72 US troops killed in Hostilities in November
72 US soldiers were killed by hostile fire in Iraq during November, the highest of any month since the major fighting started last March. And for the Coalition troops as a whole, the number is 107! I was taken aback by the size of the number. I can remember when the death toll seemed to be one of our guys every other day, which was terrible, but that was 15 a month. This is more than two a day. The Coalition deaths per year at this rate would be 1284! This is not to mention the literally thousands of wounded. Although Gen. Sanchez says that daily attacks are down to 22 a day from a high of 50 a day, the attacks that do occur must be more deadly, to explain these numbers. The 22 a day number appears to be attacks only on Americans, so that the massacre of the Spanish secret agents would not even count. From the point of view of US officers commanding 130,000 troops in Iraq, even 700 Americans down a year would not appear to pose a big military challenge. But I just don’t think the folks back home are going to be willing to put up with a number like 72 a month. My heart just goes out to those 72 American families. The failure of the Bush administration to level with us all on why exactly we are there and what exactly we are supposed to be accomplishing is all the more galling in the light of these fallen compatriots.