There are over 1000 US dead in the Iraq war.

That works out to be under 2 fatalities per day over the entire course of the campaign. That’s not a huge number compared to the rate during WWII , or even the Vietnam war.

The number looks grimmer when you look at the trends though.

• During “major operations” in the spring of 2003 there were about 4 American dead per day.
• During the period from the end of major operations to the “transfer of power” to an interim Iraqi government at the end of June ’04, there were ~1.7 per day. June ’04 itself had about 1.4 per day
• Since the transfer, the number has been steadily climbing. The month of August saw about 2.1 American dead per day. One week into September, and we are already at 3.2 dead per day.

from icasualties.org

This uptick is even more discouraging considering that the US has been rushing to transfer security responsibility in more and more territory to Iraqi forces.

Tallies of Iraqi deaths are a bit less clear. Iraqbodycount.net estimates between 11,793 and 13,802 based on tallying reports from a variety of sources. Grim, but probably some distance to go before the US has killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein (rough estimates start at 100,000, not including war dead, or displaced people who may have died for want of food or shelter).

How any of this amounts to a war on terror is still beyond me though.

This piece is a great summary of the mess the present administration has lead us into:

Dowbrigade News:

John Kerry, asked to comment on today’s milestone in Iraq – a political softball to his wheelhouse, just begging to be swatted over the wall – answered, in his gaunt, sonorous and sepulchral tomes, “Over 1000 of America’s sons and daughters have now given their lives to the war on terror.”

NO, NO, NO, John. That is the Bush lie. They have given their lives to an obscure, oil-drenched Texas family feud, to a personal vendetta that has nothing to do with the real security of the United States and in fact is making us less secure by breeding a million widows and orphans who blame us for their misfortunes and will spend the rest of their lives trying to get back at us.

link from scripting.com

Folllowing up on the Pentagon investigating Kerry’s service record, Slapnose has more details, as well as some links questionaing what this news actually means. It may be that the conservative attack group that requested the investigation is merely overplaying some procedural step, like the Pentagon acknowledging receipt of their request.

The Pentagon is investigating Kerry’s war record. That the investigation is happening now, in the midst of a presidential campaign in which Kerry is the Democratic challenger, rather than at any other time in the past 30 years is a pretty good indication that this is an abuse of power that would have made Nixon blush.

Meanwhile, we can’t very well investigate Bush’s war record, because he doesn’t have one, at least not prior to doing an bungling job as commander in chief durring the “war on terror.” We can’t investigate his military record either, because so much of it has conveniently gone missing, with key documents missing or “accidentally” destroyed.

(9/6 added a link)

So, the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth (more acurately “liars who will trample over anything resembling the truth get their man elected”) have struck again.

Appearantly they’ve been circulating a letter questioning Kerry’s service supposedly signed by about 300 swift boat veterans. The problem is, more than one of the veterans named didn’t give consent for their names to be used, they weren’t even asked. Even if they were asked, they wouldn’t have consented.

One vet saw the letter and contacted some of the other vets listed. Of the dozen he contacted 3 hadn’t given permission. Hmm, wonder how many of the other names on the letter have been appropriated.

I went to look at their website which contains quotes like:

We think that he[Kerry] knew he was lying when he made the charges, and we think that they’re unsupportable. We intend to bring the truth about that to the American people.

We believe, based on our experience with him, that he is totally unfit to be the Commander-in-Chief.”

— John O’Neill, spokesman, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

and

“I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the United States. This is not a political issue. It is a matter of his judgment, truthfulness, reliability, loyalty and trust — all absolute tenets of command.

— Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann, USN (retired), chairman, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

Now, what am I to make of such righteousness from such complete and utter frauds?

I have a great idea. Find out the names and addresses of some of your local Republican Party functionaries. It’s easy to do. Just google for the website of your state Republican party and then look for local members of the state commitee. Washington state residents can get a head start here.

Next step is to take some time to pay them a friendly visit. Introduce yourself. Establish common ground around shared values like the importance of friends and family Let them know how concerned you are about this next presidential election. How important its outcome is to the country. How bad things could get for all of us if there were any questions about the way the polling was collected anywhere in the country. Engage them in a creative discussion about how we work togeather to be sure the results of polling are valid, no matter what the juristiction.

We are all in this together after all. We all have so much to loose. We can’t let a few people risk it all for their own gain.