While the number of Americans killed in action per month has declined slightly — to 38 killed in action in July, from 42 in January, in part reflecting improvements in armor and other defenses — the number of Americans wounded has soared, to 518 in July from 287 in January. Explosive devices accounted for slightly more than half the deaths.
An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed per day in July, according to figures from Iraq's Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue. At least 3,438 civilians died violently that month, a 9 percent increase over the total in June and nearly twice as many as in January. Although these figures are generally seen as an underreporting of the total number of civilian deaths, they seem to indicate that July has been the deadliest month of the conflict for Iraqi civilians.
“The insurgency has gotten worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels. The insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time.”
- a senior Defense Department official, speaking with The New York Times on condition of anonymity
So.... why do senior officials at the DoD hate America?
Perhaps they get all weepy-eyed when soldiers come home either maimed for life, or in a casket, rather than viewing them in a more fungible, expendable manner like Donald Rumsfeld does?
