The number of U.S. troops who have died while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom since President Obama’s inauguration has now reached 100. This figure includes both combat and non-combat deaths that occurred since January 20. A few of the deaths were of servicemembers who died of injuries received before the inauguration but did not pass away until afterwards. Three U.S. soldiers who were killed in a Katyusha rocket attack last night were the latest reported casualties.
President Obama ran a campaign that promised Americans an end to the war in Iraq. Many were hoping for an immediate resolution in January. Their disappointment in the president’s slow withdrawal and change of focus to Afghanistan and Pakistan is eclipsed only by those who are directly serving in the war theater. According to army officials, the suicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan servicemembers is higher than last year and increasing. Indeed, of the 100 dead, only 32 were reported as combat incidents.
It would not be the first time that President Obama ran on an anti-war platform and then tempered his opposition upon winning office. Some anti-war democrats, including the son of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, complained two years ago that then-Senator Obama’s opposition to war faded after the election. At that time, Jim Ginsberg said to the New York Times, “some of [Obama’s] actions and speeches once he got in the Senate did not match his [pre-election] rhetoric.†By the time, Sen. Obama returned to the campaign circuit, his tune changed again. One can only hope he’ll actually start listening to the music before more Americans lose
their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.