Iraq War Update: 52% of US Deaths Are Under Age 25; Bush-Led Reconstruction Called a "Boondoggle"

House Democratic Whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who is not a supporter of Rep. John Murtha's plan to immediately withdraw US troops from Iraq, admitted this week that "the President does himself no good when he describes 'amazing progress' in Iraq, even without acknowledging that two-thirds of Iraqis lack electricity, oil production is below pre-war levels and unemployment is estimated to be as high as 40 percent."

And the US General Accounting Office (GAO) recently lamented that US billions of dollars invested in restoring water, electricity and health services in Iraq were "wasted" because Iraqis cannot maintain the facilities.

This morning, I updated my quick-reading article, Iraq War Results and Statistics, through November 2005, based on volumes of information from various respected think-tanks.

Sad new info gleaned from Brookings Institute reporting is that 52% of all US troop deaths in Iraq have been under the age of 25 years old. And 68% of all US troop deaths have been in the US Army. US troops in Iraq increased by 10,000 in November to 162,000, representing 89% of all "coalition" soldiers.

When President Bush spoke a few days ago about the War in Iraq, he admitted for the first time that "mistakes have been made," but he proceeded on to glowingly tout all positive news about reconstruction and security efforts.

Democratic response to the President's remarks included....

-- Senator Joe Biden (D-DL): "While the President was forthcoming about mistakes, he did not share with the American people any benchmarks by which we can measure progress, or his strategy and timeline for achieving them."

-- Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA): "Either he doesn't understand the facts or simply doesn't want to face them. The reconstruction of Iraq has been an enormous boondoggle...."

-- And from Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), "As he did last week, the president once again failed to provide a strategy for success or speak honestly to the American people about the failures in rebuilding Iraq and the challenges that lie ahead.

Instead, he cherry picked isolated examples of Iraq's reconstruction from two cities that provide an inaccurate and incomplete picture of the situation on the ground for most Iraqis."
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-- Iraq War Results & Statistics as of November 2005
-- Rep. John Murtha's Plan to Exit Iraq Now
-- Bush "Victory Plan" is PR document, Not War Strategy
-- Who Voted NO in 2002 on Iraq War?

-- Profile of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada
-- Profile of US Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
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