October 17, 2003
Bush lied; 336 Americans and thousands of Iraqis died (so far)
Yahoo! News - U.S. 'Peace Toll' in Iraq Passes 100 Combat Deaths
When the 100th U.S. soldier died in combat since President Bush (news - web sites) declared victory in Iraq (news - web sites) nearly six months ago, the grim statistic laid bare how deadly Iraq has become even after the war.Posted by Norwood at October 17, 2003 04:35 PMIt also marked the biggest U.S. combat loss in a peacekeeping operation since an ill-fated intervention in the Lebanon conflict 20 years ago. That involvement ended in 1983 after an explosive-laden truck rammed into a U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 servicemen.
Somalia, Kosovo, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and the first Gulf war (news - web sites), in which 147 Americans died, have not taken the overall toll on American lives that the present Iraq conflict has exacted.
As well as the 101 soldiers who have died in combat since the war was formally declared over by Bush on May 1, another 97 have died in so-called non-hostile action -- accidents, friendly fire, illness and suicides.
In the war itself, 115 U.S. troops died in combat and 23 in non-hostile actions, making a total of 336 dead for U.S. forces since they invaded March 20.
