soc.veterans

On 24 Mar, 04:35, "Reality_Check=A9" wrote:
> > Grim milestone: 4,000 U.S. service employees dead in Iraq war
> > =A0a.. NEW: As Iraq war enters sixth year, American death toll rises to
> > 4,000
>
> > =A0b.. NEW: Four U.S. soldiers killed when their vehicle was hit by an I=
ED
>
> > =A0c.. At least 30 Iraqis died Sunday; 80,000 to 150,000 or more killed
> > since war's start
>
> > =A0d.. Iraq security adviser said Sunday that Iraq war is "well worth
> > fighting"
>
> > BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bombing in
> > Iraq on Sunday, military officials reported, bringing the American toll =
in
> > the 5-year-old war to the grim milestone of 4,000 deaths. Eight of those=

> > killed were civilians working for the Pentagon.
>
> > The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosi=
ve
> > device while patrolling a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the U.S.
> > military headquarters in Iraq reported Sunday night. A fifth soldier was=

> > wounded in the attack, which took place about 10 a.m. (3 a.m. ET).
>
> > The U.S. milestone comes just days after Americans marked the fifth
> > anniversary of the start of the war.
>
> > Meanwhile, estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to
> > the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the
> > country and 2.5 million people displaced within Iraq, according to the
> > U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
>
> > President Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003, after
> > months of warnings that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was concealing
> > stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to build a
> > nuclear bomb.
>
> > U.N. weapons inspectors found no sign of banned weapons before the
> > invasion, and the CIA later concluded that Iraq had dismantled its weapo=
ns
> > programs in the 1990s.
>
> > Hussein's government fell in early April 2003, and Iraq's new government=

> > executed him in December 2006.
>
> > The news of the 4,000 mark came on the same day that Iraq's national
> > security adviser urged Americans to be patient with the progress of the
> > war, contending that it is "well worth fighting" because it has
> > implications about "global terror."
>
> > "This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq =
to
> > be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said
> > Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
>
> > "If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doome=
d
> > forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with t=
he
> > widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this
> > country.
>
> > "But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the
> > money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."
>
> > Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S.
> > taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee.
>
> > The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion
> > Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans
> > support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president t=
o
> > remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.
>
> > In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of Ne=
w
> > Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."
>
> > Menendez said that the war has depleted the resources and morale of the
> > U.S. military; diverted national attention away from the war in
> > Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is regrouping; and hurt the hunt for Osama b=
in
> > Laden. The Iraq war has not made Americans safer, Menendez said, but has=

> > instead hurt the U.S. economy.
>
> > The senator called for a "responsible new direction" regarding Iraq.
>
> > CNN learned last week, from several U.S. military officials familiar wit=
h
> > the recommendations but not authorized to speak on the record, that seni=
or
> > U.S. military officials are preparing to recommend to Bush a four- to
> > six-week "pause" in additional troop withdrawals from Iraq after the las=
t
> > of the "surge" brigades leaves in July.
>
> > "If the conditions on the ground dictate that we have to have a pause,
> > then we will have to have a pause," al-Rubaie said.
>
> > The return of all five brigades added to the Iraq contingent last year
> > could reduce troop levels by up to 30,000, but still leave approximately=

> > 130,000 or more troops in Iraq.
>
> > Al-Rubaie emphasized Sunday that any drawdown of U.S. troops "has to be
> > based on the conditions on the ground."
>
> > "It depends on the development and the growth and the equipment and the
> > capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, and the preparedness of the
> > Iraqi security forces," he said. "This should not be a purely political
> > decision. It should be also a technical, military and intelligence
> > decision."
>
> > But there has been too much "foot-dragging on key governance questions i=
n
> > Iraq," Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said on CNN on Sunday. "It
> > seems to me you put off those troop withdrawals, you send exactly the
> > wrong message to the Iraqis."
>
> > On Wednesday, Bush will visit the Pentagon to be briefed by the Joint
> > Chiefs of Staff, chaired by Adm. Michael Mullen.
>
> > The American troop level in Iraq "depends on the negotiations that we ar=
e
> > engaged in now between the government of Iraq and the United States
> > government," al-Rubaie said.
>
> > When conditions warrant the withdrawal of American troops, the Iraqis wi=
ll
> > say "'Thank you very much, indeed,' " al-Rubaie said. "A big, big thank
> > you for the United States of America for liberating Iraq, for helping us=

> > in sustaining the security gains in Iraq ... and we will give them a ver=
y,
> > very good farewell party then."
>
> > Responding to recent remarks from U.S. presidential candidates that Iraq=
is
> > are not taking responsibility for their own future, al-Rubaie said Iraqi=
s
> > are making political and security gains.
>
> > "Literally by the day and by the week, we are gradually assuming more
> > responsibility," he said, noting that Iraqis have taken responsibility f=
or
> > security in many provinces.
>
> > Other developments:
>
> > . U.S. troops raided a suspected suicide bomber cell in Diyala province =
on
> > Sunday, killing a dozen militants, half of whom had shaved their bodies =
-- =A0
> > which the U.S. military says indicates they were in the final stage of
> > preparation for a suicide attack. Diyala province stretches north and ea=
st
> > of Baghdad and has been a major front for U.S. troops fighting militants=
.
>
> > . Several mortars landed in Baghdad's International Zone on Sunday,
> > according to the Interior Ministry. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said ther=
e
> > were no major casualties.
>
> > . A suicide car bomb exploded at a fuel station Sunday in a predominantl=
y
> > Shiite neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, killing seven people and
> > wounding 12 others, the Interior Ministry said.
>
> > . A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives outside the main=

> > gate of an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing at least 10 Iraqi
> > soldiers and wounding 35 people, including 20 soldiers, Mosul police sai=
d.
> > The U.S. military put the death toll higher, at 12.
>
> > . A mortar round landed in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad,
> > killing seven people and injuring nine others, a ministry official said.=

> > Six more mortar rounds landed in other Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday nigh=
t,
> > killing three people, the Interior Ministry said.
>
> > . In southeastern Baghdad, gunmen riding in at least two cars opened fir=
e
> > on a crowded outdoor market, killing at least three people and wounding =
17
> > others, the Interior Ministry said.
>
> > . A suicide bomber detonated a small truck rigged with explosives outsid=
e
> > a local Awakening Council leader's house just east of Samarra on Saturda=
y,
> > killing at least five people and wounding 13 others, a Samarra police
> > official said. Awakening Councils are largely Sunni security groups that=

> > have been recruited by the U.S. military.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

But wasn't it sixty thousand in Vietnam?

Come on, lads, you'll have to do better than that.