Three American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded under their vehicles as they drove through Baghdad on Saturday, the American military said Sunday, and officials said seven Iraqi police officers died Sunday when a suicide bomber attacked a police station in the city.
The above is from Marc Santora's "Baghdad Roadside Bomb Kills 3 U.S. Soldiers" in this morning's New York Times and congratulations to the headline writer for grasping that it matters. Santora? As noted yesterday, the US military made multiple announcements of deaths on Sunday. Six US troops were announced dead by the US military and the 3 from the roadside bomb were the last announced on Sunday. (Two deaths were announced so early, we included them in "Roundtable" at The Third Estate Sunday Review.) So the point here is, the military announced, on Sunday, the deaths of SIX and the paper can only tell you of three.
Nor is the paper interested in telling you to the total for the month which is 80.
So to recap, the US military states on Sunday that six US troops have died and the paper reports on 3 of those deaths on Monday.
In addition, December has been the second deadliest month of 2006 for US troops but the Times hasn't bothered to tell you that. October 2006 was the worst (106) and, of course, December's not over yet. But readers who rely solely on the Times won't know that. The 3,000 marker for total US troops killed in Iraq since the illegal war began gets closer and closer (2969) but no indication from the paper of supposed record.
In the real world, Ehren Watada gets recognized. Rolling Stone noted him for their 2006 "Honor Roll" in their current year end issue (not available online, click here for those who missed it) and he's one of The Honolulu Star-Bulletin's "10 Who Made A Difference." Joan notes Robert Shikina's "Watada, 28, views duty as opposing 'illegal' war:"
The 1996 Kalani graduate moved into the spotlight earlier this year after announcing he would refuse to deploy to Iraq with his unit, which left on June 22. He cited the illegality of the U.S. war in Iraq under international law.
When the Army denied his request to be deployed to Afghanistan instead, Watada brought his case to the public's attention, appearing at anti-war demonstrations -- he spoke to a crowd of more than 300 recently in Honolulu -- and speaking to the media to defend his beliefs.
The Army initiated a court-martial against Watada for missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer for statements he made about the war. A charge of contempt toward a government official for statements he made about President Bush was later dropped.
Watada has criticized the government of committing lies to drag the U.S. into war in Iraq for the benefit of large corporations. He said he is defending the U.S. Constitution.
Martha and Shirley have an entry that will go up this morning. They're having a problem with adding images (I'll try to talk them through as soon as I get this posted). The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
ehren watada
the new york times
marc santora
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robert shikina
