Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The death of a Texas soldier, announced Sunday by the Pentagon, raised the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to at least 3,000 since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.
The grim milestone was crossed on the final day of 2006 and at the end of the deadliest month for the American military in Iraq in the past 12 months. At least 111 U.S. service members were reported to have died in December.
Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said. Donica was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
His death was not announced by U.S. military authorities in Baghdad.
At least 820 U.S. military personnel died in Iraq in 2006, according to the AP count.
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Peace group stages rally to mark 3,000th casualty
By Jenn McDowell / Nashua Telegraph
NASHUA – NashuaPeace.Org activists weathered cold temperatures and a little snow Saturday to commemorate the nearly 3,000 American troops who have been killed in the Iraq war thus far.
About 40 people lined Main Street between 11 a.m. and noon bearing signs with statistics about the war, including the costs incurred on the country – both human and financial.
As the snow began to fall around 11:15, Joan Donahue of Nashua and Suzanne Hodge of Hudson remained on the corner of Main and Park streets, waving to passing motorists and eager to explain their views on the death toll, which stood Saturday at 2,998, according to an Associated Press tally.
“They’re all our family and friends,” Donahue said about the troops fighting in Iraq. She pointed to the more than 40 soldiers with New Hampshire connections who have died in action, and said she believes even more than the nearly 3,000 in the official count have died in hospitals as they tried to recover from injuries.
According to news reports, events to memorialize the 3,000th U.S. death will be held across the country in the coming days.
After the bloodiest month of the year – with more than 100 hundred U.S. soldiers killed in December – the 3,000 mark seems to be an appropriate point for re-evaluating the nation’s involvement in the war, protesters said.
“It’s no longer America’s war in Iraq. We are fighting the Iraqi civil war,” Donahue said.
President Bush is expected to announce a new Iraq strategy after the New Year.
Paula Van De Werken of Nashua said she believes the execution of Saddam Hussein will not provoke change in the Iraq region, and she held a sign asking people to think about whether “Hussein’s neck” was worth 3,000 dead soldiers, 25,000 maimed soldiers, 655,000 dead Iraqis and more than $300 billion U.S. dollars.
Van De Werken said she had a son-in-law in Iraq who was “gung-ho” for the war at first, but has since changed his views.
“He can’t say anything, but I can and I do,” she said.
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DO SOMETHING
"Not one more death, not one more dollar."
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