Posted on 10/25/2005 8:22:38 AM PDT by wjersey
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US death toll in Iraq reportedly hit 2,000 amid a sharp spike in violence that killed 14 Iraqis as the nation awaited results of a key vote on a charter aimed at curbing sectarian violence.
The US network CNN, quoting Pentagon sources, reported Tuesday that the number of soldiers killed since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq had reached 2,000 with the deaths of two more soldiers, a toll likely to add pressure on the US administration over its role in the violence-wracked country.
For the first time, a majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was the "wrong thing to do", according to a poll published in The Wall Street Journal.
Ten people were killed in a string of bombings in the Kurdish stronghold of Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq, while another four were killed in Baghdad, the day after a spectacular bombing blitz on hotels housing international reporters and contractors killed 17.
The Sulaimaniyah attacks targeted a building housing Kurdish peshmerga militamen and the convoy of a senior Kurdish politician, while security sources also defused a bomb outside a hotel used by journalists.
In Baghdad, four people were killed, including two security officials shot dead in the violent southern neighborhood of Dura.
The capital was recovering from a triple suicide car bomb attack against hotels which killed at least 17 people Monday as Iraqis sat down to break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
A cement truck packed with explosives was stopped before it reached the Sheraton hotel, and disappeared in a massive flash that sent up a towering column of gray and black smoke.
The blasts rocked Firdus Square, where the statue of ousted president Saddam Hussein was pulled down when US troops marched into Baghdad in April 2003, and shook the Palestine, Sheraton and Sadir hotels.
"If the cement truck had not been stopped in time by guards who opened fire, it would have totally devastated the Sheraton," a security source said.
In the past week, almost 100 people have been killed as the number and strength of attacks surged following the start of former dictator Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity last Wednesday.
The latest blasts also underscored tension over the outcome of Iraq's draft constitution, which hung on the undeclared results of Sunni-dominated Nineveh province after a second region rejected it.
With a two-thirds majority "no" vote in three of Iraq's provinces sufficient to scuttle the document, all eyes turned to the "swing" northwestern province and its mixed capital of Mosul.
"There is no problem in this province," said senior election official Abdul Hussein Hindawi on Monday. "We don't have a result yet we will get it later today and give it tomorrow."
US and Iraqi officials hope the constitutional process will lead smoothly to general elections in mid-December and draw Sunni Arabs towards a political solution to end sectarian strife.
But the constitution, which is aimed at laying down a democratic future for Iraq, has exacerbated ethnic divisions with disaffected Sunni Arabs fearing it could lead to the break of the country and leave the country's oil wealth in the hands of Shiites and Kurds.
Growing calls for foreign troops to leave Iraq, where some soldiers and analysts say they have essentially become insurgent lightning rods, provoked comment by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"We are not going to defeat (terrorism) by getting out of Iraq, or by not taking the steps necessary to make the world more secure," Blair told Sky News television.
But Jane's Information Group analyst Charles Heymen said attrition among coalition forces would likely lead to a withdrawal at some point.
"The only people it benefits, of course, are the insurgents," he noted.
In the Wall Street Journal poll, 53 percent of those surveyed said they felt that "taking military action against Iraq was the... wrong thing to do", against 34 percent who thought it was correct.
Meanwhile, Saddam's lawyer and a team of foreign officials supporting the defense called for a UN probe into the murder of an attorney working for one of his co-defendants.
The letter emerged as Saddam's Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi arrived in Amman to take part in talks on coordinating defense strategy for his next court hearing on November 28.
US President George W. Bush stressed it was crucial "that there will be a fair trial, which is something he didn't give many of the thousands of people he killed".
The trial against Saddam and the seven former regime officials over the 1982 massacre of 148 Shiite villagers opened on October 19.
Thank God our grandparents weren't such wusses during WWII. 2000 casualties in a single battle did not even rate as a major loss of life. That only 2000 have died, and not all of them in combat, over three YEARS against an enemy that has no armies and no rules of engagement, except blowing up as many people as possible, is miraculous! Our troops and their leaders have done and are doing a spectacular job. Shame on the leftists who cheapen the sacrifice of these courageous, dedicated men and women by their cheerleading for the jihadis. They deserve our scorn, not TV coverage and NYT homage.
