[And it looks like the odds are really against you if you are 20 or 21 in Iraq.]

As of 4/27/04, the unofficial run-down of dead American service people stood at 722. In order to reach 1,000 dead by 1/1/05 that's roughly 35 killed a month. So much for my "sure thing". Am I ready to concede? Just about. I mean at this rate there will be 1,000 dead U.S. troops by the Fourth of July!

Anyway, 79 20 year-olds have been killed and 71 21-year-olds. The oldest to die was 55 year-old Sgt. Floyd G. Knighton, Jr., of the Army National Guard. Also worth mentioning: a civilian, Fern Holland, a 33 year-old woman working for the Army was ambushed by some thugs posing as policemen.

The rest of the age-by-age run-down follows:
18 [16 dead]
19 [45]
22 [57]
23 [44]
24 [46]
25 [34]
26 [40]
27 [36]
28 [21]
29 [24]
30 [23]
31 [28]
32 [16]
33 [16]- not counting poor Fern Holland
34 [10]
35 [11]
36 [17]
37 [11]
38 [7]
39 [10]
40 [10]
41 [10]
42 [7]
43 [3]
44 [3]
45 [5]
46 [4]
47 [0]
48 [1]
49 [1]
50 [2]
51 [2]
53 [0]
54 [1]

Now before anyone gives me the Head-for-the-Hills Brothers Line [also known as one from our two most famous military avoiders, Bush and Cheney] that, 'Well, 800 people were killed in Washington D. C. last year', let me remind you that there were hardly ANY killed in Beverly Hills [though probably a few in Lake Elsinore, CA, where I almost became a statistic, myself, after ignorantly parking between two feuding gangs one night.]

To date: no WMDs. [Whattashock! Right.] But Iraq will be 'free' at last! [And The Great Pumpkin will arrive this Halloween.] But at least Cheney was right that they'd be dancing in the streets. I saw them the last few nights, in fact, dancing on top of blown-up American equipment above spilled American blood. [Sigh. So heart-warming.] Did you ever hear the old saying about how you can lead a horse to water?

POST SCRIPT: The ABC news show, NIGHTLINE, on 4/30 will devote its entire Friday night program to our brave young men and women who have given up their lives in Iraq. As an American who supports our troops [even if I have always been against invading another country that never posed a threat to us], I most certainly will watch out of respect to our troops and their families - and you should, too.