Why are we losing so many Americans ( soldiers ) in Iraq in just one day?

Question

Military News:.. U.S. casualties will rise in next 90 days, Commander says.
The U.S. military announced the deaths of 11 U.S. soldiers killed in combat along with an embedded journalist Sunday, and Iraqi officials said 163 civilians were killed or injured across the country all in one day. It appears the United States is losing ground and the Iraqi officials and Military officials are worried. This could end up like another Vietnam. Iraqi officials state they need 200,000 more American troops to win this war.

Answer 1

I AM CURRENTLY OVER HERE AND YES IT IS A SAD DAY FOR OUR COUNTRY WHEN SOME OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE KILLED IN BATTLE. BUT YOU MUST REALIZE STATISTICALLY TO THE AMOUNT OF TIME WE HAVE BEEN HERE AND THE AMOUNT OF SOLDIERS WE HAVE LOST IS NOWHERE NEAR THE AMOUNT OF COMBAT BOOTS WE HAVE ON THE GROUNDS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW! FOR EXAMPLE LOOK AT VIETNAM WHERE THEY WERE LOOSING MASS AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE DAILY, WE HAVE BEEN HERE ALMOST FIVE YEARS AND OUR COUNT IS LESS THAN 4000 AND DESPITE WHAT YOU GUYS SEE ON TELEVISION THIS IS A FULL SCALE WAR 24 HOURS A DAY SO UNFORTUNATELY SOME OF US WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR THIS WAR AND TRUST ME WHEN I SAY WE ARE 110% AWARE OF THIS WHEN WE SIGN UP AND IVE BEEN ON BOTH SIDES WHERE IVE BEEN TO MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND IVE BEEN IN SITUATIONS WHERE I SHOULDN'T BE HERE! I WILL CONSIDER IT AN HONOR IF I PAY THE PRICE AND DIE DEFENDING MY COUNTRY.

Answer 2

The Iraq War will end up just like the Vietnam War. Although many people refuse to accept that it will be another Vietnam (by stating that American casualties is not as heavy as in the Vietnam War), but all the other ingredients that will make it another Vietnam are there. Primarily, the majority of the American people does not support the war. President Bush's approval rating is at its lowest, 28% (mainly because the majority disagree of the way he managed the war). Many Republicans distanced themselves away from Bush's policies. Militarily, there are no set goals or objectives to achieve. Simply put, the words "surge" or "stay the course" would not achieve anything because there isn't any clearly defined set of objectives to pursue. Even the claims of "winning" or "losing" the war became already so obscured, because there are no metrics or yardstick to correlate them to. It appears that the American troops are only baby-sitting an Iraqi civil war, something that they really cannot do anything about (for they cannot take sides to favor either the Sunnis or the Shias). Since the war's beginning, all the top military commanders already made it clear that military action alone wouldn't win the war. The overall strategy should also include political solutions, economic solutions, socio-religious solutions, and diplomatic dialogues with Iraq's neighbors. Now, it's already the 4th year of the war and only the military solution has been pursued all along (and the U.S. is not even winning convincingly in this aspect alone). All the other solutions were completely ignored.

So yes, the Iraq War have a lot of parallels with the Vietnam War. It's only a matter of time before the policy-makers in Washington realizes this.

Answer 3

No we are not losing more ground each day - Reading the headlines only again. When you pick up the intensity of a war - more people get killed until control is achieved. Did you think they would send half of the extra troops, pick up the pace & peace would be achieved in a week? No victory comes without deaths & no victories have come quickly other than Desert Storm (a fluke sadly). It does not matter what Iraq says it needs only what our Commander in Chief & Generals decide we need,
Do you always give up so easy? Thank goodness you did not control the forces during WWII as it appeared the war was lost before it turned & victory was achieved.
My son is not only an Army Ranger & Captain but a huge military history buff.

Answer 4

We are not even supposed to win this war. In fact, this isn't even a war against terror. We are smacked in the middle of their civil war and Bush refuse to claim that the country he liberated is falling apart in a civil war. We are just killing the people of Iraq, not terrorist. Iraqi government said they need that much troops because they can't freakin stop depending on us. There political party are not even doing anything to reach any truce. We are not losing to terrorists, we are losing to the Iraqi's who sees American troops in the way of there country political problems and being controlled by the bush adminstration. One more thing, when we get casualties, those KIA reports are 5 or 8 days old.

Answer 5

War is ugly, dirty, smelly, deadly business. No one wants one of their loved ones to die in combat. It is not some heroic movie or tv show that is over and resolved in 60 minutes minus the commercials.

As wars go, Iraq has had fewer casualties than most. Vietnam, that you mentioned, 55,000 died. In Iraq about 1% of the troops sent have been killed.

Check your history book--Gettysburg, Pickett's Charge, 6,000 casualties in one afternoon on the Confederate side alone.

Stop whining, enlist, do your duty. It is your obligation as an American. To paraphrase Gen. George Patton: War is not about dying for your country, it's about making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

Answer 6

Because we are fighting an enemy that doesn't play by the rules. They have no rule book. They will take out as many people as they need to just to take out one U.S. soldier. They use car bombs to take out a whole restaurant if one military personal might be there. That is why the casualty rate is so high. That is why it is such a hard battle to fight and now that we are in it, we can't leave until the country is stable.

Answer 7

This is not Vietnam, despite what the left media would have you believe. Most importantly, how many Muslims were involved in Vietnam? Not that many. Furthermore, our political correctness ties the hands of our troops and forces them to risk their lives even more. The Iranian made roadside bombs are devastating to our flimsy vehicles (designed and purchased under Clinton, not Bush), yet the ******* in Congress are too afraid to call out Iran on its blatant support of the insurgents.

There is one way in which this is similar to Vietnam - the support for the war is eroding because of the daily crap coming from the mouths of the pundits. War is terrible, no matter what, and we should mourn every life lost - however, how often do you see a piece on a new school built or kids getting soccer balls from the troops? Never. It's a shame that we didn't learn our lesson from Vietnam - that the support will erode as the liberal elite rush to bow before the enemy. They should just move to Iran and see how much freedom of the press they have there.

Answer 8

My deepest sympathy's to all the family's who have lost a family member in Iraq.

We are not losing brother, don't give up hope. Kids are going to school, women are getting college educations, more city's have power than in years past, but the news never reports that. However we could lose if we just up and left the terrorists would wreck havoc far worse if we leave now, and I agree we need more Marines on the ground there.

Answer 9

One thing that doesn't help is how the media continually reports on the US military's operations, which no doubt is continually observed by the insurgency so they can make preparations ahead of time. It's the craziest thing to me. I know it's important to have freedom of the press to keep the government in check, but can you imagine how the Battle Of Trenton would have been different if the press had an "on the spot" reporter there on the shore, broadcasting the landing of Washington and his troops? No doubt that the Hessian and British troops would have been aware and waiting to stop the "surprise" attack.

Answer 10

Because the human waste that our soldiers (the best in the world) are fighting are too cowardly to fight a real war. They are not fighting under a flag. They are not fighting in uniforms. They make no indication of there intent to engage us. If these pathetic excuses for men were to fight us for real it would be over in about 5 minutes. That being said, if we wanted to we could destroy the entire middle east to kill them. Being the United States; however, we operate on a higher standard and are unfortunately now having to pay the price for it as a result. Our military superiority can't always win if our moral superiority stands in the way.