Don’t go boys and girls. “Officially” 1545 U.S. GI’s killed thus far in Iraq. Details and much more from www.icasualties.org below.

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04/08/05 CNN: Bodies of 10 Iraqi civilians found shot to deathThe 10 civilians were shot in the head execution-style, Dr. Fu'ad Ahmed of Baquba General Hospital said. The bodies were found Thursday inside black body bags in Balad Rooz, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Baquba in Diyala province.
04/08/05 ABC: Australian soldiers prepare to leave for IraqThe 450 men and women Australian soldiers of the Al Muthanna Task Group will provide security for Japanese engineers and provide training for Iraqi security forces.
04/08/05 AFP: Iraqi, who was Kidnapped on 17 March in Baghdad, was ReleasedIraqi, who was kidnapped on 17 March in Baghdad, after his return from Germany, was released by his kidnappers Friday, reported AFP. The man had lived 9 years in Germany before he returned to Iraq.
04/08/05 Reuters: U.S. Says Detained Iraqi Women Were Not Held HostageThe U.S. military said on Friday two Iraqi women detained for six days had been held on suspicion of complicity in insurgent attacks, not used as hostages to pressure fugitive male relatives to surrender.
04/08/05 WorldNow: Midlands Marine injured by Iraq roadside bomb, recoveringTwo weeks ago Stephen Diaz convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. He was transported by helicopter to Germany and then he was taken to Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland where he was in the intensive care unit until Wednesday.
04/08/05 KNIGHT RIDDER: Firefight fuels debate on women in combatFor almost a half-hour, Hester and nine other Kentucky National Guard soldiers, including another woman, Spec. Ashley Pullen, fought off 40 to 50 attackers armed with assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
04/08/05 NYTimes: Al-Jaafari named Iraq's new leaderIn the northern city of Mosul, a bomb attack on an Iraqi army patrol killed three soldiers and wounded 20, said Iraqi Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed al-Obeidi. Seven assailants were captured, he said
04/08/05 UPI: Army May Cut Iraq Tours In HalfThe Army is considering cutting the length of deployments in Iraq from more than 12 months to as low as six months if conditions allow, a top official said Thursday.
04/08/05 AP: In Najaf - four civilians injured by a bombIn the Shiite holy city of Najaf, four civilians were injured by a bomb that exploded near a bus station, local police Capt. Qussai al-Jazaeri said.
04/08/05 SFC: Court refuses to halt military extensionsA federal appeals court has refused to interfere with the Army's "stop-loss" program, under which thousands of soldiers and National Guard members have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan after their enlistments were scheduled to expire.
04/08/05 AP: In Kirkuk - Driver kill, Turkish oil tankers set ablaze Friday, police in Kirkuk, about 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, said one driver was killed in an attack that set several Turkish oil tankers ablaze the prior night. Six others were wounded.
04/08/05 AP: Masked Gunmen Kill Iraqi Army officerThree masked gunmen killed an Iraqi Army officer, Maj. Mahmoud Hassan al-Yassiri, late Thursday in the southern city of Basra, Capt. Firas al-Timimi of the Iraqi Army said.
04/08/05 AP: Four children killed in Baghdad explosionFour children collecting trash were killed Friday by a homemade bomb in Baghdad, and masked gunmen killed an Iraqi Army officer in a restaurant in the southern city of Basra, police said.
04/08/05 KUNA: Four US troops injured in attack in TikritFour US forces were injured when an unknown person attacked them with a hand grenade in Tikrit north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the multinational force (MNF) said Friday.
04/08/05 Centcom: MARINE DIES IN FALLUJAH MISHAPA Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed April 6 as the result of a motor vehicle accident which occurred during combat operations here.
04/08/05 AP: Gay U.S. Soldier Wants to Serve OpenlyAn Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq wants a chance to remain in the military as an openly gay soldier, a desire that's bringing him into conflict with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
04/07/05 The News Tribune: 81st Brigade soldier killed in Iraq A Washington National Guardsman who volunteered to extend his tour in Iraq died Tuesday when his Humvee was hit by a car bomb in Baghdad, military officials said.
04/07/05 DoD Identifies Army Casualty Sgt. Javier J. Garcia, 25, died April 5 in Baghdad, Iraq, when improvised explosive devices detonated near his patrol. Garcia was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
04/07/05 ABC: 11 bodies found in RamadiThe bodies of 11 Iraqis who were shot dead have been discovered near the western city of Ramadi. Police and a hospital official say the victims had worked at an American military base. It is believed they were killed yesterday.
04/07/05 KTUL: Wounded Tahlequah Marine To Return Home Friday 19-year-old Lance Corporal Jeffery D. Hudgens was severely wounded on November 18th when an improvised explosive device detonated, sending shrapnel scattering everywhere. Hudgens' Kevlar helmet was penetrated and the shrapnel fractured his skull.
04/07/05 KUNA: Dozen of civilians wounded in booby trapped car blast in Mosul A booby trapped car exploded in Mosul Thursday targeting an American motorcade and injured 12 Iraqi civilians, an Iraqi National Guards source said.
04/07/05 Philstar: Fil-Am marine killed in IraqAfter a diesel truck drove into a building and exploded, an injured marine crawled from the rubble. Cpl. Garry Wesley Rimes was among the marines who responded to the scene but was fatally caught in a hail of gunfire from insurgents.
04/07/05 Belo Interactive: Former Green Beret from Houston killed in IraqA former Green Beret from Houston was killed in an ambush in Iraq. Al Habelman, 53, died Friday when his convoy was attacked. He was there working for a private contractor.
04/07/05 guardian: Shia Jaafari 'is new Iraqi PM' One of Iraq's leading Shia politicians, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said today he had been officially chosen as Iraq's next interim prime minister.
04/07/05 AP: Upstate city stands in for Iraq's Mosul in Army trainingSoldiers from Fort Drum, near Watertown, used the Jefferson County city as a model for Mosul, Iraq's second most populated city, during a simulated reconnaissance mission involving two helicopters.
04/07/05 MSNBC: US fears civil war in KirkukThe US military has warned that ethnic tension in the oil rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has reached flashpoint, according to a report carried by the Knight Ridder news agency.
04/07/05 Daily Times: Oak Ridge soldier identified as casualtySgt. R.W. Betterton Jr., 44, was one of the two 278th soldiers wounded in the battle where Kennedy was killed. ``I was medevaced here to Baghdad for initial treatment of gunshot wounds to the upper right thigh and right hand,'' Sgt. Betterton wrote.
04/07/05 Anchorage Daily News: U.S. Marine from Salcha killed in Iraq Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Kinchen, from Salcha, died Monday in Iraq while on routine patrol with six or seven others in a vehicle when the vehicle hit a land mine. Shrapnel cut into Kinchen's spine and killed him. Two other men in the vehicle lost legs.
04/07/05 KUNA: S. Korea to withdraw 270 troops from Iraq Seoul is considering to withdraw 270 soldiers from its military contingent in Iraq's northern region of Irbil, South Korean media reported Thursday.
04/07/05 AP: Mothers of slain Blackwater guards slam companyNorth Carolina-based security contractor Blackwater USA refuses to share the results of the company's probe into the killings of four employees in Iraq a year ago, the mothers of two slain employees tell ABC News
04/07/05 KUNA: Arrest of 22 insurgents in Kirkuk, Weapon cache found in MosulMultinational forces and Iraqi security Forces on Thursday arrested 22 insurgents in Kirkuk and discovered a weapon's cache in Mosul after defusing a roadside bomb.
04/07/05 CSM: Iraq's Insurgency EvolvesAfter the lowest monthly U.S. casualties in a year, insurgents have come back this week with widespread strikes, killing several Americans and pulling off a sophisticated attack on Abu Ghraib that showed an evolution in planning and tactics.
04/07/05 wsbtv: Marine Killed in Downtown AtlantaThe funeral for a Marine who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq was scheduled to be held Thursday, four days after the war veteran was fatally shot in downtown Atlanta during a dispute with another motorist


