By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 31 minutes ago



The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of five more soldiers, making 2007 the deadliest year for U.S. troops despite a recent downturn, according to an Associated Press count.

At least 852 American military personnel have died in Iraq so far this year — the highest annual toll since the war began in March 2003, according to AP figures.

The grim milestone passed despite a sharp drop in U.S. and Iraqi deaths here in recent months, after a 30,000-strong U.S. force buildup. There were 39 deaths in October, compared to 65 in September and 84 in August.

Five U.S. soldiers were killed Monday in two separate roadside bomb attacks, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of the Multi-National Force-Iraq's communications division.

"We lost five soldiers yesterday in two unfortunate incidents, both involving IEDs," Smith told reporters in Baghdad's heavily-guarded Green Zone. Later, the military said four of the soldiers died after an explosion near their vehicle in Kirkuk province, and one was killed in Anbar.

With nearly two months left in the year, the U.S. toll has already surpassed that of 2004, when 850 troops died — mostly in larger, more conventional battles like the campaign to cleanse Fallujah of Sunni militants in November, and U.S. clashes with Shiite militiamen in the sect's holy city of Najaf in August.

But the American military in Iraq reached its highest troop levels in Iraq this year — 165,000. Moreover, the military's decision to send soldiers out of large bases and into Iraqi communities means more troops have seen more "contact with enemy forces" than ever before, said Maj. Winfield Danielson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

"It's due to the troop surge, which allowed us to go into areas that were previously safe havens for insurgents," Danielson told the AP on Sunday. "Having more soldiers, and having them out in the communities, certainly contributes to our casualties."

Meanwhile, the U.S. said it planned to release nine Iranian prisoners in the coming days, including two captured when U.S. troops stormed an Iranian government office in Irbil last January. The office was shut after the raid, but it reopened as an Iranian consulate on Tuesday, Iraqi and Iranian officials said.

A military spokesman said Iran appears to have kept its promise to stop the flow into Iraq of bomb-making materials and other weaponry that Washington says has inflamed insurgent violence and caused many American troop casualties.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that Iran had made such assurances to the Iraqi government.

"It's our best judgment that these particular EFPs ... in recent large cache finds do not appear to have arrived here in Iraq after those pledges were made," Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of the Multi-National Force-Iraq's communications division, told reporters Tuesday.

Kurdish rebels released another Iranian soldier captured two months ago in northern Iraq. AP Television News showed the soldier being handed over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Qandeel mountains near the town of Ilan Shahir.

Among the weapons Washington has accused Iran of supplying to Iraqi insurgents are EFPs, or explosively formed projectiles. They fire a slug of molten metal capable of penetrating even the most heavily armored military vehicles, and thus are more deadly than other roadside bombs.

The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, said last week that there had been a sharp decline in the number of EFPs found in Iraq in the last three months. At the time, he and Gates both said it was too early to tell whether the trend would hold, and whether it could be attributed to action by Iranian authorities. Iran publicly denies that it has sent weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said Iraqi troops had discovered 22 bodies in a mass grave northwest of Baghdad over the weekend. The bodies were found during a joint operation Saturday. It was the second mass grave found in the area in less than a month.

After the discovery, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an operation Sunday, including ground raids and air assaults targeting al-Qaida in the area, the U.S. statement said.

About 30 suspects were detained, it said. Two car bomb facilities and a number of weapons caches also were found, it added.

No WMD !!!
What is the reason for this war again???
Loss of life for revenge and oil...
Makes no sense at all

gee thanks heart i needed to see that headline right now cuz im not quite freaked enough

I didn't mean to hurt anyone
I am just trying to make sense of this conflict

all of us are but constant reminders dont change a goddamn thing now does it?

I apologized.

People post things that I don't want to see, I just don't read them. We all have that choice.

I didn't mean to offend you or anyone else.

I believe that your heart is in the right place. But do not think that the people of JSH need another reminder to be afraid for loved ones.

thank u! finally someone gets it

I disagree, Captain . War is never a pretty sight. I'm a firm believer in being informed--something our current administration would like to avoid for us all. An uninformed population is indeed yet another tragedy.

As for you, heartSoul . Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this information. Turning our collective heads away from what's happening doesn't change the fact that it's happening. I currently know no one serving in Iraq (except those here on JSH who are there), but if I did, just like now, I'd want to know what's going on there--the positive AND the negative.

As for those who'd rather "bury their heads in the sand" and pretend it's all sweetness and light over there, simply continue to do so by not reading threads loki these. Me? I want to be--and stay--informed of EVERYTHING that's happening there, not just one aspect of it.

Again, HeartSoul , Thank You.

I believe that your heart is in the right place. But do not think that the people of JSH need another reminder to be afraid for loved ones.

Hell yes, three or four times a day they need reminding! Have you already forgot? I bet that makes the troops feel good!

Start the draft and watch how many people run from this ****! orget? How could someone with a love one there forget! Ignorance wont bring them home and complacency just adds to the death toll!

The only reason the death toll has went down is for the same reason it does every year at this time. Its a holy period for Muslims, and its hot as hell!

Call me when they report the lowest casualty list of the war! This low that they claim is still not it!

There is nothing to apologize for.
Reporting a truth, even on an internet forum, is nothing to apologize for.

Perhaps if our TV networks did that we wouldn't be in this pickle that we are in right now...

Or perhaps would you prefer to bury our collective heads in the sand emu style and watch Dancing with the Stars?

This war almost doesn't exist in American news anymore from what I see.

no surprises here.... your boys are dead and what comes back you'll be lucky if you recognize

Umm excuse me?

While I disagree with the war, laughing about dead soldiers and our wounded guys (and girls) coming back to the states is beyond pale.

So, I think I speak for all people here when I tell you to go F**C YOURSELF you ugly hag

fuk yourself too dearie

But then, Timorek, you go and do something stupid.

... and you dont speak for me ...

how you can presume to take on such a mantel is beyond me.

Bodies in bags is a reality.

If you dont like the reality, then do what a shed load of other people do, stick your head where the sun dont shine, and hope that it goes away.

Did you find MASH abhorrent?
What about Apocalypse Now?

Humo(u)r keeps it alive. It doesnt disappear all the time you make fun of it.

Eeeeerm. Emus don't bury their heads in the sand, ostriches do....

Just your friendly, nature channel Aussie...keeping the facts straight..

it's ok Belushi


did you look at his hands???

Truth be known this War on Terror, has created the most unsafe position for the residents of the US for many millennia to come.

Bullying, and swaggering, and posturing, has done nothing more than create and generate a whole new contempt for the arrogance of the US, as represented by it's government, remember them? The REPRESENTATIVES of the people?

The US has not for one moment, realised what they have done, and continue to do. Your country, along with the so called Allies, (including Australia) has created more vulnerability and hatred for their countries,than before September 11, and if you can't see that, then you are ostriches.

I cant believe this whore made a post where she rejoices about dead soldiers and maimed wounded soldiers.

I simply cant.

Watch the name calling Timorek.....