" (although it can be "lost").
But such is the design of perpetual war.
We've always been at war with Eastasia.
12:40 pm on November 2nd, 2008 7
"We already “won the war”. It took just a few days."
Would strongly disagree with this statement…the only thing we supposedly "Won" was a 28-day battle against a force that barely put up resistance…still, we kicked the Sh#t out of them, but the big picture was missed…thus I would have to agree with the latter part of JAFO's post…"We’ve always been at war with Eastasia."
Since we have continuously had the desire to micro-manage our military since Korea, thus creating a senior leadership afraid of their own shadows in order to make it to retirement, we have allowed let East asia, the mid-east, etc. time to learn & play on our weaknesses. They are now at our door & some would say…in our house, just waiting for the right time to destroy us and the way it is looking, it might not even be by force…only our own stupidity.
1:08 pm on November 2nd, 2008 8
LOL, CALMSEAS, "by our own stupidity". I believe, "no politician who voted for the war in Iraq (or any war) should ever be allowed to run for public office again". It would make all future politicians think twice about voting to go to war, and would make them think twice about winning the war they voted for. Politicians and leadership in our country should be held accountable. Not the troops.
2:38 pm on November 2nd, 2008 9
CalmSeas,
There was a 28 day battle. But that was the "war" and we beat the "enemy".
Now, we are engaged in something closer to a police action. And, like any police action, it can't be "won" since criminals, unlike defeated armies, don't just disband and go away.
Keep in mind that the goal may never have been to "win" but, instead, to keep a perpetual American footprint in the middle of petroleum country while insuring oil kept being traded in dollars. As a bonus, most of the Middle East is within no-overflight-request-necessary bombing distance if anyone in the area starts to get uppity.
If this is the case, as long as we properly negotiate long-term American military bases to match the ambition of our newly-constructed embassy, we may have already "won".
As stupid as America's actions frequently seem on the surface, there are a lot of very smart people designing various plans which are presented to presidents through their advisers.
The only evidence that they are actually doing the right thing is that, regardless of all the dark times through our history, we have mostly come out on top.
4:05 pm on November 2nd, 2008 10
"The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.”
That is winning the war…I don't know what the Hell our "Smart Guys" are attempting to do…
5:38 pm on November 2nd, 2008 11
Awww, CalmSeas, you old warriors are so out of date.
We don't do that anymore. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to sell Coke, Big Macs, Ipods and the latest Hollywood direct-to-video offal, to a scattered and driven people living in cities reduced to ashes?
Almost impossible.
Gathering enemy wives and daughters into our bosoms is rather politically incorrect and somewhat frowned upon by current civil and military leadership.
Wait 'till all those non-lethal weapons start being used. We will have the monopoly on tear shrouding.
7:53 pm on November 2nd, 2008 12
the point of the post is that if death tolls were the highest it would be all over every channel and this milestone of having acheived the lowest most likely wont be mentioned because every station is capaign focused
when death tolls were sometimes 100 in a month you would not hear anything but iraq on the news and now not a peep
MSM is very biased
11:57 pm on November 2nd, 2008 13
On my RSS feed none of the major news sites other then S&S had this story as a top headline on their RSS feed. I did not watch any network news this weekend. Did anyone see this story on the news?
12:09 pm on November 3rd, 2008 14
JAFO, It sounds like you have sold too many Cokes, Big Macs and Ipods already in your lifetime. I have no doubt it surpasses us old warriors. I have no problem with a US presence in the mideast, that will have a stablizing effect on the region as well as insuring the free flow of oil to the west. Such an endever benifits both the world and the Iraqi people. Did you believe Sadam used his country and oil wealth wisely in helping his own people? Long term US military presence has helped countries such as Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, to grow under our protection to be some of the most prosperous countries in the world. You don't like that, because someone told you it was US imperialism? Yes, we (the United States) often come out on top. But perhaps the reason is because the people are freer to express themselves, the economies have grown, and they have enjoyed a better life. Would you prefer the Sadams of the world to rule?
12:27 pm on November 3rd, 2008 15
"you old warriors are so out of date…"
Yea, we obviously are…because we still believe in destroying an enemy in its entirety in order to achieve victory, and then lending him a merciful hand to stand back up on his feet as a nation…if, he deserves it.
3:09 pm on November 3rd, 2008 16
ht tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
Settle down, settle down.