U.S. Confirmed Deaths Reported
(Click on part in "BLUE" to get further details)
Deaths: 4052 Confirmed Deaths:
4052 Pending Confirmation: 0 DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatalities
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. Guadalupe Cervantes Ramirez, 26, of Fort Irwin, Calif., died April 23 at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, of injuries suffered in a vehicle incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Transportation Company (Heavy Equipment Transport...
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Shaun J. Whitehead, 24, of Commerce, Ga., died April 24 in Iskandariyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when he encountered an improvised explosive device while on a dismounted patrol. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment...
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Ronald C. Blystone, 34, of Springfield, Mo., died April 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, from wounds suffered when he encountered small arms fire during a dismounted patrol. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment...
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (2 of 2)
1st Lt. Timothy W. Cunningham, 26, of College Station, Texas...died April 23 in Golden Hills, Iraq, of injuries suffered in a vehicle incident. They were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team...
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (1 of 2)
Pfc. John T. Bishop, 22, of Gaylord, Mich...died April 23 in Golden Hills, Iraq, of injuries suffered in a vehicle incident. They were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division...
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (2 0f 2)
Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter, 19, of Sag Harbor, N.Y...assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune...died 4/22 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations...
04/25/08 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (1 0f 2)
Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale, 21, of Burkeville, Va...assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune...died 4/22 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations...
04/25/08 MNF: MND-C Soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division - Center Soldier was killed in an improvised explosive device attack south of Baghdad, April 24.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
MORE US CONFIRMED DEATHS: NAMES AND HOMETOWNS
BLACKWATER ACCUSED OF SHREDDING DOCUMENTS
Families of Iraqis who died in a September shooting involving Blackwater guards have accused the corporation of “shredding documents and destroying evidence” sometime around March 18. The court documents identify former Blackwater employees as the source of the information. AP notes that there is “no indication the Justice Department is investigating shredding as part of that case.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/26/blackwater-accused-of-shredding-documents/
CNN REPORT: US DENIES BOMBING ATTACKS KILLED IRAQI CHILDREN
A series of US air attacks on Sadr City has killed eight Iraqi civlians, including two children. The US military is denying the air attacks were aimed at Iraqi civilians in Sadr City, however the Iraqi Interior Ministry says the attacks resulted in the deaths of eight cvilians and the wounding of 28.
All across Iraq on Saturday there were signs the violence is escalating as car bombs and killings hit virtually evey province in Iraq.
President Bush, General Petraeus and the Bush administration propaganda branch, FOX NEWS, continue to claim all is calm in Iraq, but stories from a number of independent news sources prove just the opposite is the truth.
NEW: Car bomb kills two awakening council members in western Baghdad
U.S. spokesman denies airstrikes, major action in Baghdad slum overnight
Sadr City fighting kills eight, including two children, official says; 28 wounded
Saturday morning attacks in Baghdad, Tikrit, Diyala province
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Violence overnight in Baghdad's Sadr City killed eight people -- including two children -- and wounded 28, Iraqi officials said, and insurgent attacks across Iraq killed six people and wounded 26.
U.S. military denies involvement in Sadr City deaths
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/26/iraq.main/index.html
A U.S. military spokesman denied an Interior Ministry official's report that airstrikes and clashes involving U.S. forces caused the casualties in Sadr City.
"There were no 'fierce' clashes between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. involving U.S. forces or those Iraqi security forces we are partnered with," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "So we do not know who killed those women and children."
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Shiite militiamen in Sadr City for a month.
Saturday morning saw a wave of violence across multiple locations in Iraq.
Three Iraqi soldiers were hurt when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in northeastern Baghdad's Sleikh neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official said.
Gunmen in a car opened fire 30 minutes later on traffic police in central Baghdad's al-Wathiq square, wounding five people, the official said.
Police said a roadside bomb blast wounded eight people, including four police officers in central Tikrit, a major Sunni city in Salaheddin province about 100 miles north of Baghdad.
