WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2004-01-18 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 1/18/2004 1:04:02 PM
Iraq: US Death Toll 500 – same as 1st Four years in Vietnam
[Note. Here is a comparison between Iraq and Vietnam. It appears as if the war is heating up more and more with the Americans due to leave. I can’t help wondering what on earth will happen when the USA actually leaves this year? Will it explode into a civil war that will undo what the Americans tried to do? Fascinating stuff. It appears as if the more the USA wants to relax control, the worse things get? Will victory turn into a defeat? Jan]
U.S. toll in Iraq over 500
Count matches Vietnam in 1965
R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post
Sunday, January 18, 2004
(194)Â2004 San Francisco Chronicle (124)| Feedback (124)| FAQ
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/18/MNGB44CJKR1.DTL
Washington — The U.S. military death toll after 10 months of engagement in Iraq surpassed 500 this weekend, roughly matching the number of U.S. military personnel who died in the first four years of the U.S. military engagement in Vietnam.
The death toll in Iraq, which had been 497 on Friday, rose by three on Saturday when a remote-controlled bomb made of two artillery rounds packed with explosives detonated beneath a Bradley fighting vehicle carrying five American soldiers and at least two Iraqi civil defense personnel in cane fields north of Baghdad.
This morning, at least two Americans and as many as 16 Iraqis were killed when a car bomb exploded near the main gate to coalition headquarters in Baghdad.
Military officials said Saturday’s explosion occurred near the town of Taji, during a search for buried land mines and roadside bombs, which have previously claimed lives in the area. They expressed surprise that the Bradley was destroyed in the blast, according to a Post correspondent in Baghdad.
The cumulative toll of 500 deaths was reached in Vietnam in 1965, the year when the U.S. deployment there rose from 23,300 to 184,300 troops. In Iraq, in contrast, the United States is rotating forces, with the goal of reducing the total from 130,000 to 105,000 by June and also sharply scaling back its military presence in Baghdad.
On Saturday, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a military spokesman in Iraq, dismissed the significance of reaching the threshold of 500 deaths. “I do not believe that any arbitrary … figure is going to cause any soldiers to lose their will or their focus,” he said.
But Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes, said the rising death toll could undermine the popularity of President Bush and support for his handling of the conflict, even if it does not build support for a U.S. withdrawal.
Noting that many Americans polled before the war began said they anticipated roughly 1,000 combat deaths, Kull said, “There are no signs of the population going toward a Vietnam-style response, in which a large minority or even a majority says, ‘Pull out.'” That goal has steady support among only 15 to 17 percent of the public.
He said the public continued to be led by a consensus among elites in support of continued U.S. military engagement in Iraq. “There is a lot of controversy about whether we should have gone in,” Kull noted, adding that even among Democratic presidential candidates, only Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich favors a U.S. withdrawal.
Most Americans see little alternative to staying in Iraq, given the risks of creating a breeding ground for terrorism if U.S. troops leave too soon.
Nonetheless, Kull said, the rising death toll has increased the cost of the war, and its benefits “have gotten muddier” because no weapons of mass destruction or clear Iraqi links to al Qaeda terrorists have been found.
As a result, nearly half of those polled already say they consider the war has not been worth it, and support for Bush’s handling of the war dropped from 75 percent in April to 47 percent in October.
It rose to 58 percent in December, after the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Kull noted.
California, Texas and Pennsylvania have had the greatest number of deaths of their citizens in Iraq, a combined total of 123, according to statistics compiled by military officials and news agencies.
But the death toll has been proportionally highest in American Samoa and the lightly populated states of Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and Delaware, plus the District of Columbia.
Cities that have lost the most citizens are Los Angeles, Buffalo, Houston and San Diego; the U.S. military base to suffer the highest death toll is in Fort Campbell, Ky.
Allied forces in Iraq have reported a total of 90 deaths, 55 of those from Britain.
The U.S. military attributes 346 of the U.S. deaths to hostile action and 154 to non-hostile causes. At least 2,497 military personnel have been wounded in Iraq.
The casualties are far lower than those incurred during the 14-year U.S. engagement in Vietnam, when a total of 58,198 troops were killed, including 47, 413 combat deaths and 10,785 “non-hostile” deaths.
(194)Â2004 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?fil…br>