On Sunday, the announcement of four more US military deaths in Iraq raised the American death toll in the “war on terror” to 2,974, officially surpassing the death toll of Americans killed in the 9/11 attacks. The comparison between fatalities was made earlier last month by General Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. “It’s now almost five years since September 11, 2001,” Pace said. “And the number of young men and women in our armed forces who have sacrificed their lives that we might live in freedom is approaching the number of Americans who were murdered on 9/11 in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in Pennsylvania.” Though Pace falsely claimed that the deaths of soldiers were not in vain because they died protecting freedom, he did draw attention to the severity of the situation. The first campaign in Bush’s “war on terror” began with Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Horn of Africa. Over 260 deaths have been recorded so far in Afghanistan, many of them in recent months due to a resurgent Taliban campaign.

On March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq to oust the Saddam Hussein regime, which, the Bush administration said, harbored and pursued weapons of mass destruction — munitions that were never found. While the Hussein regime was swiftly defeated, an insurgency emerged that has proved harder to handle for the U.S.-led coalition. Of the 2,645 deaths in Iraq, 2,104 have been in combat and 541 were the results of accidents, illnesses, suicides and other factors.

In Iraq, 19,773 US military personnel have been wounded. The Bush administration continues to link the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the overall “war on terror”. This link is of course a false notion since the Hussein regime was never involved with al-Qaeda. However, after the fall of the regime and occupation of American troops, several terror groups (including al-Qaeda) have since emerged in Iraq. Last Thursday, Bush said “Iraq is the central front in this war on terror.” Yes it is, and let’s not forget who made it that way.

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