Oh, yeah, about that "Iraqi insurgency in its last throes" thing ... maybe not so much:
May was the deadliest month of the Iraq war for part-time American servicemen. Thirty-one of them died: 14 members of the Army National Guard, 12 from the Marine Corps Reserve, four from the Army Reserve and one Navy Reserve hospital corpsman attached to a Marine combat unit.
The overall U.S. death toll in Iraq last month — counting active-duty as well as mobilized reserve forces — was 80. That is the highest for any month since January, when 107 died as insurgent attacks rose sharply prior to the Iraqi election. Fifty-two died in April and 36 in March, when it appeared the insurgency was waning.
And how do you know when you're making progress?
Iraqis bore the brunt of insurgent violence in May, but it also took a heavy toll on the approximately 140,000 U.S. troops there. The 80 deaths compares with a monthly average of 70 over the previous 12 months.
Ah -- an increase in the death rate. Apparently, that's a good thing these days in BushWorld. Progress and all that.
4 comments:
Yes, Bush goes to Crawford, Tex-ass to kick back at the ranch and have a good ol' cowboy time, while thousands are being killed in Iraq.
For a president to still have a good number of the public think this war was worth it, THAT is progress.
See, the 80 deaths this month were slightly LESS pointless than the 70 average deaths every month leading up to this. The point of all those deaths? Er, (fill in a vague babble about 'hearts and terror' or 'awe and minds' here).
And boy, do we have some goods reasons to make up why the next 80 die!
As summer is in full swing and Bush's twisted plot to force democracy upon Iraq comes to a head, it's all too easy for progressives like myself to cross our fingers and hope something goes terribly wrong just so he'll look bad.
However, we must remember that we still have soldiers over there, brutually murdering innocent children and drinking their blood. As much as I loathe the military, I don't want to see any of our stupid Rambo-wannabes hurt. At least, not until an election year, and then I want to see endless rows of flag draped coffins on HDTV with limited commercial interruptions, followed by a very special edition of West Wing in which a weeping Martin Sheen laments all the young lives lost thanks to Republican warmongers.
But Bush is too afraid to let Americans know the truth, so I doubt that's ever going to happen.
Therefore, I stand with Senator Kennedy and his call for a complete and immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq. As long as this illegal war dominates the news, the jingoist Jesus freaks in the red states will continue to vote for Republican chickenhawk nazis with no gaydar.
America must raise the white flag and flee Iraq with its tails between its legs before any more democrats lose their jobs or their minds. To protect France's lucrative reconstruction efforts, a small "UN stabilizition force" will remain, comprised of unarmed and handcuffed Army Rangers under the command of the newly elected Secretary General, William Jefferson Clinton.
Progressive Paul
The more Iraqis dead the better
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