November 26, 2003

Support BuzzFlash Get a copy of click image MORE BuzzFlash INTERVIEWS WORLD MEDIA WATCH P.M. CARPENTER MAUREEN FARRELL BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZ SOUTHERN STYLE CARTOONS THE ANGRY LIBERAL EDITORIALS CONTRIBUTORS MAILBAG PERSPECTIVES ANALYSIS NEWS ALERTS LINK ARCHIVES SEARCH ABOUT FAQ

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

If you are a FOX News GOP butt-sniffer, you might have been heartened by the Pentagon reassuring Americans that "U.S. Says Attacks on Troops in Iraq Decline" [LINK]. In fact, since it was a Reuters report, you could have just been a mainstream newspaper reader and felt relieved.

But of course, it is just the usual Bush Cartel Soviet style spin. You can imagine this is the kind of propaganda that the Soviet forces kept feeding to the Russians as their soldiers were being killed in Afghanistan.

Here is what one of our readers discovered about U.S. military deaths in Iraq in November (and this doesn't include the deaths of our soldiers in Afghanistan during this period):

The month of November 2003 has had more U.S. soldiers killed than any prior month of the Iraq Occupation/Invasion/war.

November has had MORE U.S. soldier deaths - 75 to date PLUS the 21 additional Coalition deaths of UK, Italy, and Poland also killed in the month of November.

Total Coalition deaths for this month alone so far total 96.

Total Coalition deaths since now total 511 -- and this is only as of November 24.

More U.S. soldier deaths than March 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than April 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than May 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than June 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than July 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than August 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than September 2003
More U.S. soldier deaths than October 2003

[LINK]

So, the Pentagon can tout out its Soviet-style propaganda reassurances, but the facts on the ground speak for themselves. Helicopters being shot down, Italian soldiers being blown up, American soldiers having their throats slit and then having their bodies battered by Iraqi teenagers.

The Pentagon is admitting that attacks are up -- despite their renewed military operation against the insurgents -- but, catch this, the Pentagon is using the highly questionable assertion that the increase in attacks are against Iraqis and not GI's. In a month that saw the most GI's die, it appears to be a distinction without a difference.

Meanwhile, the Taliban are re-energized and starting to fight back against American forces, as they did against the Soviets.

According to the "Daily Mis-Lead"[LINK], despite Bush's boast of having "won" Afghanistan, the Taliban are rebuilding:

President Bush yesterday said that we "put the Taliban out of business forever" - taking credit for supposedly ridding the world of the terrorist regime. He made these comments just a day after the Taliban launched a rocket attack on Kabul's most prominent hotel. It was also one day after Reuters reported Mullah Omar, the Taliban's still at-large leader, "urged Afghans to unite against U.S.-led foreign forces on their soil" and the same day Afghanistan's Foreign Minister desperately requested more international help in fighting off Taliban guerrillas. All told, the AP calls the Taliban "an increasingly virulent insurgency" while the LA Times reports "nearly two years after the U.S. drove the Taliban from power, remnants of the Islamic extremist group are regrouping and attacking U.S. troops."

Before the press was herded into the giant hangar in advance of George W. Bush's pep rally/photo op with the Fort Carson troops, we were given the rules.

No talking to the troops before the rally.

No talking to the troops during the rally.

No talking to the troops after the rally.

In other words, if I've done the math right, that means no conversation at all - at least, while on base - with any soldiers. After all, who knows where that kind of thing could lead?

BACK TO TOP