In Diyala province north of Baghdad, three Iraqi soldiers died when a roadside bomb struck their patrol about about three miles east of Baquba, the Interior Ministry official said.
A roadside bomb explosion near a house in central Baquba's al-Hay neighborhood wounded two Iraqi civilians, the official said.
Click on link to read full story.
USA TODAY: NEW REPORT SAYS IRAQ SECURITY FORCES NOT READY
Report: Iraqi forces lacking
By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-04-25-iraqsecurity_N.htm
WASHINGTON — Iraq's military and police forces need years of improvements before they have enough recruits, officers and support systems to secure the country, the government's Iraq reconstruction watchdog says in a report to be released today.
The report from Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen analyzed the Iraqi security forces as part of a review of the Pentagon's quarterly Iraq progress reports to Congress. Relying on Iraqi government figures, the latest such update in March says about 530,000 people are on the Iraqi security forces' payroll.
However, a "substantial number" of people on the payrolls of the Iraqi police and military have been killed or wounded, are on leave or never showed up for work, the inspector general's report says.
"The details included in the reports and other available information suggests a continuing need for caution in relying on the accuracy and usefulness of the numbers," the report says.
But the Pentagon says the data on Iraqi forces is reliable.
WASHINGTON POST: TOP MILITARY OFFICER SAYS US PLANNING FOR ATTACK ON IRAN
U.S. Weighing Readiness for Military Action Against Iran
By Ann Scott TysonWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, April 26, 2008; A07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/25/AR2008042501480.html?hpid=topnews
The nation's top military officer said yesterday that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" as one of several options against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a conflict with Iran would be "extremely stressing" but not impossible for U.S. forces, pointing to reserve capabilities in the Navy and Air Force.
"It would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability," he said at a Pentagon news conference. Speaking of Iran's intentions, Mullen said: "They prefer to see a weak Iraq neighbor. . . . They have expressed long-term goals to be the regional power."
Mullen made clear that he prefers a diplomatic solution and does not expect imminent action. "I have no expectations that we're going to get into a conflict with Iran in the immediate future," he said.
Mullen's statements and others by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently signal new rhetorical pressure on Iran by the Bush administration amid what officials say is increased Iranian provision of weapons, training and financing to Iraqi groups that are attacking and killing Americans.
In a speech Monday, Gates said Iran "is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons." He said war would be "disastrous" but added that "the military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat."
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who was nominated this week to head all U.S. forces in the Middle East, is preparing a briefing soon on increased Iranian involvement in Iraq, Mullen said. The briefing will detail, for example, the discovery in Iraq of weapons that were very recently manufactured in Iran, he said.
LIST OF NAMES OF GIS KILLED IN IRAQ IN APRIL AND CAUSE OF DEATH
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death
Click on deceased name in "blue" for additional details.
