Regardless of what the Obama administration says or what the general public thinks, the war in Iraq is not over. The proof is in the caskets still coming home.

 

Since President Barack Obama declared last August that combat operations had ended, 26 American military personnel have died in Iraq. The fatalities demonstrate that the “advise and assist” roles now performed by the 46,000 troops still stationed in the country are not without danger.

 

To date, there have been 14 service members killed in 2011, bringing the war’s death toll to more than 4,440. Eight of the 14 died as a result of hostile fire.

 

A poll released in January showed nearly two thirds of respondents were only somewhat interested, not too interested or not interested at all in news about Iraq. Anecdotal evidence suggests many Americans believe the war to be over and are surprised to learn that soldiers are still dying in Iraq.

 

“It would have been unthinkable even two years ago to say that we would reach a point at which most Americans and, indeed, some people in Washington, would increasingly be forgetting about Iraq,” Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said in February. “But that point has largely come.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Is Iraq the New Forgotten War? (by Megan McCloskey, Star and Stripes)

Iraq Coalition Casualties: Military Deaths by Country: US (iCasualties.org)