The Toll Grows Higher

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LATE WEDNESDAY, a soldier from the 1st Armored Division was shot and killed while on patrol in the al-Mansour district of western Baghdad, the U.S. command said.

A soldier from the 4th Infantry Division also died Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded about 300 yards from the main U.S. base in Tikrit, Saddam?s hometown. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast. U.S. troops in Tikrit fired mortars overnight into empty fields near the base in a show of force.

Another soldier from the 4th Infantry Division died following a rocket-propelled grenade attack on an American convoy Wednesday near Samara, about 60 miles north of the Iraqi capital, according to the military.

The latest casualties ? names were withheld pending notification of relatives ? bring to 90 the number of American soldiers to die by hostile fire in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1. A total of 314 American service members have died since the war started on March 20, according to the Department of Defense.

U.S. officials have warned that coalition forces are facing more sophisticated attacks by a determined resistance centered in Sunni Muslim areas to the north and west of Baghdad.
 
Correction from CNN,

A total of 316 Americans have died from all different causes in Iraq since March 20. 201 have died as a result of hostile fire and 115 from other non-hostile events. From March 20 to May 1, 115 US troops were killed by hostile fire. From May 1 to now(October 2), 86 US troops have been killed by hostile fire.
 
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents killed three U.S. soldiers with roadside bombs, the military reported Tuesday.

The three soldiers' deaths, the first reported since Friday, brought to 91 the number of American soldiers killed in hostile action since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. A total of 320 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the United States and Britain launched military operations against Saddam Hussein's government March 20.

One soldier attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was killed and another wounded in a bombing about 9:50 p.m. Monday just west of Baghdad.

About an hour later, another roadside bombing killed two soldiers attached to the 82nd Airborne Division and their Iraqi translator.
 
321..

A 4th Infantry Division soldier was killed Thursday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a U.S. convoy northeast of Baghdad, the military said
 
In the north, one U.S. soldier was killed at the oil refining town of Baiji, while a second died in a grenade attack in the Tikrit area. A third soldier died in an ambush northeast of Baghdad.

Their deaths brought to 97 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

I wish they would always publish a photo-they deserve at least that..

Donald Laverne Wheeler Jr., 22, an Army specialist in the 4th Infantry Division, is shown April 20, 2002, at his family home in Concord, Mich. Wheeler died Monday, Oct. 13, 2003, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Tikrit

capt.ljg10310142202.iraq_mich_wheeler_ljg103.jpg
 
Three American soldiers were killed and seven were wounded in a midnight clash at a Shiite Muslim cleric's headquarters in this shrine city, the U.S. military said Friday.

The U.S. troops, who were not identified pending notification of relatives, were members of the 101st Airborne Division, Maj. Mike Escudie of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. said in a statement.
 
October 17, 2003
4 American Soldiers Are Killed in 2 New Attacks in Iraq
By TERENCE NEILAN

Three American soldiers were killed and seven were wounded in the Shiite holy city of Karbala late Thursday night, and another soldier was killed in Baghdad this morning, military officials said today.

Two Iraqi security officers were also killed and five were wounded in the Karbala attack outside the headquarters of a Shiite cleric.

At about 11:30 p.m. on Thursday a patrol of American military police and Iraqi security forces was ambushed near the Imam Abbas Mosque in Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

The patrol was investigating reports of armed men congregating on a road near the mosque after a 9 p.m. curfew, the United States Central Command said in a statement.

Three 101st Airborne Division military police soldiers were killed in an exchange of small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

After the incident, American soldiers and Iraqi police forces surrounded a site near a mosque where the ambushers were holed up, but by this afternoon Iraqi time the forces had withdrawn.

At about 7:50 this morning an American soldier of the 220th Military Police Brigade was killed by an improvised roadside bomb in the Baghdad area, Maj. Mike Escudie, a spokesman for the command, said. Two other soldiers were wounded.

The fatalities Thursday night and today bring the number of American soldiers killed in hostile action since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1 to at least 101.

The wounded from the Karbala attack were taken to the 28th Combat Support Hospital for treatment, but no further details were released. The soldier wounded today was taken to a nearby medical center, Central Command said.

Karbala was the scene on Monday night of a battle between rival Shiite Muslim militias, one loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, a young cleric who is increasingly defiant of the United States and critical of the occupation. At least one person was killed and several people were wounded.

