# US death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 24, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493 "2008-03-24T02:27:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/21 "2008-03-24T16:28:34Z")
Don’t worry - the situation in Iraq [continues to improve](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9602090&postcount=41). ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/22 "2008-03-24T17:15:18Z")
US death toll in Iraq reaches 4000? [“So?”](http://www.philly.com/inquirer/weekend/television/20080324_Bushs_War_pulls_five_years_together.html) When ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Cheney about the fact that the cost in lives (nearly 4,000 American troops and at least 82,000 Iraqi civilians) and tax dollars ($500 billion and counting) had led two-thirds of the country to doubt the entire enterprise, the vice president blithely responded, “So?” He then commemorated the anniversary by going fishing in a yacht owned by the sultan of Oman. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/23 "2008-03-24T20:06:53Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] US death toll in Iraq reaches 4000? [“So?”](http://www.philly.com/inquirer/weekend/television/20080324_Bushs_War_pulls_five_years_together.html) [/QUOTE] Ha! I started calling it Bush’s War independently, and there it is in the headline! Seriously, this really is Bush’s (and his henchmen’s) war. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/24 "2008-03-24T20:14:57Z")
You can watch the two-part Frontline episode on PBS tonight and tomorrow night. [Frontline: Bush’s War.](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/25 "2008-03-24T20:38:48Z")
> [@](#): > > **BAGHDAD (AFP)** — The death toll of US soldiers in the five-year Iraq conflict has hit 4,000 in what the US military said Monday was a “tragic” loss of lives after four troops were killed in a Baghdad bombing. The four soldiers died when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb while on patrol late Sunday in southern Baghdad, bringing the overall toll to 4,000, according to an AFP tally based on independent website. > > – snip – > > **At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after US President George W. Bush announced the end of “major combat” in Iraq on May 1, 2003** , as the military became caught between a raging anti-American insurgency and brutal sectarian strife unleashed since the toppling of Saddam. > > 140 American servicemembers died before May 1, 2003, out of a total 4,000. > > Despite the losses, Bush on the eve of the war’s fifth anniversary defended his decision to invade Iraq, vowing no retreat as he promised American soldiers would triumph despite the “high cost in lives and treasure.” Source: [http://rawstory.com/news/2008/97\_percent\_of\_US\_death\_toll\_0324.html](http://rawstory.com/news/2008/97_percent_of_US_death_toll_0324.html) [QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Seriously, this really is Bush’s (and his henchmen’s) war. [/QUOTE] Henchmen would include most of Congress and a sizeable portion of the American People. And the beat goes on … ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/26 "2008-03-24T21:20:15Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Now that’s positive thinking! ☹ [/QUOTE] Johnny- my post was only a cynical and depressing “joke” based on the oft-repeated and ridiculous status report from the war supporters: \*“We’ve turned the corner. However, the next six moths will be crucial.” \* ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/27 "2008-03-24T21:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=I Love Me, Vol. I] Johnny- my post was only a cynical and depressing “joke” based on the oft-repeated and ridiculous status report from the war supporters: \*“We’ve turned the corner. However, the next six moths will be crucial.” \* [/QUOTE] This is known as a [“Friedman unit.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_unit) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/28 "2008-03-24T23:37:15Z")
[QUOTE=I Love Me, Vol. I] Johnny- my post was only a cynical and depressing “joke” based on the oft-repeated and ridiculous status report from the war supporters: \*“We’ve turned the corner. However, the next six moths will be crucial.” \* [/QUOTE] Yeah, I caught it. My reply was in the same spirit. Although I chose to take it more literally for my next post. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/29 "2008-03-25T00:01:34Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] I think Obama will get us out strategically, 16 months I think is the current logical best case scenerio. [/QUOTE] Don’t be too sure. [His foreign policy adviser, effectively his shadow SecState offered this](http://www.theamericanmind.com/2008/03/07/samantha-power-obamas-withdrawal-plan-is-best-case-scenario/) before her “monster” comment: > [@](#): > > STEPHEN SACKUR: Let me stop you just for a moment. You said that he’ll revisit it when he goes to the White House. So what the American public thinks is a commitment to get combat forces out within sixteen months, isn’t a commitment isn’t it? > > POWER: You can’t make a commitment in whatever month we’re in now, in March of 2008 about what circumstances are gonna be like in Jan. 2009. We can’t even tell what Bush is up to in terms of troop pauses and so forth. He will of course not rely upon some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or as a US senator. > > He will rely upon a plan, an operational plan that he pulls together, in consultation with people who are on the ground, to whom he doesn’t have daily access now as a result of not being the president. > > So to think, I mean it would be the height of ideology, you know, to sort of say, well I said it therefore I’m going to impose it on whatever reality entreats me – > > SACKUR: Ok, so the 16 months is negotiable? > > POWER: It’s the best case scenario > > It’s the best case scenario > > POWER: It is – > > SACKUR: And of course in Iraq we’ve never seen best case scenario > > POWER: We have never seen best case scenario > > SACKUR: So we needn’t necessarily take it seriously at all. > > POWER: What we can take seriously is that he will try to get US forces out as quickly and as responsibly as possible. And that’s the best case, estimate of what it would take. ---
**Author:** ![Dolukhanova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@Dolukhanova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dolukhanova)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/30 "2008-03-25T14:56:02Z")
In all seriousness – why is this in Great Debates? What issue for debate was put forward by the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/31 "2008-03-25T15:35:04Z")
[QUOTE=Dolukhanova] In all seriousness – why is this in Great Debates? What issue for debate was put forward by the OP? [/QUOTE] Since it’s a political thread I thought it might get moved anyway if it was put in MPSIMS, so I put it here. ETA: Which seems to be the case for other political threads I’ve started. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493/32 "2008-03-25T23:22:59Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] US death toll in Iraq reaches 4000? [“So?”](http://www.philly.com/inquirer/weekend/television/20080324_Bushs_War_pulls_five_years_together.html) When ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Cheney about the fact that the cost in lives (nearly 4,000 American troops and at least 82,000 Iraqi civilians) and tax dollars ($500 billion and counting) had led two-thirds of the country to doubt the entire enterprise, the vice president blithely responded, “So?” He then commemorated the anniversary by going fishing in a yacht owned by the sultan of Oman. [/QUOTE] “So” much for supporting the troops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-death-toll-in-iraq-reaches-4-000/442493.md?page=1)