Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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WASHINGTON, May 31, 2005 - The death toll for American troops in Iraq rose in May to the highest level since January, with the U.S. military saying Tuesday that insurgents have doubled their number of daily attacks since April.

This latest spree of violence by insurgents, who rose up after the American-led invasion in 2003 toppled President Saddam Hussein, put a dramatic end to a period when attacks on U.S. forces had waned after the historic Jan. 30 elections.

At least 77 U.S. troops were killed in May, according to a count of deaths announced by the military. That is the highest toll since 107 Americans were killed in January. It marked the second straight monthly increase since 36 U.S. troops died in March, among the lowest tolls of the war.

Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said insurgents are staging about 70 attacks nationwide per day.

‘A lull’ after the elections

“There was a lull in attacks after the elections,” Boylan said.

“There was a period of time right after the election until the beginning of April or middle of April that we actually saw them (daily rebel attacks) dip into the low 30s.”

The latest Pentagon figures listed 1,658 U.S. military deaths since the war began, with another 12,630 wounded in combat. The United States has 139,000 troops in Iraq, with another 23,000 British and other foreign soldiers.

In the recent spike in violence, insurgents also have aggressively targeted Iraqi security forces and civilians. Boylan said more than 600 Iraqis were killed or wounded in May.

Boylan attributed the rise in U.S. deaths in May to several factors.

May was a record month for car bombs used by insurgents in suicide attacks and with remote-controlled detonations, he said. Boylan added U.S. forces suffered losses in offensives against the rebels such as Operation New Market in the western town of Haditha and Operation Matador around the western town of Qaim, close to the Syrian border.

Asked if the insurgents, a mix of indigenous Sunni Muslim Arabs and foreign radical Islamic fighters, could sustain the current level of violence, Boylan said, “Don’t know yet.”

Defense analysts said the recent violence was the latest evidence Iraq remains an uncertain project for America.

“Those who believed that the elections would be a decisive turning point undermining the insurgency are disappointed yet again,” Cato Institute defense analyst Ted Carpenter said. “The insurgency seems as capable as ever.”

U.S. generals in the weeks after the election had talked about a possible serious reduction in U.S. troop levels next year.

Assessment not finished

Gen. George Casey, top U.S. commander in Iraq, has not completed his assessment of future troop levels, Boylan said, adding that the level of violence and the capabilities of U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces would be crucial factors.

“The reality is we have discovered, despite all our propaganda, that we are facing a very tough, resilient and smart adversary,” defense analyst Daniel Goure of the Lexington Institute said.

Goure said rebels have continuously changed, updated and modified tactics, dumping those that no longer worked. Goure also faulted U.S. forces for being slow to cut off the supply of bullets, bombs, money and recruits coming over the border from Syria.

“I think we are in there at least for the next five years in significant numbers,” Goure said.

Boylan preached patience.

“This is the hardest type of fight to be in,” Boylan said. ”If we get too impatient and decide to throw in the towel too soon, then we give up everything we’ve gained up to this point.”
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8050339/

Asked if the insurgents, a mix of indigenous Sunni Muslim Arabs and foreign radical Islamic fighters, could sustain the current level of violence, Boylan said, “Don’t know yet.”

The iraqis as a whole are fighting the occupying US terrorists its not the non existent saddam loyalists or baath party members or shia this or sunni that your fighting the local population who don’t want some sadistic army running rampage through their territory!

“Those who believed that the elections would be a decisive turning point undermining the insurgency are disappointed yet again,” Cato Institute defense analyst Ted Carpenter said. “The insurgency seems as capable as ever.”
**
Yes those fools who thought the stage managed puppet elections would whitewash everything and legitimize the US occupation are disappointed yet again what a pity for the yanks that the iraqis see through the US lies!**

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Let's be honest here, it's not the "Iraqi people" who are blowing things up. It's foreign radical Islamists and Muslim Arabs who only make up 20% of Iraqis. One group are brainwashed jihadists who like to kill infidels (and any Muslim that gets in their way) and the other group doesn't want to give up their oppressive rule over the majority.

But why should we expect honesty when a news story is edited by the poster leaving out such things as "The increase in deaths coincides with the April 28 announcement of Iraq’s new Shiite-led government, which was followed by a wave of violence believed launched by Sunni insurgents targeting Iraqi security forces and civilians." and "But the most dramatic rise in deaths was among insurgents."

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Wow. There ought to be a Gupshup rule that people cannot edit stories by deleting important information unless they expressly indicate they are only posting excerpts.

Here's another piece of the story aKKK47 chopped out.