The 9 p.m. curfew was imposed on Tuesday as a result of the battle.

Today's action was believed to involve followers of Mahmoud al-Hassani, a local Shiite ayatollah, not Mr. Sadr.
 
This is one monstrous dispute going on between Shia sects. I am not quite sure how anyone is going to deal with these disputes. Damn.
 
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded late Saturday in an attack near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a military spokeswoman told CNN.

With the latest deaths, 338 U.S. troops have been killed in the Iraq war since it began in March -- 218 of those by hostile fire.

Around 10:45 p.m. (3:45 p.m. ET), a U.S. mounted patrol of Humvees was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, according to 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle.

The 4th ID patrol returned fire, but the assailants fled, she said.

The wounded soldier is in stable condition.
 
AP - Assailants ambushed a U.S. Army foot patrol just outside Fallujah at midday Monday, killing one American and wounding five others in the second day of attacks in this anti-U.S. hotbed west of Baghdad, the American command reported. The patrol, from the 82nd Airborne Division, was first hit by an exploding homemade bomb, and then by small-arms fire, the military said.
 
the US military said...

Iraq Violence Claims 3 More Troops' Lives

By TAREK AL-ISSAWI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four were wounded Friday in a mortar attack on their base north of Baghdad, and another American died in a shootout in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said.

The latest U.S. deaths occurred when a mortar struck a forward operating base near Samara, 70 miles north of Baghdad, about noon Friday, the U.S. Central Command said.

In Mosul, a soldier from the 101st Airborne Division was killed by small arms fire before dawn Friday in the western end of the city, the command reported.

Names of the victims were withheld pending notification of kin.

The deaths bring to 108 the number of American soldiers killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1
 
I am so tired of it too verte..

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In a daring strike, insurgents attacked the heart of the U.S. occupation Sunday, unleashing a barrage of rockets against the Al Rasheed hotel where U.S. officials live and where visiting Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying. Wolfowitz escaped, but an American colonel was killed and 15 people were wounded.
 
Just one soldier's story..

Bedford High graduate had 'a warrior's heart'
By Donovan Slack, Globe Correspondent, 10/27/2003

BEDFORD -- Seven M-1 rifles. Three shots each. Every deafening boom, punctuated by the clatter of spent shell casings falling to the pavement, wracked Alma Hart yesterday with a fresh round of tears.

Her only son, US Army Private First Class John Hart, had died in a barrage of gunfire and grenades in Iraq during an ambush Oct. 18 outside the northern city of Kirkuk.

As the 21-gun salute to his life echoed over a crowd of more than 600 yesterday outside St. Michael's Church in his hometown, the young soldier's father caressed his wife's hand with his thumb.

"Sleep does not come easily to me," Brian Hart said earlier, during a eulogy to his son at the memorial service. "I pace the house in the quiet of the night. I study the photos on the walls, one by one. Happy photos of a happy family. I see your face, your smile, your happy smile. Try as I might, though, I cannot hear the sound of your laughter."

Brian Hart described pictures of fishing trips and swimming lessons. Of Alma holding John as a baby. And of episodes that showed his son's indomitable smarts and sense of humor. On John's 4th birthday, Brian Hart bought him a puppy and told him the dog was not allowed to sleep in bed with him. Not wanting to disobey his dad, the young Hart slept on the floor with the dog instead.

"When you left for the war, I hugged you tightly. I put my head above your shoulder so you could not see my face. I could not look into your eyes," Brian Hart recalled, his voice cracking, "or you would see my tears."

Hart said he wished his son knew how his death had brought an entire town together in grief. "Do you know how Bedford is struggling? A town united now in sorrow. Did you know we loved you?"

Across the close-knit community yesterday, flags were flown at half-staff: at an American Legion post on Great Road, at an Exxon station next door. At the center of town, John Hart's face grinned from a large photograph surrounded by flowers at a roadside memorial.

Dozens of teenagers, many from Bedford High School where John graduated last year, crowded the pews during the service yesterday. Many stopped to offer a hug and some whispered sympathies to the Hart family.

"Even as John has lost his innocence, so we, too, as a community have lost our innocence," said US Air Force Chaplain Dennis Saucier. "How can this have happened here, to the boy next door? We search for answers, and there are no answers. None that make sense."

