U.S. Fatalities in Iraq for the first 3 weeks of June

UPDATE Saturday June 23, 2007 To the story below.

What a sad day today is. There were more GI's killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq, bringing the total U.S. fatalities for June to 79. I just can't comprehend the sacrifice these families are making. A sad day indeed.

June 22, 2007
U.S. Fatalities for the first 3 weeks in June totals 70. This compares to 61 for the entire month of June in 2006. You will see claims that things are getting better in Iraq from the "surge" strategy. You will hear them using this month’s figures as significantly lower than last month and they hope the trend is turning down in fatalities. While that fact is true, because of the heat in Iraq this time of year, the only true comparisons should be year to year for the same month. Using this basis here's the data for June for the past 4 years:

June 2003 30
June 2004 42
June 2005 78
June 2006 61
June 2007 70 (with still 9 days remaining in this month, unfortunately, I expect the number to be greater than the 78 in 2005)

The chart above shows the 4 year totals for the same period July-June of each year. Below is the actual data from the chart:

Jul 2003-Jun. 2004 656
Jul. 2004-Jun. 2005 883
Jul. 2005-Jun. 2006 790
Jul. 2006-Jun. 2007 1013


Let there be no doubt as to the trend up in U.S Fatalities. If we continue using the current ineffective, fatal, strategy, the numbers will escalate as they did in Vietnam. Don't believe things are getting better in Iraq. It's about the Oil there!