Pentagon: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Lee Smith died Saturday at Camp Taji, Iraq, due to injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
Another US death from the Iraq War.
The death toll rises as the war continues.
It's the same story as it's been every year of the war.
Christopher Woody (BUSINESS INSIDER) observes:
For the close to 1,000 US Marines assisting Iraqi forces in the area, the campaign has led them back to familiar terrain to continue the fight against an enemy that appears set to evolve into a different kind of threat.
"Marines, in particular, understand western Iraq," Marine Corps. Brig Gen. Robert Sofge told Marine Corps Times this month — an area Sofge called "old stomping grounds" for US Marines.
"We spent most folks' career there and there are relationships there that endure," Sofge said. "Even while priorities may shift in and around [US Central Command], that doesn't make what's going in Anbar [province] less important."
Circles and circles, always the same thing.
Well not exactly the same.
Back in the early days of the Iraq War, the press actually gave a damn.
That would include THE NATION magazine.
At the start of 2005, the magazine offered "Iraq's Lost Election" -- an editorial which included:
As long as the occupation continues, any Iraqi government or constitution will be tainted and incapable of producing the compromises necessary for a stable and unified Iraq. Therefore, for the sake of Iraq's future and the safety of our young men and women, the United States must begin an orderly withdrawal, coordinated with stepped-up US and international economic assistance. We recognize that further violence and internal fighting among Iraqis may follow, but to believe that a continuing US military presence can prevent this is naïve or disingenuous; it will, rather, contribute to the instability. The best long-term outcome is for Iraqis to regain control of their own country and sort out their own future.
What's changed?
Why is the magazine silent today?
US troops need to leave.
They need to stop being used to support whichever politician the US government puts in place.
They need to stop being used to prop up a government that doesn't represent the Iraqi people.