While I have always been critical of comparing various US military experiences to Vietnam, since it was a unique situation, this one seems apt ... from The Washington Post:
The U.S. military death toll after 10 months of engagement in Iraq surpassed 500 this weekend, roughly matching the number of U.S. military personnel who died in the first four years of the U.S. military engagement in Vietnam.
The death toll in Iraq, which had been 497 on Friday, rose by three on Saturday when a remote-controlled bomb made of two artillery rounds packed with explosives detonated beneath a Bradley fighting vehicle carrying five American soldiers and at least two Iraqi civil defense personnel in cane fields north of Baghdad.
This morning, at least two Americans and as many as 16 Iraqis were killed when a car bomb exploded near the main gate to coalition headquarters in Baghdad.
Military officials said Saturday's explosion occurred near the town of Taji, during a search for buried land mines and roadside bombs, which have previously claimed lives in the area. They expressed surprise that the Bradley was destroyed in the blast, according to a Post correspondent in Baghdad.
The cumulative toll of 500 deaths was reached in Vietnam in 1965, the year when the U.S. deployment there rose from 23,300 to 184,300 troops. In Iraq, in contrast, the United States is rotating forces, with the goal of reducing the total from 130,000 to 105,000 by June and also sharply scaling back its military presence in Baghdad.
The good news is that the Bush admin will pull out soon so they can disown the tragedy during the election season, leaving Iraq in a mess -- like the one that brought the Taliban to power in Afghanistan -- but Halliburton still holding all the contracts.
