Recent figures show that the month of May was the 3rd most fatal month for US troops since the 2003 invasion of Mesopotamia.
The waxing and waining range of deaths that accompany the approaches of the US military are very interesting to examine. For example, November 2004 was the siege on Fallujah, spurred by the sabotage and ambushing of 3 Blackwater employees. Subsequently, 135 troops died in April of 2004 as insurgent methods grew more complex and the campaign against Sadr and the Mahdi Army reached fever pitch. However, US troop deaths have dropped greatly over the past 3 years, though civilian deaths and ethnic killings have soared. The idea that Iraq was rapidly descending into civil war is now something more questionable, as it appears that to a certain extent, fighters will fight whoever there is to fight. US troops represent a "common enemy" but when they are not engaged, the power struggle between Iraqis and between foreign fighters ensues. Is it a lose/lose? The "theater of war" that Bush/Cheney Co. has sought to create is something we should view in a different light. If not Iraq, then in the streets of America became an anthem for the neoconservatives during the early days of the war. This idea was repulsive to all progressive thinkers, thought to be something no more than scare tactics. Its a no-brainer that Iraq was a mistake. But what now?
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