While the media paid attention to the 15 British sailors and their 13-day captivity in Iran (which is worth covering, certainly), 20 American soldiers died in Iraq during that time period.

Here are their names:

March 23rd, 2007 - Spc. Lance C. Springer II (IED), Sgt. Greg N. Riewer (IED)

March 24th, 2007 - Lance Cpl. Trevor A. Roberts (combat)

March 25th, 2007 - Sgt. Jason W. Swiger (IED), Cpl. Jason Nunez (IED), Pfc. Orlando E. Gonzalez (IED), Pfc. Anthony J. White (IED), Spc. Sean K. McDonald (IED)

March 27th, 2007 - Sgt. Curtis J. Forshey (non-combat), Staff Sgt. Marcus A. Golczynski (combat), Master Sgt. Sean M. Thomas (combat)

March 29th, 2007 - Sgt. Joe Polo (IED)

March 30th, 2007 - Unnamed (non-combat)

March 31st, 2007 - 1st Lt. Neale M. Shank (non-combat), Spc. Wilfred Flores Jr. (IED), Two Unnamed (IED), Four Unnamed (IED)

April 1st, 2007 - Pfc. Miguel A. Marcial III (non-combat), Staff Sgt. Jason R. Arnette (IED)

April 2nd, 2007 - Unnamed (combat), Unnamed (IED)

See U.S. Casualties in Iraq for more information, read the “Casualty notes” for caveats inherent to any such list.

(from Don Park, mostly copied)

It’s less than two months until the 2 year anniversary of Cheney’s declaration that we’re in “the last throes of the insurgency”.

Here are some more numbers:
- Americans killed in Iraq in March 2005: 36
- Americans killed in Iraq in March 2006: 33
- Americans killed in Iraq in March 2007: 86

This isn’t an outlier for the year, too, as February had 87 and January had 92.

I’m not trying to make a specific point, I just thing these things are worthy of your consideration.