1,000 U.S. troops have died since last Memorial Day

By Kevin Tillman
Posted on May 28, 2007, Printed on December 20, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/52436/

AP, via Huffpost:

Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling -- and expected to rise in coming months.

In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces.

"It could be a bloody _ it could be a very difficult August," he said last week.

U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus on Saturday acknowledged the increase in casualties as a result of the American surge in forces to regain control of Baghdad.

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.

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