*"Among them [670 Iraqis killed by the insurgents in May] were 434 civilians, up from 299 killed in April, according to Health Ministry figures. Some 775 civilians were also wounded last month, compared with 598 in April." *

A bunch of keyboard jihadis always seem to accuse Americans of treating Muslim blood as cheap. So here we've got a bunch of Muslim hoodlums who killed 434 Iraqi civilians and wounded 775 others in May. All this to claim a great triumph in killing 77 US soldiers.

I'm quite sure that our keyboard jihadis agree with Zarqawi when he preaches that killing Iraqi civilians is justified as long as Americans are also killed. *At a 434/77 kill ratio, we can mathematically calculate that an Iraqi civilian's life is obviously worth only 17.7% of an American soldier's life according to these Muslim hooligans. **If we assume that all of the 297 insurgents and all of the 151 Iraqi policemen killed in May were also Muslim, the kill ratio is 882/77. **Thus, in May, the value of a Muslim life in Iraq is precisely 8.7% of the value of a US soldier's life according to the Muslim insurgency. *

So....may I ask. Who is treating Muslim blood as cheap now? I think it's time for a good protest riot and a few mosque burnings to express our outrage at the cheapening of Muslim lives.

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

how come there are zero Shias in the insurgency?

why are these Sunni terrorists fighting, and what are they fighting for? Sunni caliphate?

Pak Day LA 2007
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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Yes those fools who thought this staged altered story would whitewash everything and legitimize the killing of Iraqis are disappointed yet again what a pity for the keyboard jihadists that everyone sees through their lies!

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Maybe Sunni Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria dont want a Shia Iraq and Iran breathing down their necks.

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

MyVoice,

Nice work there buddy. Nice to have the insurgents define a scientifically derived ratio of worth. Do you think this ratio will hold up over time? Should we look back over a longer period? Perhaps we can get the Lancet to publish this!

And yes, the editing again speaks loudly that Muslim deaths are the most transparent to Muslims. Almost 900 Muslim deaths and barely a mention by AK47. Talk about a US fixation.

Pakistan Day Festival (UK Gupsters)
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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

well that simply means a US life is equal to 100 muslims..I had it 70 muslims/ 1 American simply based on percapita GDP..boy was I wrong. good going Sunnis..you are terrorists par excellence. :k:

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

yeah…so the Shias defending their country against terrorist Sunnis…why aren’t they referred to as “Mujahideen”?

why aren’t they getting support from all our Sunni friends? (on gupshup and wherever else around the globe)

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Niko, that is because shias are not the right sect…they need to be blown up in their places of worship…killed by the road side, kidnappped and murdered…their leaders killed…that is the history of Islam. Islam is a religion for times immemorial…changing it is apostacy…you should know better, Idol worshipper :rolleyes: you are the always in season!!

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

confused indians

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to quote the immortal obelix:

these muslims are crazy! ....how many castes do they have again?

More seriously, do people like ak47 realize country after muslim country is proving incapable of staying up? you should be thanking bush and co for saving your skins from each other

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Wow the right wing amerikkan buffoons still living in cuckoo land they think all these resistance fighters are foriegners well keep living in fantasy land the same fantasy land where you will find your WMDs and iraqis who welcoming the yankee terrorists with flower petals! :hehe:

by the way message from iraq is keep sending more body bags and some more of those now disgraced red white and blue flags for the coffins!

Anti Harry Potter Club
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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Myvoice, I can assure you that AK may call you racist, fascist so and so, but he will never answer your allegations, as it is above his dignity.

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This is a forum where you can post article and discuss if you want full article go to the link for full story very simple i am sure even islamaphobes can understand this simple rule.

By the way topic of post is the mounting yank army death toll this is what the post is about discuss another rule very simple to understand even for islamaphobes

The SIGNS of Moderators.........
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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

^^ For once I agree with AK47. He is right his topic is discussing Yanks killed in may. I ma facing the same dilemma that he is but in a different thread. I have about 99 responses and out of those 99 there are total of 4 with substance. Out of those 4 2 are mine.

Myvoice BTW excellent piece of work.

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No Verizon, he posts an article and selectively mines the facts that he wants, while editing out any reference to Muslims killed isn’t that sort of an important omission?

Further proof of the same in a different article today. 12,000 iraqi civilains dead from the insurgency, 1663 American soldiers. That is 7.21 Iraqis for every American, or an Iraqi life is worth 13.8% of an American life to the insurgents. That is the raw calculus of war.

Iraq Puts Civilian Toll at 12,000
Insurgency Claiming About 20 People a Day

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 3, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD, June 2 – Violence in the course of the 18-month-long insurgency has claimed the lives of 12,000 Iraqis, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said Thursday, giving the first official count for the largest category of victims of bombings, ambushes and other increasingly deadly attacks.

