Number of GIs killed in Iraq reaches Vietnam War level

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Apr/04172004/nation_w/157963.asp

WASHINGTON -- With fighting in Iraq now at its worst, the number of U.S. troops killed by enemy fire has reached the highest level since the Vietnam War.

The first part of April has been the bloodiest period so far for U.S. troops in Iraq. There were 87 deaths by hostile fire in the first 15 days of this month, more than in the opening two weeks of the invasion, when 82 Americans were killed in action.

"This has been some pretty intense fighting," said David Segal, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Research on Military Organization. "We're looking at what happened during the major battles of Vietnam."

The last time U.S. troops experienced a two-week loss such as this one in Iraq was October 1971, two years before U.S. ground involvement ended in Vietnam.

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Deal with it----Chimpy !!!!!

It will get worse. We have newbies rotating in, they will be easy targets.

Thousands more children will be killed for Halliburton. (on both sides)

I believe his/her name is Monkeyfister. They have really good information about what is going regarding a possible draft. Even a colour coded warning system :)

Sid

...as it took us to lose in nine years of combat in Vietnam. From 1956 until 1964...eight years...we lost a total of 401 deaths in Vietnam. If you believe the official count, we have lost almost 700 dead in Iraq.

By the end of 1965, we had lost another 1,863 men for a total loss in Vietnam of 2,264 dead at the end of nine years. At the rate we're going, we may very well exceed that number in just two years in Iraq.

<http://www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/vietnam_war_casualty_lists/statistics.html#year>

Interesting comparison of official American wars (doesn't count covert actions)

http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/other/stats/warcost.htm

Many of the troops in IRAQ have Body Armor.... how many troops in Viet Nam had the same? This alone is probably keeping the death tally (and even the wounded tally) very low for the actual amount of bullets flying through the air.

My uncle blinded in Viet Nam... I couldn't even imagine what it would have been like to be there.

However, the fighting in Iraq may be even more fierce considering Body Armor and advanced weaponry (night vision etc.)

There are only 135,000 troops currently in Iraq. At the height of the Vietnam war, we had a great deal more troops on the ground.

Urban warfare negates the advantages of our superior technology.