US
Staff Sergeant Shaun J. Whitehead
Iskandariyah - Babil
Hostile - hostile fire - IED, small arms fire
23-Apr-2008
4
US: 4 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant Guadalupe Cervantes Ramirez
Camp Arifjan
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US
Private 1st Class John T. Bishop
Golden Hills - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - vehicle rollover
US
1st Lieutenant Timothy W. Cunningham
Golden Hills - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - vehicle rollover
US
Staff Sergeant Ronald C. Blystone
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
22-Apr-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Private Ronald R. Harrison
FOB Falcon (nr. Baghdad)
Non-hostile - injury
US
Lance Corporal Jordan C. Haerter
Ramadi (near) - Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
US
Corporal Jonathan T. Yale
Ramadi (near) - Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
21-Apr-2008
4
US: 4 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Airman Apprentice Adrian M. Campos
Dubai -
Non-hostile
US
1st Lieutenant Matthew R. Vandergrift
Basra - Basrah
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Specialist Steven J. Christofferson
Baiji - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Sergeant Adam J. Kohlhaas
Baiji - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
20-Apr-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Petty Officer 1st Class Cherie L. Morton
Galali, Muharraq
Non-hostile
18-Apr-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Specialist Benjamin K. Brosh
Balad - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
US
Specialist Lance O. Eakes
Baghdad (north of)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
17-Apr-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Staff Sergeant Jason L. Brown
Sama Village
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire, grenade
14-Apr-2008
4
US: 4 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Specialist Arturo Huerta-Cruz
Tuz - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Sergeant Joseph A. Richard III
Baghdad (northeastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Corporal Richard J. Nelson
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Lance Corporal Dean D. Opicka
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
12-Apr-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Specialist William E. Allmon
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
09-Apr-2008
5
US: 5 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Technical Sergeant Anthony L. Capra
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Specialist Jeremiah C. Hughes
Baghdad
Non-hostile - injury
US
Sergeant Jesse A. Ault
Tunis (died in Baghdad) - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Sergeant Shaun P. Tousha
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Specialist Jacob J. Fairbanks
Baghdad
Non-hostile - suicide
08-Apr-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Staff Sergeant Jeffery L. Hartley
Kharguliah - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Major Mark E. Rosenberg
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
07-Apr-2008
4
US: 4 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant Timothy M. Smith
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Sergeant Michael T. Lilly
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
US
Specialist Jason C. Kazarick
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
US
Sergeant Richard A. Vaughn
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
06-Apr-2008
7
US: 7 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Staff Sergeant Jeremiah E. McNeal
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Staff Sergeant Emanuel Pickett
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Private 1st Class Shane D. Penley
Rustamiyah - Baghdad
Non-hostile
US
Colonel Stephen K. Scott
Baghdad (Green Zone)
Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack
US
Major Stuart A. Wolfer
Baghdad (Green Zone)
Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack
US
Captain Ulises Burgos-Cruz
Diyala Province (Died in Balad)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Specialist Matthew T. Morris
Diyala Province (Died in Balad)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
03-Apr-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Staff Sergeant Travis L. Griffin
Baghdad (near)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Total
40
US: 40 UK: 0 Other: 0
NAMES OF 2 US MARINES FROM CAMP LEJEUNE KILLED IN COMBAT IN IRAQ
2 Camp Lejeune Marines killed in Iraq
The Associated Press - The Associated PressPosted : Friday Apr 25, 2008 17:11:51 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_marines_killed_052508/
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The military says two Marines from Camp Lejeune have died of wounds they suffered during combat in Iraq’s Anbar province.
The Department of Defense said Friday that 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter of Sag Harbor, N.Y., and 21-year-old Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale of Burkeville, Va., died Tuesday.
Haerter was a member of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. Yale was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. The division is an element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.
PENTAGON PROPAGANDA: SO MUCH WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT
David Barstow of the New York Times has written the first installment in what is already a stunning exposé of the Bush Administration's most powerful propaganda weapon used to sell and manage the war on Iraq: the embedding of military propagandists directly into the TV networks as on-air commentators.
We and others have long criticized the
widespread TV network practice of hiring former military officials to serve as analysts, but even in our most cynical moments we did not anticipate how bad it was. Barstow has painstakingly documented how these analysts, most of them military industry consultants and lobbyists, were directly chosen, managed, coordinated and given their talking points by the Pentagon's ministers of propaganda.
By John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, PR Watch Posted on April 25, 2008, Printed on April 26, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/83541/
Thanks to the two-year investigation by the New York Times, we today know that Victoria Clarke, then the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, launched the Pentagon military analyst program in early 2002. These supposedly independent military analysts were in fact a coordinated team of pro-war propagandists, personally recruited by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and acting under Clarke's tutelage and development.
One former participant, NBC military analyst Kenneth Allard, has called the effort "psyops on steroids." As Barstow reports, "Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as 'message force multipliers' or 'surrogates' who could be counted on to deliver administration 'themes and messages' to millions of Americans 'in the form of their own opinions.' … Don Meyer, an aide to Ms. Clarke, said a strategic decision was made in 2002 to make the analysts the main focus of the public relations push to construct a case for war."
