Tuesday, December 19, 2006
They Continue to Die in Bush's War
No, we have not become inured to the deaths of soldiers in Iraq. More and more Americans are losing faith in the war that President and Bush and his team led us into. They are sick of the wasted lives that Eugene Robinson wrote about in the Post. The message from voters in the midterm elections was unequivocal. The Iraq Study Group's report left no doubt about the mishandling of the war although it failed to suggest a clear guideline for ending it. But the message has not gotten through to the president and the warmongers. They are manoeuvering to justify continuation of the war. The president is not using the phrase "Stay the course" but one gets the impression that he is doing just that.
The death toll has reached 2950 out of of which 61 deaths took place in the first 19 days of December.
The dead in December. The list is incomplete and reflects deaths confirmed by the DOD.
Robert L. Love Jr., 28, Army Staff Sergeant, Dec 01, 2006 Keith E. Fiscus, 26, Army Sergeant, Dec 02, 2006 Bryan T. McDonough, 22, Army Specialist, Dec 02, 2006 Corey J. Rystad, 20, Army Specialist, Dec 02, 2006 Jesse D. Tillery, 19, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 02, 2006 Kermit O. Evans, 31, Air Force Captain, Dec 03, 2006 Troy D. Cooper, 21, Army Private, Dec 03, 2006 Shawn L. English, 35, Army Captain, Dec 03, 2006 Billy B. Farris, 20, Army Corporal, Dec 03, 2006 Kenneth W. Haines, 25, Army Specialist, Dec 03, 2006 Joseph Trane McCloud, 39, Marine Major, Dec 03, 2006 Joshua C. Sticklen, 24, Marine Corporal, Dec 03, 2006 Dustin M. Adkins, 22, Army Specialist, Dec 04, 2006 Jay R. Gauthreaux, 26, Army Sergeant, Dec 04, 2006 Ross A. McGinnis, 19, Army Private, Dec 04, 2006 Albert M. Nelson, 31, Army Private 1st Class, Dec 04, 2006 Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21, Army Private 1st Class, Dec 04, 2006 Nicholas D. Turcotte, 23, Army National Guard Specialist, Dec 04, 2006 Thomas P. Echols, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 04, 2006 Christopher A. Anderson, 24, Navy Hospitalman, Dec 04, 2006 Jordan W. Hess, 26, Army Specialist, Dec 05, 2006 Marco L. Miller, 36, Army Specialist, Dec 05, 2006 Jesse J.J. Castro, 22, Army Sergeant, Dec 06, 2006 Nicholas R. Gibbs, 25, Army Specialist, Dec 06, 2006 Jason Huffman, 32, Army Specialist, Dec 06, 2006 Travis C. Krege, 24, Army Private 1st Class, Dec 06, 2006 Joshua B. Madden, 21, Army Sergeant, Dec 06, 2006 Yari Mokri, 26, Army Specialist, Dec 06, 2006 Travis L. Patriquin, 32, Army Captain, Dec 06, 2006 Vincent J. Pomante III, 22, Army Specialist, Dec 06, 2006 Yevgeniy Ryndych, 24, Army Sergeant, Dec 06, 2006 Dustin J. Libby, 22, Marine Corporal, Dec 06, 2006 Megan M. McClung, 34, Marine Major, Dec 06, 2006 Cody G. Watson, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 06, 2006 Kristofer R. Ciraso, 26, Army Staff Sergeant, Dec 07, 2006 Micah S. Gifford, 27, Army Specialist, Dec 07, 2006 Henry W. Linck, 23, Army Staff Sergeant, Dec 07, 2006 Brent E. Beeler, 22, Marine Reserve Lance Corporal, Dec 07, 2006 Nathan M. Krissoff, 25, Marine 1st Lieutenant, Dec 09, 2006 Philip C. Ford, 21, Army Specialist, Dec 10, 2006 Brennan C. Gibson, 26, Army Sergeant, Dec 10, 2006 Shawn M. Murphy, 24, Army Private 1st Class, Dec 10, 2006 Nicholas P. Steinbacher, 22, Army Specialist, Dec 10, 2006 Thomas W. Clemons, 37, Army National Guard Staff Sergeant, Dec 10, 2006 Budd M. Cote, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 11, 2006 Matthew V. Dillon, 25, Marine Corporal, Dec 11, 2006 Brian P. McAnulty, 39, Marine Master Sergeant, Dec 11, 2006 Clinton J. Miller, 23, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 11, 2006 Gloria D. Davis, 47, Army Major, Dec 12, 2006 Brent W. Dunkleberger, 29, Army Sergeant, Dec 12, 2006 Theodore A. Spatol, 59, Army Staff Sergeant, Dec 14, 2006 Matt Clark, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 14, 2006 Luke Yepsen, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Dec 14, 2006 Paul Balint Jr., 22, Army Private 1st Class, Dec 15, 2006 Nick Palmer, 19, Marine Not reported yet, Dec 16, 2006 |
Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties. Follow the link to Glen Kutler's audio report in Newsweek.
Eugene Robinson in Washington Post Here's an idea: Let's send more U.S. troops to Iraq. The generals say it's way too late to even think about resurrecting Colin Powell's "overwhelming force" doctrine, so let's send over a modest "surge" in troop strength that has almost no chance of making any difference -- except in the casualty count. Oh, and let's not give these soldiers and Marines any sort of well-defined mission. Let's just send them out into the bloody chaos of Baghdad and the deadly badlands of Anbar province with orders not to come back until they "get the job done." I don't know about you, but that strikes me as a terrible idea, arguably the worst imaginable "way forward" in Iraq. So of course this seems to be where George W. Bush is headed. Don't assign any real significance to the fact that the president has decided to wait until the new year before announcing his next step in Iraq, because if history is any guide, all of this photo-op "consultation" he's doing is just for show -- to convince us, or maybe to convince himself, that he has an open mind. The Decider doesn't have the capacity for indecision. |
"War hath no fury like a noncombatant.
--C.E. Montague
