BAGHDAD, June 3 (Reuters) - Sixteen American troops died in Iraq in the first three days of June, marking a bloody start to the month as the U.S. military presses on with its crackdown on sectarian violence in Baghdad.
A total of 127 American troops died in May, the third worst total for U.S. forces since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Fourteen of the latest deaths were reported on Sunday alone by the U.S. military.
North of the capital, a suicide car bomber attacked a police convoy in volatile Diyala province, killing 10 people in a busy market area and wounding 30 others, the local police chief said.
Gunmen at a fake checkpoint near Diyala's provincial capital of Baquba sprayed two minibuses with bullets, killing five people, police said.
Heavy machine gun fire and explosions boomed across central Baghdad late on Saturday from the direction of Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum and stronghold of radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's feared Mehdi Army militia.
The U.S. military said on Sunday helicopters had strafed militants preparing to fire rockets into the Green Zone, Baghdad's most secure area which houses the Iraqi parliament, many government ministries and the U.S. embassy.
A Reuters journalist saw an air-to-ground missile fired during Saturday's operation.
A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, said helicopters opened fire after gunmen were spotted trying to launch 12 rockets at the Green Zone.
"Reports indicate four terrorists were killed and one wounded," he said.
DEADLY TOLL
U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a security crackdown in Baghdad to try to quell sectarian violence that threatens all-out civil war. The U.S. military has said it expects higher casualties as more U.S. troops take to the streets.
The crackdown is an attempt to buy time for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to meet a series of political benchmarks set by Washington aimed at promoting national reconciliation.
But as U.S. casualties grow, U.S. President George W. Bush is coming under increasing pressure, including from within his own Republican Party, to demonstrate progress in the unpopular war or set a timetable for the return of U.S. troops.
The U.S. military announced on Sunday that 14 more U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq, bringing the total to 16 in the last three days.
The worst months for U.S. soldiers were November 2004, when 137 were killed, and April the same year when another 135 died. A total of 3,487 soldiers have died since the invasion began.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the same period. Police said the bodies of 26 people were found in Baghdad on Saturday, apparently the victims of sectarian death squads. Sectarian murders have been on the rise again in Baghdad despite the nearly four-month-old crackdown in the capital.
Reading this shit makes me so mad. At 4.25 dead per day, it's already looking to be worse than May if violence simply remains constant.
They're going to hit 3,500 casualties before this week is out.
Why do you think that 3,500 Americans will be killed and wounded in the first nine days of June? That's out of all proportion with the actual numbers being recorded even for these extremely bloody days.
Though I'll note that a few days ago we had 62 gassing casualties from a chlorine gas attack on one of our bases in Diyala province. Fortunately none of them were serious.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:Why do you think that 3,500 Americans will be killed and wounded in the first nine days of June? That's out of all proportion with the actual numbers being recorded even for these extremely bloody days.
Though I'll note that a few days ago we had 62 gassing casualties from a chlorine gas attack on one of our bases in Diyala province. Fortunately none of them were serious.
The Article wrote:A total of 3,487 soldiers have died since the invasion began.
I think he's saying another 13 will die before the week is out.
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:Why do you think that 3,500 Americans will be killed and wounded in the first nine days of June? That's out of all proportion with the actual numbers being recorded even for these extremely bloody days.
I believe he means the total number of American dead in Iraq will hit the 3,500 mark, not that 3,500 more be killed or wounded.
The Excellent Prismatic Spray. For when you absolutely, positively must kill a motherfucker. Accept no substitutions. Contact a magician of the later Aeons for details. Some conditions may apply.
I'm afraid this might be the year were total annual fatalities go over 1000. *sigh*
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
This is unsurprising. GEN Petraeus implemented a policy of moving Soldiers out of the "super fobs" and into the streets and neighborhoods in squad to platoon-sized elements - specifically into areas recently dominated by insurgents. Such elements are obviously more vulnerable to enemy attack, and casualties will reflect the shift in strategy. Casualties were expected to rise, at least for the first several months of the shift. The expectation is that once the appropriate number of troops are on the ground, then the overall level of violence will decrease long enough to facilitate security operations by Iraqi forces. I believe that is expected to take up to six months to materialize, but it seems doubtful that sufficient political will within the US for such a strategy remains. Lots of variables other than numbers of US troops on the ground also come into play, not the least of which is the ability and willingness of Iraqi forces to step up to the plate.
John 3:16-18 Warwolves G2
The University of North AlabamaLions!
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:Why do you think that 3,500 Americans will be killed and wounded in the first nine days of June? That's out of all proportion with the actual numbers being recorded even for these extremely bloody days.
I believe he means the total number of American dead in Iraq will hit the 3,500 mark, not that 3,500 more be killed or wounded.
Then he should have said fatalities instead of casualties. The definition of the word casualties is "killed AND wounded".
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In our briefings for counter insurgency, they said boots on the ground did more then driving around.
However, its a tad less safe, and you ideally have three times as many guys for it.
This day is Fantastic!
Myers Briggs: ENTJ
Political Compass: -3/-6 DOOMerWoW
"I really hate it when the guy you were pegging as Mr. Worst Case starts saying, "Oh, I was wrong, it's going to be much worse." " - Adrian Laguna
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
Then he should have said fatalities instead of casualties. The definition of the word casualties is "killed AND wounded".
Is it really worth the nitpicking? The notion that I somehow thought it likely that there would 3,500 new casualties (or whatever) before the week is out is so absurd that everyone seems to have instinctively known exactly what I meant without bothering with the dictionary.
