900- It's not possible to predict when the casualty count will drop. "

[bigtree]

U.S. Death Toll Hits 900 Which Averages 2 a Day Since Beginning of War- "It is not possible to predict when the casualty count will begin to drop, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.

The Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040721_1672.html


WASHINGTON July 21, 2004 — American soldiers in Iraq have been dying at a rate of two a day since Iraqis regained political control on June 28 a drop from the deadliest months of violence before the handover but still about the same rate overall as in the 16 months since the U.S. invasion.

The U.S. military death toll now has reached 900, and the number of American soldiers injured is approaching 6,000.

As of Wednesday, 47 American troop deaths hostile and non-hostile had been announced in the three weeks since an interim Iraqi government took power. That was a marked increase from the 26 deaths reported in the three weeks before the handover but less than in May and April.

The death rate since the power transfer has been almost exactly two a day, the same as recorded between January and July. The rate over the entire period since the invasion in March 2003 has been about 1.9 a day.

The worst months so far have been April 2004 with 135 deaths, November 2003 with 82 and May 2004 with 80.

more:

[wyldwolf]

1. The casualty count will never drop UNLESS...

Bush is Jesus and he can raise the dead.

Really, what a dumbass statement from Rummy.

[AndyTiedye]

3. Maybe They Will Let Kathleen Harris or Diebold Count The Bodies

Remember all those "negative" votes for Gore in the Florida2K election?

They can start adding in "negative" dead soldiers.
That will get those casualty counts down!

[wyldwolf]

4. now DATS funny!

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Rumsfeld first predicted we would be there no more than 6 months

then it was described (privately) as a "long hard slog" and now, he sees no relief to the killing in sight. But, what does he care? None of this changes the color of the sky or the smell of the air up in Taos.