BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Saturday that a female soldier died in a roadside bomb attack on her patrol south of Baghdad on Thursday, marking the 85th killing of an American servicewoman since the invasion.
The U.S. did not release her name pending notification of next of kin.
Technically, servicewomen are not assigned to offensive combat missions in Iraq, but they often participate in raids, patrols and other active duty in a variety of roles, such as flying helicopters or dealing with Iraqi women during U.S. operations.
Because of that, casualties among American servicewomen have been relatively rare, constituting fewer than 3 percent of the total military deaths among the U.S.-led coalition forces, according to , which tracks fatalities in the Iraq war.
As of Saturday, at least 3,850 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war, according to an Associated Press count.
Also Saturday , the U.S. said it killed five alleged terrorists with suspected ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq with an airstrike on their hideout south of Mahmudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. In Baghdad, police said a series of bombings and shootings killed two and wounded 12 , including three Iraqi policemen.
Democratic senator calls Bush bad for veterans
WASHINGTON — A Democratic senator on Saturday accused President Bush of “hollow talk” in support of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and said the Bush administration has not done nearly enough to provide veterans with the care they need.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said, “The president can call on Democrats to follow him in lock step all he wants, but when it comes to caring for our veterans, we are not about to start taking advice from George Bush.” Bush scolded Democrats on Thursday for combining spending bills for defense and veterans programs with one for labor, health and education matters.
Murray, delivering the Democrats’ weekly radio address, accused Bush of underfunding the Veterans Affairs Department and said thousands of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are “stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare” and aren’t getting the health care they need.
Republican National Committee spokesman Brian Walton said former Sen. Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala are working to implement recommendations of a presidential commission to improve treatment of wounded veterans while “Democrats like Patty Murray are … throwing out shrill, unhelpful rhetoric.”
The Associated Press
