I just saw the number.....

[Aviation Pro]

3480. I saw the date, April 22. That's 480 lives in 111 days. That extrapolates to 4.3 American soldiers killed every day this year. That means that we will cross the next "milestone" or "deliverable," or whatever fucking MS Project or Excel spreadsheet bullshit verbiage this asshole, psychotic, deranged "MBA" President wants to throw at it, on August 19th. That "number" is 4000.

I weep and so does this country.

Impeach. Remove. Indict. Imprison. Now.

Edit: grammar.

[Monkeyman]

1. The Faces of those 3480 are posted on Video now up

[frogcycle]

16. as they are here...

Faces

[NanceGreggs]

2. I am speechless.

K & R ...

[Aviation Pro]

3. Given your fecundity of producing quality pieces of work....

...I am saddened.

[NanceGreggs]

Sorry ...

Just meant that there was nothing to add nor subtract ...

Speechless because your post was as biting in its precision, as it was sadly poetic in its delivery.

Beautifully done.

Edit: Admiration

[Arugula Latte]

4. The number that gets me is the unknown tens of thousands of slaughtered Iraqis.

Dead ... for what?

U.S. corporate hubris, that's what.

[Monkeyman]

5. Think about how long that Video would be if all who have left this world was on it

Bush's lies have killed for no reason at all but money

[patrice]

6. Our whole nation has been made accessory to Murder

hundreds of thousands of times over.

Impeach! Indict! Imprison!

[Monkeyman]

7. Tony Snowjob its just a number well those faces tell a story a sad one

[OneBlueSky]

11. BushCo are, quite simply, mass murderers . . . talk about crimes against humanity! . . . n/t

.

[Miss Chybil]

8. I'm not a religious person. In fact, I'm an agnostic, but I can cry to someone, somewhere

bigger than all of us and beg him/her/it to PLEASE STOP THE MADNESS OF GEORGE BUSH, ET. AL.! Please, if there is a God in heaven, do something to help bring down this administration and allow us to begin to heal the unhealable wounds they have inflicted on our country and the rest of the world! Please, bring justice upon those who have lied us into an unjust war, who are throwing around the lives of our and other's children and our and other's loved ones like they are poker chips in a casino. Please, if the Universe has a soul, or is simply a biological cell, let it correct itself and rid our planet of the cancer that has metastisized within our government. Dear Jesus, if you are such a person with such magical powers bring them to bear upon those who are hurting the meek and the children and those who have chosen to play with the devil and call themselves holy. Please, All There Is, come and save us from the maniac George Bush and his crooked, lying friends. In the name of all that ever was and all that ever will be - somebody, something, help us.

Amen.

[frogbison]

9. It is our job

to effect change.

[patrice]

10. I'm reading Jeremy Scahill's book "Blackwater" and I'm reeling from

the fact that the heart, mind, and soul of Blackwater is rightwing Catholic and Evangelicals. In other words, they'd be praying too, probably for all of those brown-skinned folks to get Jesus, before they have to be killed "for the Greater Good."

[hang a left]

12. !

:-(

[Triana]

13. bu$h: Sociopath/psychopath

Sociopaths lie, cheat, steal and even kill
Then they move on to the next victim

If you only know one thing about psychology, you should know about sociopaths. Being aware of sociopaths could help you avoid emotional trauma, ruined finances, even an untimely death.

Sociopathy, also called psychopathy, is a personality disorder characterized by deceit on a scale most of us cannot imagine. These people are not crazy; they know exactly what they are doing. Here is how Robert D. Hare, Ph.D., begins his book about psychopaths, Without Conscience:

"Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations and empty wallets. Completely lacking in conscience and feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret."*

Why is it so critical for you to know about sociopaths? Because millions of sociopaths are living among us. Yes, many of them are criminals, locked up in jail. But far more are on the street, hurting people without breaking laws, operating in the gray areas between legal and illegal, or simply eluding the authorities. They can appear to be normal, but they pose a tremendous threat to us all.

Sociopaths exhibit a range of behaviors. In fact, Dr. Hare diagnoses them according to their score on a scale. So just as you could describe someone's intelligence as ranging from smart to genius, you could describe a sociopath as somewhere between sleazy and serial killer. If you see sleazy, he may be on the low end of the scale, but he's still bad news.

These people do not change. They cannot be rehabilitated. The sooner you can get away from them, the better off you'll be.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. That's george!

Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations and empty wallets. Completely lacking in conscience and feeling for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret.

