Twenty-One Americans Died in Iraq on Saturday

The Pentagon announced that a Marine was killed in fighting in Anbar province, and five American soldiers were killed in a firefight in Karbala. Two more were killed in roadside bombing incidents in Ninevah and North Baghdad on Saturday.

It was also announced that a U.S. Helicopter went down in Diyala province carrying 13 passengers and crew members and all perished. The announcement was not accompanied by the usual disclaimer that the craft was not shot down, leading most to speculate that it came under fire and was lost to hostility, rather than error or malfunction.

Get used to double-digit death statistics as the escalation gets underway and Americans engage in hostilities with the native population more frequently. Personally, I stashed a couple of Valium for the day we lose an entire Unit. I dread it, but I see it coming, as sure as aWol is a feckless loser who has never done one right thing in his entire miserable, wasted life.

[Updated at 8:30 p.m. on 20 January 2007 to reflect latest information.]

[Update: We were lied to by our government in an eerie shades-of-Vietnam way. Four of the five soldiers who were supposedly killed in Karbala defending their position were in fact kidnapped and executed, their bodies found 25 miles away. The attackers passed themselves off as Americans to get into position to storm the government meeting. This indicates they had insider information passed to them. Now American soldiers have to wonder if the Americans coming toward them are indeed Americans.]