The KIA's are UNBELIEVABLY low by ANY wartime historic standard. We should be praising our troops DAILY with POSITIVE news so that our nation's 'civilians' know what a terrific job they are doing!!!
The left is sorry. Sorry that 10,000 of our guys have not died yet. That was their prediction years ago (we would lose tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians would be dead).
We've seen their protest banners that they love NY more without the WTC and that they support our troops when they shoot their officers (like Sgt. Akbar).
They are traitors in word and deed. They support our enemy (and some now call for negotiated peace with the "insurgents". The "insurgents" don't want peace. They could run for office in Iraq. They seem to rule by terror.
I'll repeat the substance of one of my first, early posts: I may be too old to serve, but if I see any stinking demo-hippies harassing any of our wounded troops, at the airport or wherever--I understand they are now harassing grieving family & friends at funerals--I'm going to `clean house' and take my chances with a jury.
Why haven't I heard this from the MSM?
Oh, wait. I forgot... I don't watch the MSM!
They've tried to spin that only 300 were killed outside of combat. Unless they started to refine the list, I just don't believe it.
When the list was barely 1,000 (if that) I looked over the names and about one third were killed in accidents, sickness, and even in accidents or heart attacks in other countries like Kuwait or Germany. They padded the numbers so they could reach their tallies by the 9-11 anniversary, Veterans Day, etc. The "death list" is not a government list and different sites include or exclude different names. The most glaring example of this was a woman who died crossing a highway in Kansas while on leave. "Bush's Fault" my ass. While the Washington Poop does not include that death (any more, if they ever did) they do include a vehicular accident in Kuwait that occurred that same week.
The Death Watch folks are vultures.
I don't know how true this story is - can't find on CNN
DUers and the OLD MEDIA. They just love it when our soldiers are killed. Hateful bunch of morons.
I admire every soldier who gave their life. I cannot fathom this love of country and duty even though my son is in the military too, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan. God bless them all and their families.
This sacrifice should be honored -- not gleefully reported by the media. I hate our press more and more everyday.
I truly wonder if the dems and MSM know how they are preceived? Are there gains to be made by the troubles the Republicans are having? Sure there are, but the dems, as always overplay their hands. They offer nothing and continue to do nothing but whine and complain. They overplay their hands so much, that they can't even mask that they are invested in U.S. defeat in Iraq.
The same with the MSM. The MSM is far too busy patting itself on the back for their Katrina coverage to notice the real fallout. It is akin to that blowhard who overstates his/her abilities. Yet, when it comes time to put up the results, he/she fails to match his/her own. The blowhard thinks he/she can just move on and nobody will notice. Oh, but the audience does notice and the blowhard's credibility is shot. Where were the 10,000 dead, the toxic soup, the scenes of death and rape, etc. etc.?
So now, the MSM sits around on a goulish death watch. They don't get that merely reporting the news could be enough to gain sympathy for the anti-war side. Instead, the MSM gives off the impression of rooting for the deaths. That only drives sympathy in the opposite direction.
But what the hell, the MSM and the dems don't care, a lack of self-awareness is bliss.
Not correct. As of today, 438 of the 2,000 were due to non-hostile causes.
Ive personally known 3 soldiers who were killed in service to our country. Not one of them died as a result of enemy action. One was killed when some kind of hoist failed while he was servicing a tank in Germany. One was killed in a stateside helicopter crash and the last was killed when he was struck by a Humvee while walking on base in South Korea.
Still 3000 short of the 5000 being predicted by many before the war started. So, is the 2000 a sign of failure or success?
God bless our military. Words cannot express adequately all of the emotions that well up from that sobering photo. Thank you all.
"God rest all their souls. They died fighting for freedom and Jesus says that there is no greater love than that a man lay down his life for a friend."
Exactly!! A few, the brave, keep America free by volunteering to defend her.
5,000? I remember the predictions of 10's of thousands.
I do not denigrate any of their service and know some who serve myself (including family) and who have taken shrapnel (though lived).
The deaths on this list serve as a "Bush's fault" list (some sites include such a banner) and I fail to see how a crash in the US, as tragic as it is, can be tied to the war effort in Iraq (their stance being these people would have lived if we didn't go into Iraq) .
There are deaths on bases around the world. Some leftist bean counters peruse through the reports and filter out the ones they think "look reasonable" for adding to their tally. This is not a government account of deaths.
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