Death of US Troops In Iraq Finally Reaches The 4,000 Mark

It is official, as the death toll of US troops is at 4,000. The mark was hit on the same day that an attack was launched on the Green Zone which is protected by the United States. So far, the identities of the five US troops killed have not been disclosed yet. The government is waiting to notify their relatives first. 2004 and 2007 were the deadliest years of the five years in the fighting in Iraq as it starts on its sixth year. In 2004, about 850 US soldiers were killed. In 2007, 901 US soldiers were killed. While US President George W. Bush continues to defend the war in Iraq on its five-year anniversary, many across the United States have protested in their own ways. However, the death toll in Iraq pales in comparison to the Vietnam War and the Korean War. The death tolls for both wars were in the five-figures. The United States Civil War in the 19th century had the highest death toll on both sides of at least a half-million dead. In the case of Iraq, the main causes of death were explosives such as IEDs and roadside bombs. These are the common weapons used by insurgents and Al-Qaeda in Iraq. As a result, there has been a bigger demand for special vehicles called MRAPs which have the ability to resist mines and roadside explosives. A study showed that the delayed delivery MRAPs attributed to the death of many US Marines. However, each MRAP costs at least $450K a piece. The US military says that the violence in Iraq is decreasing. However, there is the possibility that the violence level can increase at any given moment. So far, the reconstruction has come out of the pocket of US taxpayers. Recently, two US senators have requested a congressional inquiry into Iraq’s oil revenues to see if and when they can pay for the rest of its own reconstruction. In a letter, they explain that while Iraq has money in banks across the world, it had done little to improve the situation. According to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, the current cost of Iraq is at least $12 billion a month. He adds that the total could go beyond $3 trillion. Also, both the Red Cross and Amnesty International released separate reports calling the humanitarian crisis in Iraq has grave. A recent Pentagon study said that the main problem hurting Iraq’s reconstruction is corruption.