At least 36 more Iraqi civilians, security force members and officials were killed Thursday in attacks that underscored the ruthlessness and growing randomness of much of the violence. The day’s victims included 12 people killed when a suicide attacker drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into a restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk.

People check the aftermath of a car bomb explosion Thursday June 2 2005 in the town of Khalis, some 45 kilometers, (30 miles), north of Baqouba. A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque wounding at least 11 people. (AP Photo/Mohammed Adnan) (Mohammed Adnan - AP)

In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a market area crowded with civilians, killing nine, the Defense Ministry said.

The U.S. military reported that two soldiers were killed Wednesday, by a bomb and by small-arms fire, in the western city of Ramadi.

Thursday’s violence demonstrated the ability of insurgents to keep up attacks despite a week-old security operation in Baghdad billed as the most aggressive yet by Iraq’s new government, in office for less than two months.

The checkpoints and raids that leaders have dubbed Operation Lightning have brought all roads in and out of the capital under government control, said Jabr, the minister in charge of Iraq’s police forces. The actions are meant to expose insurgent hideouts in the city, he told reporters from some foreign news organizations, adding, “Within the next few months, we can deal with all of the killings and assassinations.”

Jabr said security forces had detained 700 “terrorists” and killed 28 during the operation. The Defense Ministry said Wednesday that 680 people had been detained but that all but 95 had been released for lack of evidence warranting prosecution.

Interior Ministry statistics showed 12,000 civilians killed by insurgents in the last year and a half, Jabr said. The figure breaks down to an average of more than 20 civilians killed by bombings and other attacks each day. Authorities estimate that more than 10,500 of the victims were Shiite Muslims, based on the locations of the deaths, Jabr said.

There have been 1,663 U.S. military deaths since the United States led the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, according to the Pentagon’s official count. Bombings and other insurgent strikes have killed thousands of Iraqi security force members. No official totals have been released for those dead, or for the total number of civilian casualties since the start of the war. The U.S. military says it does not keep a comprehensive tally of people it has killed in combat, although it has released numbers of dead in major operations and has acknowledged civilians it has killed if it has become generally known that those people died during a U.S. firefight or attack.

Jabr said the government figures showed that Shiites had suffered the bulk of insurgent attacks. No Sunni Muslim mosques, for example, had been destroyed, he said.

Iraq’s insurgency is led largely by members of the Sunni Arab minority that was toppled from power with Saddam Hussein. Foreign Arab fighters are largely blamed for the suicide bombings that now claim most of the lives.

Jabr, in some of his first extended remarks to reporters since becoming interior minister, said he saw no legitimacy in the cause of the Sunni Arab fighters. "I have not seen any ‘resistance,’ " Jabr said in response to a question about clemency for so-called resistance fighters who lay down their arms. “There is terror, and all sides have agreed that anyone raising guns and killing Iraqis is a terrorist.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/02/AR2005060201098.html

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Re: Bloody May for U.S. troops in Iraq

Actually, I think the ratio will become even more skewed and the value of civilian Muslim lives will be cheapened even more by these Muslim terrorists. As it becomes harder and harder to get to Iraqi security forces or US soldiers, they must increase their kill totals among the easiest targets to remain relevant. More marketplaces, more mosques and more picnics in the park.

When Muslims finally view Muslim lives as being as valuable as a US soldier’s life, the insurgency will be over and we’ll be able to bring our troops home. It is impossible to conceive that the insurgency has the ability to increase US soldier death counts to the current levels of daily Muslim deaths. So the only way to bring parity to the death ratio and parity to the relative valuation of blood is to reduce Muslim deaths to the level of US soldier deaths. Reducing Muslim deaths requires the termination of suicide and car bombings of civilian places. In other words, terminating actions which lead to the deaths of the only easily accessible victims of the insurgency. Coincidentally, the reduction of Muslim killings is one of the indices of the provision of security in Iraq which is the point we get to leave.

So really, it’s quite simple. Once Muslims in Iraq value their own blood and lives as being equivalent to that of an American soldier, the occupation ends, we leave and everybody lives happily ever after.

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The illegal occupation is falling to bits day by day and these fools come on a pak forum trying their best to say everything is ticketee boo in Iraq, that the stage managed democracy and the occupation is working what a joke your own politicians and generals cant find a solution there telling you its not working even your soldiers cannot even move unless in a convoy armed to the teeth with helicopter gunship as backup. Never mind i guess the resistance needs to up the ratio of US terrorists killed a month then we can wait and see more pointless statements from the right wing crew.

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"ticketee boo "

Ok..that is not even a word. :rolleyes: