Number 57

A U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack in northern Iraq late Sunday. The American death toll has risen steadily since Bush declared the end of major combat May 1 - 57 service members have been killed by hostile fire since then.

Reader MCF adds:

I'm tired of hearing 'since the end of major combat' numbers which fail to include "non-hostile" deaths (including friendly fire incidents) as well as those ~200 US-side killings before the war.

Using this Rove-style point of reference obscures those killed (at least on 'our' side...) prior to GWB's showboating propaganda. As of today, 299 are dead excluding Iraqis and journalists.

Well put, M. You're all welcome to add comments after each post. After all, I'm not the only angry knothole in the blogosphere.