[Triana]

24. Yep...

...it certainly IS! I think it would be funny to have three psychiatrists evaluate Duhbya for sociopathy and report their findings to the public. Not that it would tell us anything we don't already know, but at least it would be confirmed by lettered specialists.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Where are you getting those numbers? They're wrong

Here are the numbers as confirmed:

US killed: 3323
US killed (2007): 320

Rate/2007: 2.85/day (320/112)

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

Your numbers are wrong.

[Aviation Pro]

15. I saw 3480.....

...and I think it was here and from a credible news source. Maybe icasualties hasn't caught up.

[frogcycle]

17. icasualties is pretty much up-to-date

six of those are from 4/21

they do get some delayed reports and go back and add one or two from earlier days - but generally only a couple of days back at most

the AP and the DoD each report a running count, and they have had a disparity of eight for quite some time.


Sometimes people include Afghanistan, which is currently 406, so does not account for this number either

this month the daily rate is about 3.6, up from about 2.8 for the previous couple of months


But that is immaterial. The carnage continues, and is accelerating.

[alcibiades_mystery]

19. icasualties is plenty caught up

That you can't even provide your source says everything we need to know about the validity of those numbers.

I'll stick with a count that's been consistent throughout and is actually backed up by a clear methodology.

You remain wrong, and your numbers are more suspect than ever.

[Aviation Pro]

20. And you, sir, are caught up in accounting practices....

...which makes your issues very suspect. I, on the other hand, recognize your "numbers" and find them horrific. But then again, since I used to be a couple of those boots on the ground, perhaps I have a little bit better perspective than the green eye-shade crowd.

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. Nice try

Deflect deflect deflect. So what you're saying is that you cannot defend your initial claim? OK. Gotcha.

Needless to say, one can demand accuracy in reporting numbers AND still find the numbers horrific. Your accusation otherwise is as senseless as it is desperate. And, as tends to be the sticky point with FACTS, one's background does not change the facts as they are. Whether one is an 80 year-old Mongolian, or an eleven year old Kansan, water still boils at the temperature at which it boils, adjusting for various factors. Your time as "boots on the ground" does not change the fact that your numbers are wrong, and your perspective is inconsequential for that specific point.

Cheers.

[lonestarnot]

18. kick

[genie_weenie]

22. How dare you impugn the sacrifices

Bush has made for OUR BELOVED COUNTRY! Who knows if those 30,000 KIA and WIA had anything to offer to the Nation other than their blood?

You haven't even given the new Plan of Victory a chance to work! The buildup to the Surge should be complete in June or July and a year after that we can look back and see how awesomely our troops did or if things don't go smoothly we can blame the Dems and ride the Emboldening our Enemies Meme all the way to victory in 2008.

The loss of life in the next 18 months is going to be horrid. I sit appalled and disgusted.

[Aviation Pro]

25. I stand corrected.....

The number 3480 refers to both operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. I stand corrected on that point. I take back not a single word otherwise.

[frogcycle]

26. Nor should you

For what it is worth, if that is the case then it is an old number. As I posted above, the figure for Afghanistan is over 400 now, so that total is 3700-plus. But that is immaterial.

Your post was spot-on. One would think that if we are all pretty much on the same side on this issue that a misstep on the source of a number would be something folks would try to help out with, rather than attack. Mabe we have been exposed too much to the RW attack dogs.

Another variable would be whether the number was just US or all coalition in Iraq. The total for coalition forces in Iraq is 3602 as of this morning, with 3332 US, 145 UK and 125 "other." The figure you saw could also have been an earlier version of that.

Icasualties has the rate per day since Feb 1 at 3.21 for coalition; it is 3.0 for Americans. Every word of your OP is just as applicable at 3/day. By comparison, the rate for the period from the Iraqi election (supposedly when democratization had happened, one of the several "mission accomplished" moments) until Feb 1 was 2.26/day.

And the rate for April is currently 3.7/day.

Again, though, quibbling about the count of the moment is absurd; there is a killing machine there and we are sending kids into it. Yesterday's attack was a replay of the Lebanon attack. We had soldiers billeted in a poorly-protected area and a suicid car bomb was driven into their midst. They were not out on patrol, even TRYING to fulfill the phoney mission. They were on their "patrol base" - no doubt one of the ones whose location our dear leader put on a map on the television just days before. We put them there to - what was it? clamp down on the violence and make the streets safe? How about serve as sitting ducks to draw fire?