New Democrats are being born on the front lines

"On Tuesday, seven Marines, six of them members of a sniper team, and all from Ohio, died in Iraq. The six snipers were ambushed outside a town called Haditha. The next day, 14 more Marines, also Ohio-based, died when the amphibious vehicle in which they were riding was destroyed by an improvised explosive device, not far from where the snipers died the day before. All were members of the Ohio-based 3d battalion, 25th Marines.

"Their deaths pushed the official total of men and women who have lost their lives in a war to which they should never have been sent to more than 1,800. That figure, horrible as it is, may be as bogus as the reasons given by Cheney and Bush for starting the war, given reports that it does not include wounded who died en route from Iraq to hospitals in Germany or after they arrive there.

"We know the administration has lied about the number of wounded, in that they do not include in that number men and women who have suffered combat-related mental breakdowns that required evacuation. Even so, the number of wounded is probably more than10 times the KIA figure."
Common Dreams