You’ll probably be hearing a lot over the weekend about the one-year anniversary of Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” photo-op aboard the USS Lincoln. It was May 1, 2003, when Bush declared the end of “major combat operations” in Iraq.
What I didn’t realize is that the United States lost more troops in the four weeks of April 2004 than we did in the six weeks that constituted “major combat operations.”
With the deaths of 10 American soldiers in Iraq yesterday, more U.S. troops have died in combat in April than in the six weeks of sustained military operations required to take Baghdad last year. Since April 1, more than 120 troops have been killed in action in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
[…]
Tomorrow marks a year since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. Since then, more than 400 U.S. troops have been killed in combat, about 30 percent of them this month.
In all, 729 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the invasion, including those killed in combat and in accidents and other non-hostile situations, according to Washington Post research based on Pentagon figures. An additional 3,864 troops have been wounded, the Pentagon said.
Stunning.