14 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq

The U.S. Military announced the deaths of fourteen U.S. soldiers raising the total of U.S. casualties to 3545 and 68 this month. The deadliest attack came in a roadside bomb killing five U.S. solders and four iraqis.

The AP reports:

Four other U.S. soldiers were killed and one was wounded Wednesday when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in a western neighborhood in the capital, the military said separately. Southwest of Baghdad, two U.S. soldiers were killed and four were wounded Wednesday when explosions struck near their vehicle, according to a statement earlier in the day. Two Marines also were killed Wednesday while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the military said.

The Iraq Body Count is up to 72,165 civilians in Iraq killed since the beginning of the war. Of course this number is only the countable civilians, who knows how large this number really is? In other news on Iraq a new survey ranks the nation as the world's 2nd most unstable nation. Afghanistan placed eighth.

And a story I have been reluctant to tell, the wife of a missing soldier in Iraq is facing deportation. Yaderlin Jiminez is the wife of Army Spec. Alex Jimenez, who has been missing since his unit was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on May 12. Mr. Jiminez had petitioned for a green card for his wife, Yaderlin, whom he married in 2004. These two grew up a mile from me in Lawrence, Massachusetts a city struggling from the industrial revolution's escape from the northeast to Latin America and China. Yaderlin came to Lawrence from the Dominican Republic and married Alex, a citizen here whose roots are tied also to the Dominican Republic. Senators Edward Kennedy and Kerry have come to her aid.

How more tragic a story can they tell? Her husband missing in Iraq, most likely kidnapped, tortured and killed and now the Department of Homeland Security begins deportation proceedings.