700

Five US soldiers died today. According to Lunaville, that makes 700 "coalition" troops have been killed in Iraq, 599 of them American¹. How many more grim milestones will we reach before Bush's misadventure is over?

And lest we forget noncombatants, around 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed². So our little diversion has snuffed the lives of at least 3 times as many innocents as died on 9/11, while helping al Qaeda recruit more jihadis. Feel safer?

ntodd

1 - CNN pegs the US total at 600.

2 - Iraqi military casualties are unclear, but Global Security quotes a study that estimates 13,500 to 45,000.

[Update: made a minor correction. Also note that 5 civilians, 4 American, were also killed today. There's some gruesome footage of bodies being desecrated.]  ¶ 8:33 AM