[Shadow_Group] November already is second deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

November already is second deadliest month for U.S.
troops in Iraq 
By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 11/16/2004 17:04

FROM:
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/321/wash/November_already_is_second_dea:.shtml<http://www.boston.com/dailynews/321/wash/November_already_is_second_dea:.shtml>

WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. deaths in Iraq this month are
approaching 100, making it the second-deadliest month
since American forces invaded the country in March
2003, Pentagon records show. 

The worst month was last April, with 135 deaths, when
the insurgency intensified and U.S. Marines fought
fierce battles in Fallujah, only to be withdrawn from
the city. That was part of a failed attempt to put the
now-defunct Fallujah Brigade of U.S. and allied Iraqi
forces in charge. 

Until now the second-deadliest month was November 2003
with 82 deaths, and 80 Americans died in May and
September this year. 

The rising death toll coincides with U.S. military
commanders' efforts to pacify areas of Iraq that need
to be brought under Iraqi government control before
elections scheduled for late January. It also reflects
an escalation of attacks by the insurgents, although
some U.S. commanders say they believe this may be a
last-gasp effort by rebel forces outmatched by U.S.
firepower. 

It is difficult to gauge the effect of the growing
death toll on U.S. troop morale. Commanders say their
men and women are holding up well, although they
caution that more hard fighting lies ahead. 

Most of the deaths this month have been in the
Fallujah offensive that began Nov. 7. Many Marines and
soldiers also have been killed in Ramadi and other
cities in Anbar province west of Baghdad, as well as
in Mosul in the north, Babil province south of Baghdad
and in and around the Iraqi capital. 

Support troops also have been killed along supply
routes. On Tuesday, for example, a soldier assigned to
the Army's 13th Corps Support Command was killed and
another was wounded when a roadside bomb struck their
supply convoy near Qayarrah West Airfield in northern
Iraq. 

A Marine officer said Monday that 37 Marines and
soldiers had been killed in the Fallujah offensive,
plus one nonbattle death. He said 320 had been
wounded. American estimates of the number of
insurgents killed in the offensive range from about
1,000 to about 1,200. 

An exact and fully current count of U.S. deaths is
difficult to obtain because of time lags between the
military's initial reporting of attacks and the
subsequent identification of the individual
casualties. 

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of plans
for U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday that enough of
the insurgency's leaders probably got out of Fallujah
to keep the violence flaring elsewhere. 

''What we primarily captured, we suspect, are not the
high-level leadership nor the facilitators but really
the common foot soldiers, and we would expect that the
foreign fighters that didn't fight to the death are
probably moving out to start the fight somewhere else
(in Iraq),'' Kimmitt said in an interview with AP
Radio from Central Command offices in Tampa, Fla. 

As of Tuesday the Pentagon said 1,210 U.S. service
members have died in Iraq since the conflict began 20
months ago. At the beginning of November the Pentagon
count stood at 1,119, and it rose rapidly as the
Fallujah fighting intensified and insurgents struck
back in other cities and towns. 

Because of the heavy fighting in Fallujah and the
insurgents' apparent attempts to respond with
stepped-up attacks elsewhere, this month also is
seeing one of the highest wounded totals. The number
of wounded jumped by nearly 500 this week, according
to Pentagon figures released Tuesday. 

Since the start of the war, 8,956 U.S. service members
have been wounded, of which nearly 5,000 were serious
enough to prevent them from returning to duty. At the
start of the month the total was 8,287. 

Of the 91 or more U.S. deaths so far this month, it
appears most were Marines. The 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force led the charge into Fallujah and
did much of the house-to-house fighting. Elements of
the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and 1st Infantry
Division also participated, along with Air Force
attack jets and gunships and several battalions of
U.S.-trained Iraqi troops. 

The Pentagon has not yet released names and service
affiliation for all the casualties reported this
month, so it is impossible to tally the exact number
of Marines who've been killed. Of the first 71 deaths
for which identifications were announced, 48 were
Marines. Twenty-one were with the Army, and the Navy
and Air Force each had one fatality. 

The 48 Marine deaths, halfway through November, are
the most for any full month during the war except for
last April when the corps lost 52 Marines. None of the
48 Marines was older than 29, and most were in their
early 20s. Six of the Marines were 19 years old.






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