Why does the GOP want Foley on the front page? Because they don't want news like this becoming the focus point of the 24/7 news cycle:
The number of U.S troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest monthly level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.
Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
The sharp increase in American wounded -- with nearly 300 more in the first week of October -- is a grim measure of the degree to which the U.S. military has been thrust into the lead of the effort to stave off full-scale civil war in Iraq, military officials and experts say. Beyond Baghdad, Marines battling Sunni insurgents in Iraq's western province of Anbar last month also suffered their highest number of wounded in action since late 2004.
More than 20,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat in the Iraq war, and about half have returned to duty. While much media reporting has focused on the more than 2,700 killed, military experts say the number of wounded is a more accurate gauge of the fierceness of fighting because advances in armor and medical care today allow many service members to survive who would have perished in past wars. The ratio of wounded to killed among U.S. forces in Iraq is about 8 to 1, compared with 3 to 1 in Vietnam.
The toll in Iraq is growing at a phenomenal rate. Even worse is the post traumatic effects this war is having on our returning soldiers:
A year after they returned home, members of a badly battered Marine Corps unit are still finding it hard to adjust to their civilian lives.
Some Marines of Lima Company, which lost 16 reservists in Iraq, say they dislike being in crowds, because crowds in Iraq meant trouble.
"I feel like a different person," said Cpl. Seth Judy, 25, who had surgery in July to remove the last bit of shrapnel embedded in his left knee. "I don't have a free spirit the way I used to."
The Columbus-based company, part of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, returned home Oct. 7, 2005. The unit was the subject of A&E Television Network's documentary film, "Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company," which used personal video shot by the Marines.
