US Casualty Rate High Since Handover [View All]

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US Casualty Rate High Since Handover

Long guerrilla war is feared in Iraq

by Bryan Bender

WASHINGTON -- Nearly as many US soldiers lost their lives in Iraq in the first half of July as in all of June, even as Iraqi insurgents seem to have shifted focus from attacking US targets to aiming instead at Iraqi security forces and government officials.

The relatively high rate of US military casualties has dimmed hope that the handover of power to the Iraqi government would help stabilize the country and reduce pressure on US soldiers.

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Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day...

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By Friday, more than 10,000 coalition soldiers had been wounded. In all, 893 Americans have died since the war began in March 2003, most of them in hostile action.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0719-01.htm