But the young Hart died doing what he had always wanted to do, his father said. John Hart participated in Junior ROTC all four years of high school, was cocaptain of the school's rifle team, and spoke often of his commitment to serve his country, especially after Sept. 11, 2001. Three months after graduation in June 2002, Hart enlisted in the Army. In April, he completed airborne certification, an achievement of which his father said he was especially proud.

"I know you had a warrior's heart," his father said in his eulogy. "You dreamed of being a soldier, and you lived your dream."

It was a warrior's memorial yesterday, the first of two services planned for Hart, whose body is en route to Arlington National Cemetery, where he will be buried sometime in the next two weeks.

Yesterday, Governor Mitt Romney personally delivered his condolences to the family after the service, which included a solemn chorus of taps and a military folding of the American flag.

John Hart's sisters, Rebecca, 16, and Elizabeth, 13, watched in silence as one of their brother's childhood friends and fellow soldiers, John Saucier, turned with a stiff salute and handed the triangular folded banner to their mother.

Alma Hart gingerly placed her right hand on top of the flag and held it there until the end of the service, when her husband led her away.


His mother at the service

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Well, it finally happened..

Attack on U.S. Tank Kills 2 GIs in Iraq

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two American soldiers were killed when their Abrams battle tank was damaged by resistance fighters, U.S. officials said Wednesday, as the number of U.S. soldiers killed in combat since major fighting ended topped the wartime total.

The latest deaths bring to 115 the number of American soldiers killed in combat in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major fighting May 1. Defense Department figures ? updated on its Web site Tuesday ? show 114 U.S. soldiers died in the active combat phase, which began March 20.
 
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Chopper Shot Down in Iraq, Killing 15 GIs
7 minutes ago

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Insurgents shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter over western Iraq on Sunday as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 21 in the deadliest single strike against American troops since the start of war.

The strike by a shoulder-fired missile was a significant new blow in an Iraq insurgency that escalated in recent days ? a "tough week," in the words of the U.S. occupation chief. Other U.S. soldiers were reported killed Sunday in ground attacks here and elsewhere in central Iraq.

The only day that saw more U.S. casualties came March 23, during the first week of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The death toll surpasses one of the deadliest single attacks during the Iraq war: the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company, in which 11 soldiers were killed, nine were wounded and seven captured, including Pvt. Jessica Lynch.
 
I wonder if any of the top officials is going to be held accountable for that. I don't know who it should be: the President, the Defense Secretary, the generals on the ground...
Dozens of people are killed in Iraq on a daily basis and nobody is responsible for that? Somebody has brought GIs there, somebody has given orders...
Mr. Rumsfeld, for instance...is he doing something else apart from regretting what happened and predicting that there will be more killed? We ALL know that there will be MANY more killed, one does not need to be a genius or a Defense Secretary to predict that. Now, if one occupies a top position in the government, they bear a special, enormous responsibility for every step they take. Because every step they take affects millions of people...
 
U.S. Soldier Killed in Baghdad Bombing

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi insurgents killed an American soldier in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Tuesday, and Spain said it was withdrawing much of its diplomatic staff from Iraq for security reasons, the third coalition country to do so in the past two weeks amid mounting violence.

Another soldier was killed Monday and one other wounded when their vehicle struck a land mine in Tikrit.

The deaths brought the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq in November to 23, most in the weekend crash of a transport helicopter shot down Sunday west of Baghdad.
 
In my paper yesterday, there was a picture of a girl on the front page crying holding her family portrait. Her brother had been killed in Iraq, and when they came to tell her mother, she died on the spot of a brain anyerysm (sp) :( Now she's got to bury 2. That should never have had to be.

It's nothing but a waste now. To stay out of hateful pride will only lead to a new Viet Nam and more dead. It's a disgrace. We cannot help Iraq because they don't like us. Let's get the hell out and let them do what they will.
 
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This thread has for the most part remained non-political. I think "Dreadsox" said it best that "it should remain that way". Political comments should be put in another thread.
 
From Reuters

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Saddam Hussein's hometown in Iraq on Friday, killing six people on board, and U.S. soldiers said it had been probably been shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade.

"At approximately 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) this morning a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down," Major Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division told reporters. "At this stage we don't know if it was due to mechanical failure or another reason."

But soldiers in Tikrit said initial reports suggested the helicopter had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
 
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