Casualties in Afghanistan now exceed those in Iraq (and they’re growing).
By the Pentagon’s count, 15 U.S. and two allied troops were killed in action in Iraq last month, a total of 17. In Afghanistan it was 19, including 14 Americans and five coalition troops. […] Even when non-combat deaths are included, the overall May toll was greater in Afghanistan than in Iraq: a total of 22 in Afghanistan, including 17 Americans, compared with 21 in Iraq, including 19 Americans, according to an Associated Press count.
The comparison is even more remarkable if you consider that there are about three times more U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan.
This story was linked to by Juan Cole as part of his reporting of a major guerilla offensive in Afghanistan. But he didn’t quote from it, possibly because AP is running around harassing bloggers and trying to rewrite the “fair use” doctrine. My old friend John thinks that we should boycott AP; I’d prefer to smother them with love, and generate so many trackbacks and pingbacks that it looks like a DDoS. Atrios just tags them as the “wankers of the day”, which seems a fair compromise.