2000 and counting...

[jetboatdeath]

Please i wonder if you do? Be carefull of what you say more so if you don't know who you are saying it to. I am a war vet seen worse things than you can imagine. But we did it because we signed up to do it and it needed done. I have friends in Arlington so please don't bore me with all the bleeding heart crap. I speak for my freinds only but we were all glad to be there.If today someone signs up for the military without the notion of going to war thats their fault. Sorry but a contract is a contract.

 

[michaeledward]

While the focus of casualties falls, sadly, most easily upon the number of fatalities, we occassionally hear or see reference to the total number of non-fatal casualties.

Last week, a sub-set of the casualties statistic came forward. In Iraq, injuries have resulted in 500 amputees. This number does not include those soldiers who have lost a finger, fingers, a toe or toes. Five hundred American soldiers have lost a leg, an arm, or both. There have been, I believe, 5 triple amputees as a result of the Iraq war and occupation.

A tremendous price the soldiers have paid. And a future price that can not be calculated into the two billion dollars a week we are spending now, in Iraq.

 

[jazkiljok]

we also forget the nearly 800 contractors killed in this war and the untold injuries this stealth army's soldiers and workers have sustained.

there are nearly as many contractors in iraq as U.S. troops.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_re_us/iraq_contractors

 

[michaeledward]

As we approach the fourth anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq, American soldiers continue to die daily.

In the past day, the number of U.S. deaths passed 3,200.

 

[Monadnock]

Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/416901761_57a5288113_o.jpg

Here are photographs of a display on the grounds of Reed College, in Portland, OR. "Each white flag represents six dead Iraqis since the beginning of the war, and each red flag represents a dead US serviceman. Statistics come from the Lancet survey of Iraqi mortality since 2003, published October 2006."

 

[michaeledward]

Thank you, Michael.

That's powerful.

 

[Ray]

Each white flag represents six dead Iraqis since the beginning of the war, and each red flag represents a dead US serviceman.

Is that one of MS-excel's standard chart formats?

 

[RandomPhantom700]

Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/416901761_57a5288113_o.jpg

Here are photographs of a display on the grounds of Reed College, in Portland, OR. "Each white flag represents six dead Iraqis since the beginning of the war, and each red flag represents a dead US serviceman. Statistics come from the Lancet survey of Iraqi mortality since 2003, published October 2006."

I used to be in favor of remaining in Iraq, because I thought it would be wrong of us to move in, destroy their infrastructure, then leave without repairing the damage we'd done. Sadly, I must now eat my words. This continued "effort" is doing nothing more than costing lives and fueling military contractors.

"Mission Accomplished" I guess.

Thank you for posting the picture of the college.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

 

[michaeledward]

Blotan Hunka,

I am sorry you feel you need to use this thread for your political agenda.
This thread is not the place for that rant.

I can only assume that you are unable to use your own words.

Michael

 

[jetboatdeath]

Just like you mike.
Can't answer the questions in the video so bash on someones
Intelligence. Typical...

 

[michaeledward]

Just like you mike.
Can't answer the questions in the video so bash on someones
Intelligence. Typical...

What question?

And, I would further suggest, as I did in my post, that this thread is not the place for that discussion.

 

[jetboatdeath]

Oh I see it’s a place for posts of media that agree with your views, but not opposing them?
Just checking.

 

[michaeledward]

Oh I see it’s a place for posts of media that agree with your views, but not opposing them?
Just checking.

My personal opinion is that this is a place to 'Support the Troops' - which can be done in an apolitical way.

I'll be more than pleased to argue any political points elsewhere.

http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=480579&postcount=390

Some people 'Support Our Troops' by putting little yellow magnets on the back of their cars. I support our troops by remembering every day, they are in service to the nation, they are dying, they are getting wounded. I acknowledge their service and remember soldiers are dying every day.

I may not always live up to the intent I included in post 390. But, I try.

If you wish to have a political argument about some guy on YouTube calling me a traitor, let us take that up somewhere else.

 

[michaeledward]

I Casualites . org is reporting 3,301 United States Dead in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

On March 15 - one month ago - the number was 3,200.

 

[michaeledward]

Another month, another hundred funerals.

Icasualites.org reports today 3,401 United States deaths in Iraq.

A slightly positive note was sounded today when the Iraqi Parliment announced it would not be taking the month of July as a vacation month. It looks as if there will still be an August recess.

There was quite a bit of discomfort in our Congress about the Iraqi Parliment taking a two month holiday while the United States troops were effecting the surge strategy.

 

[michaeledward]

3,500 American service members have died in Iraq.

 

[michaeledward]

Here is a note I recieved in the Reputation area - from a different thread.

it's hopeless here. war criticism fatigue

This morning, www.icasualties.org is reporting 3600 American Service members have died in the Iraq Conflict. It would sadden me greatly that fatigue of any kind would set in while we continue to ask our fellow citizens to die in armed struggle.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I used to be in favor of remaining in Iraq, because I thought it would be wrong of us to move in, destroy their infrastructure, then leave without repairing the damage we'd done. Sadly, I must now eat my words. This continued "effort" is doing nothing more than costing lives and fueling military contractors.

"Mission Accomplished" I guess.

Thank you for posting the picture of the college.

I've just recently heared one of the reasons everything is taking so long is that The US is trying to grant its contractors the rights to the untapped oil reserves. This is is an almost universaly unacceptable pill to swallow for the Sunnis and the Shiites. Which is another way of saying "How did all their sand get on top of our oil?"
Sean

 

[Blotan Hunka]

On being a soldier.

There is no greater bond on earth than the comradeship created under battle conditions. The common soldier fights for his friends first, followed by his unit, and then his country. When under fire, very few first-line combat troops consider or even care what the cause of the war is. Fear, not anger, is ruler on the battlefield. All any combat infantryman desires is for his friends and himself to go safely home.

Following the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a story was told which illustrates this bond. After a short advance, a platoon of American troops was forced to return to their starting trench. Running over the shell-scarred terrain, all of the troops, save one, reached safety. The wounded casualty lay where he fell; unable to move. His close friend, upon seeing the distress of his fellow infantryman, started to leave the safety of the trench when his lieutenant grabbed him. "Where are you going? Are you crazy! You'll be killed!" the lieutenant said in rapid succession. The soldier's simple reply was, "He's my friend" as he bolted into "No-Man's Land." Running through a hail of lead, the soldier reached his friend and began dragging him to safety. Just as they reached the crest of their own trench, the previously unwounded soldier was hit and slid, mortally wounded, into the trench. His lieutenant asked, "Was it worth it?" The dying soldier looked up and replied, "Yes! When I reached my friend," he said, "I knew you would come."