Not to all “troops”in Iraq

(Note to U.S. troops. If you are ordered to participate in any action
that is a violation of the Geneva Conventions or the Law of Land
Warfare, you have the legal right and obligation to refuse these orders and report the violation through the chain of command and PAST THE CHAIN OF COMMAND if necessary. If you are stifled in any way in your reporting of criminal activity, contact us at BTHN,(www.BringThemHomeNow.org) and we will assist you. We have access to military legal experience. Hostage taking is one of those violations. No one above the rank of SSG has been prosecuted for Abu Ghraib, so you know when these things come out who will be designated to take the fall. Every officer will develop amnesia about the incident and leave you twisting in the breeze. And read the piece below about your fearless leader, Donald Rumsfeld. He's assessing your situation with 'metrics' in his 'Iraq Room.' Dr. Stranglove, anyone?) Please spread this message to military folks everywhere. Joe


Is Rumsfeld loseing?

Metrics help guide Pentagon


By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Pentagon is judging success or failure in Iraq by more than daily casualty and attack statistics.
It recently set up an "Iraq Room" where officers study and measure a long stream of data, to produce what the Pentagon calls "metrics" that tell Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld whether the Iraq campaign is headed in the right direction.
"The secretary is big on metrics," said a senior Pentagon official. "He's a metrics kind of guy. He believes you cannot tell how you are doing unless you are taking measurements."
Besides casualties and insurgent attacks, analysts look at the number of arrests, detainees' identities and roles in the insurgency, and the locations.
"It's kind of a fusion center with a lot of policy analysts who sift through an enormous amount of data and information that's coming in from commanders," said Rumsfeld spokesman Larry Di Rita.
Mr. Di Rita said the Iraq Room does not issue reports, per se, but its measurements appear in regular briefings to the secretary.
Teams study intelligence estimates on the number of insurgents -- currently 12,000 to 20,000 -- and how many are entering the country versus how many are native Iraqis.
On the civilian side, they look at the pace of construction projects for schools, clinics, electrical grids or manufacturing plants. They also look at political developments.
One development came Friday when Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al Samarri, a Sunni cleric in the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, reversed course and urged Iraqis to join the Iraqi Security Forces, the Associated Press reported from Baghdad.
The Pentagon's Iraq Room is tabulating the metrics that policy-makers say are virtually impossible to develop for the broader global war against Islamist terrorists. No one knows for sure how many al Qaeda operatives are replaced worldwide for each one killed or captured.
But in a defined area such as Iraq, metrics come more easily.
Gen. John Abizaid, the top commander in Iraq, said intelligence shows more foreign fighters are infiltrating the country because some Iraqis are refusing to take part in attacks on fellow Iraqis.
The Iraq Room was set up several months ago inside the Joint Staff, the support group for the Joint Chiefs that conducts analysis, plans operations and maintains a Pentagon linkage with commands around the world.
"We have a room here, the Iraq Room, where we track a whole series of metrics," Mr. Rumsfeld said on National Public Radio last week. "Some of them are inputs and some of them are outputs, results and obviously the inputs are easier to do and less important, and the outputs are vastly more important and more difficult to do."
The numbers for March show the U.S. campaign may be going in the right direction. U.S. service member deaths, at 35, were the lowest in a year. The number of daily attacks is drifting below 40, and many of those attacks are ineffective, military officials say.