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This is a fact that not even Yonivore can argue against.
2007 is deadliest year in Iraq.
BAGHDAD - The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of five more soldiers, making 2007 the deadliest year for U.S. troops despite a recent downturn, according to an Associated Press count.
At least 852 American military personnel have died in Iraq so far this year — the highest annual toll since the war began in March 2003, according to AP figures.
The grim milestone passed despite a sharp drop in U.S. and Iraqi deaths here in recent months, after a 30,000-strong U.S. force buildup. There were 39 deaths in October, compared to 65 in September and 84 in August.
Five U.S. soldiers were killed Monday in two separate roadside bomb attacks, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of the Multi-National Force-Iraq's communications division.
"We lost five soldiers yesterday in two unfortunate incidents, both involving IEDs," Smith told reporters in Baghdad's heavily-guarded Green Zone.
I'm sure Yonivore will respond with "Bring 'em on!"
This is a fact that not even Yonivore can argue against.
Sure I can, I have Marzetti on ignore.
But, I'll predict this. Because of the sacrifices made during the surge, 2008 will be the year with the fewest U. S. deaths in Iraq.
but you still post in the threads he creates. Way to ignore him.
I was responding to you...you have some weird fascination with me, it appears.
i predict your prediction will end up like all your other predictions. you should go look at some of your history before making any new ones. then again, you've never been one for accuracy.
Well, Democratic Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin has discovered why U.S. Deaths in Iraq are trending down...way, way down. "We're running out of people to kill."
I am not saying he is senile — clearly he is not — but man is he out of touch. Everything is focused 24/7 on Washington politics.
Consider this question and the answer he gave, as reported by Amanda Carpenter at Townhall.com.
Video at Mic e Malkin's place.
“Running out of people to kill” is a bad thing?
That is the whole point of a war: To kill the enemy. “Running out of people to kill” is also called victory.
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.
Obey has been in Congress so long that he is like a mole squinting at the Sun when confronted with something outside the realm of Gotcha Politics.
As the Stars and Stripes reported, the Air Force dramatically reduced air strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq in September and October.
What were once target-rich environments have dried up.
I blame George Bush and Global Warring.
I suspect many combatants have decided it no longer is worth fighting. Muqtada al-Sadr decided to retreat until the Surge is over. I doubt he will be able to rally his troops again.
You know there was a time when a Democratic Party leader would have cheered “running out of people to kill.” Heck, there was a time when all the Democratic Party leaders would have cheered “running out of people to kill.”
But their No. 1 appropriator belittles the success of our troops because — in the words of House Democratic Whip James Clyburn in July — victory in Iraq “a real big problem for us.”
Party first, country last.
Obey is an embarrassment who should be ashamed of being so ignorant.
On the number of troop deaths in 2007; As Tony Snow pointed out, the media seemed to have lost interest in Iraq once the US started suffering fewer casualties in Iraq. Unfortunately, yesterday was a bad day in Iraq with 5 Soldiers killed in IED attacks. Despite the fact that one day does not cons ute a trend, the media is now able to take yesterday’s attacks and hook it to a story they must have been salivating to report: 2007 now the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq.
CDR Salamander takes a look at the trends in Iraq and finds some graphics you are not likely to see in the MSM today or ever, including this one:
My guess is once this story fades, The Deciders will go back to talking about their new favorite storyline…“mercenaries” that aren't mercenaries or "torture" that isn't torture.
terrorist get vacation, too. this is the deadliest year, period.
So can we leave now?
I'd say pretty quick, yeah.
Seems there are few trouble spots left but, they are falling fast.
The last complete year of WWII, 1944, was the deadliest.
does that mean the millions that have fled can now return? what will happen when they come back? anyone care to guess? this thing is nowhere near over. chaos will rule this country when people start to carve out their piece.
Coward.
Of course it will be lower since we'll be beginning the big pull out.But, I'll predict this. Because of the sacrifices made during the surge, 2008 will be the year with the fewest U. S. deaths in Iraq.
The civilian deaths decline is due to the Iraqis themselves par ioning into Sunni and Shiite regions, esp the Shiites ethnically cleansing Baghdad of Sunnis under US noses, NOT due to the surge.
There are 5M internal refugees in Iraq. Their life is much improved vs under Saddam.
The unemployment rate?
Poverty rate feeding the crime rate, unabated due to ineffective policing?
Iraq is ed, all the US reconstruction projects are ed and corrupt, and it's ALL dubya's Exec's fault. Impeach dubya, he's worse than useless.
Thousands Return to Safer Iraqi Capital
Sue me, I peaked at Clammy's post.
So 3,000 families out of about 2,000,000 total refugees.
Mission Accomplished.
An Iraqi Parade Against al-Qaeda
Face it, conditions in Iraq are improving dramatically. The Democrats dream of a defeat in Iraq are over.
