...just think, if it weren't for Bush and his cronies, this type of news item - from an LA Times article with the counter-headline U.S. troop deaths down in Iraq - would simply not be part of our world today:
An additional 28,500 U.S. troops have flooded Iraq this year, the vast majority of them taking up residence in Baghdad neighborhoods as part of Washington's strategy to stabilize the country.
The latest reported U.S. military deaths included a soldier killed in a gun battle in southern Baghdad on Wednesday. Three Marines and a sailor also were killed Tuesday in Diyala, the site of a massive campaign in June and July to reclaim the provincial capital, Baqubah, from Sunni Arab militants.
A soldier was killed in a bomb blast Tuesday in Baghdad, and a Marine died Sunday of noncombat injuries in the western province of Al Anbar.
These fatalities raised the American military death toll in the Iraq theater to 3,645 since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to icasualties.org, a website that tracks the number of troops killed and wounded.
The string of deaths were a reminder that the number could still mount substantially before the end of July or in subsequent months.
In September, for instance, 72 U.S. troops died in Iraq, but the following month 106 were killed.
