Wednesday November 17, 07:52
AM
Nov. Ranks 2nd in U.S. Deaths in Iraq
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Fallujah, only to be withdrawn from the city.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.