Clarke and her senior aide, Brent T. Krueger, eventually signed up more than 75 retired military officers who penned newspaper op/ed columns and appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts. The Pentagon held weekly meetings with the military analysts, which continued as of April 20, 2008, when the New York Times ran Barstow's story. The program proved so successful that it was expanded to issues besides the Iraq War. "Other branches of the
administration also began to make use of the analysts. Mr. Gonzales, then the attorney general, met with them soon after news leaked that the government was wiretapping terrorism suspects in the United States without warrants, Pentagon records show.
When David H. Petraeus was appointed the commanding general in Iraq in January 2007, one of his early acts was to meet with the analysts."
BAGHDAD TO GET DISNEYLAND AMUSEMENT PARK
At the cost of nearly $500 million, a Los Angeles-based company is “developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum.” The park “is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland.” The company’s owner says “the time is ripe” for profit and entertainment to collide in Iraq:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/24/baghdad-to-get-disneyland-style-amusement-park/
Mr Werner, who has been sold a 50-year lease on the site by the Mayor of Baghdad for an undisclosed sum, says that the time is ripe for the amusement park. “I think people will embrace it. They’ll see it as an opportunity for their children regardless if they’re Shia or Sunni. They’ll say their kids deserve a place to play and they’ll leave it alone.”
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.”
A Pentagon official has said that Gen. David Petraeus is a “big supporter” of the project.
REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN CALLS US SOLDIER IN IRAQ 'TWO-BIT SECURITY GUARD.'
During a public appearance on Saturday, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) belittled a U.S. soldier in Iraq who was following orders and wouldn’t let McHenry go to the gym without the proper credentials. McHenry referred to the guard as a “two-bit security guard“
We spent the night in the Green Zone, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam’s palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early — not that I make this a great habit — but I went to the gym because I just couldn’t sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn’t let me in. Said I didn’t have the correct credentials.
It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard. So you know, I said, “I want to see your supervisor.” Thirty minutes later, the supervisor wasn’t happy with me, they escort me back to my room. It happens. I guess I didn’t need to work out anyway.
Watch it: Click here to watch video of Rep. McHenry: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/04/rep-mchenry-calls-us-soldier-in-iraq-a-two-bit-security-guard/
McHenry also claimed that a person died from rocket attacks during his stay in the Green Zone. A U.S. embassy official, however, said “that there were no fatalities from that rocket attack.”
CNN REPORTS: ONE GI KILLED: AL-SADR THREATENS 'OPEN WAR' ON OCCUPIERS, NOT IRAQ
The U.S. military said a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad Thursday. The death brings to 4,051 the number of U.S. military personnel killed in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003.
Story Highlights
NEW: Gunmen kill journalist working for Shiite radio station in Basra, police say
Iraqis, even security forces, should unite against "occupiers," cleric says
Despite threat of war, Muqtada al-Sadr maintains cease-fire, politician says
U.S. planes strike Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraqi official says
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened "open war," against the American "occupiers" and not the Iraqi government, according to a letter read by a top aide during Friday prayers.
"When we threatened to declare an open war until the liberation, we meant war against the occupier," al-Sadr said in his letter. "There is no war between us and our Iraqi brothers -- no matter what their nationality, race or sect. The blood of Iraqis are forbidden on you."
He encouraged not only his Mehdi Army militia to fight U.S. troops, but also every Iraqi, including the nation's security forces which are in league with U.S. troops.
"I direct my speech to all government security forces and others, and all the religious and political forces, if this open war is between us and the occupier, you should not interfere in the favor of the occupier," the letter said. "We want to liberate you and your lands from the occupiers, so our government would be a full sovereign government."
On Saturday, al-Sadr issued what he called a "last warning" and told his followers in Sadr City to fight the "occupier" there.
Click on link for full story.