Oh, and I'm not peeking at yours SpunkMeister, you haven't said anything intelligent in, well, forever.
3k? you wait and see.
Okay. I will.
1000s? How about 5M?
Millions Trapped in Their Own Country
By Ahmed Ali
Inter Press Service
Monday 05 November 2007
Baquba, Iraq - At least five million Iraqis have fled their homes due to the violence under the U.S.-led occupation, but half of them are unable to leave the country, according to well-informed estimates.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are more than 4.4 million displaced Iraqis, an estimate that many workers among refugees find conservative.
The UNHCR announced last week that at present 2,000 Iraqis are fleeing their homes every day. Most of them have received direct threats from death squads or militias.
The provinces that have suffered the greatest displacement are the largely Sunni Baghdad, Diyala, al-Anbar and Salahadeen in central Iraq.
Members of many families who have not fled told IPS they have stayed on because they had no choice.
"We could not leave our city despite the security situation because we don't have the money to travel and live outside Iraq," Ali Muhsin, an official with the directorate general of education and a father of five told IPS in Baquba, 40 km northeast of Baghdad.
"For more than a year, we used to receive the salary only every 50 or 60 days because the militants had taken over the entire city. They even controlled the banks, which prevented our offices from receiving the money."
Muhsin said most workers in the education system in Diyala province (north of Baghdad where Baquba is located) are not fully employed, and are therefore not paid salaries. And the rampant violence has prevented people going to work.
"People can hardly afford to live in Iraq, so how could they afford the expense of travelling and living abroad," Najmeldeen Alwan, a local grocer near Baquba told IPS. His wife Suhir, standing by his side, said, "We just wait for our destiny."
Local Iraqis say most people who fled had the means, or the ability to acquire the means.
"Seventy percent of those who fled are rich, and the rest had various resources," Abaid Nasir, an unemployed trader in Baquba told IPS. "Some sold their properties, others used up their savings to save the lives of their family."
But it is not money alone that decides whether a family stays or goes.
"My family live in a small village which has managed to defend itself from criminals and gangs," Ta'ama Aed told IPS. "Our people protect it against the militants. The only thing the militants can do is bomb it with mortars."
Aed lives in a small village on the outskirts of Baquba. But the need for safety meant that "inhabitants do not leave the village," he said.
Other families have made deals with militias and resistance groups for their protection.
"A large number of people have sided with the militants for their safety," local resident Mohammed Jabur told IPS. "In such cases, one of the militants guarantees the family that nobody will hurt them, and they usually keep their word."
There are no formal, government sponsored refugee camps in Iraq. Makeshift camps are common throughout the country, but they are fluid, and security in them is poor.
One reason keeping many Iraqis back now is the lack of security on highways. Most people IPS interviewed said they avoided travelling more than two or three kilometres from their villages, towns, or cities.
"I wanted to leave Iraq, but I could not because the militants control the highways and all the roads from the city," Ahmed Salih from Baquba city told IPS. "All the way to the borders, militias and fighters control the roads."
On Oct. 1 Syria decided to close its borders to Iraqis, except for traders and academics. The move has left thousands of family members separated from one another.
Roughly 10 percent of Syria's population is now Iraqis, and the government has said it cannot absorb more refugees.
The U.S. itself is least affected by the refugee crisis. Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the U.S. administration has issued less than 2,000 visas to Iraqis.
"Since October 2006 the U.S. government has gone from denying that large numbers of vulnerable Iraqi refugees even existed, to speaking openly of an Iraqi refugee crisis," the group Refugees International said in a statement. "But its actual financial commitments are commensurate neither with the need nor with the U.S. role in creating the displacement crisis in the first place. The President and his war cabinet have yet to recognise the human toll the violence has been taking on Iraqi civilians and neighbouring countries."
Ahmed, our correspondent in Iraq's Diyala province, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our US-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels extensively in the region.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39921
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Shed a tear for Yoni, ed-slapped and balls-kicked yet again, like shooting yoni-fish in a barrel.
the trend has been lower since the surge. I believe the surge has worked in the short-term.
yep, when this thing takes off they'll be hacking up each other like beef.
In an October 20 story on MSNBC, slanted to make it look like refugees were being forced to return to Iraq against their will, the "news" site allowed this:
Well, even if it was "against their will," it appears that returning to Iraq was a safe gamble because of the drastically improving security situation -- courtesy of the United States Military.
The same story says there were an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and I suspect the flow will increase as violence decreases.
Civilian deaths continue to drop even as the refugees return grows. If you'll read that story, it refers to the 1,500 per day trend starting back in September. That's 45,000 a month.
Combine that with Shia and Sunni tribes pledging cooperation with the new government of Iraq and I'm afraid you're going to be mistaken if you're hoping for renewed sectarian strife.
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