Fifty-four Dead Women

by Laurence M. Vance
by Laurence M. Vance

Dead women. Fifty-four dead women. Has it really come to this? We know that American women die everyday. They die in hospitals, nursing homes, bedrooms, and cars. They die by accident, disease, murder, suicide, or natural causes. But why should any American women die in Iraq fighting a war?

Yes, women. It is horrible enough when young men in the prime of their life have their arms and legs torn to shreds because of an encounter with an "improvised explosive device," but it is absolutely hideous that we as a country countenance young women — young American women, some of them with children — dying the same grisly type of death. True, they enlisted in the military of their own free will. But where are the fathers, the brothers, and the pastors of these misguided and impressionable girls? What kind of slime do we have for military recruiters that would prey on these women?

As I have argued many, many times before, no American soldiers — men or women — should be fighting in Iraq in the first place. Some Americans are aware that 2,475 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq; few Americans probably realize that 54 of them were women.

The following table lists all of the women who have been killed to date in the Iraq war. The date given is the date of death, beginning with the most recent. Clicking the link on the name will bring up the official DOD news release about the woman's death. Then follows a photo of the dead woman, her rank, her branch of service, and the cause of her death.

Date
			small arms fire
			mortar attack
	1st Class		weapon discharge
	1st Class		unspecified
	Lieutenant	Guard	helicopter crash
		Reserve	RPG attack
		Reserve	IED attack
			IED attack
	Lieutenant	Guard	unspecified
	1st Class		IED attack
			IED attack
			weapon discharge
	Sergeant	Guard	IED attack
			suicide car bomb
	Corporal		suicide car bomb
	Officer 1st Class		suicide car bomb
		Guard	IED attack
		the army	mortar attack
	1st Class	Reserve	IED attack
			mortar attack
			vehicle accident
			vehicle accident
			vehicle accident
		Guard	IED attack
		the Army	rocket attack
		Reserve	vehicle accident
			IED attack
			rocket attack
		Guard	IED attack
		Guard	mortar attack
			IED attack
	1st Class	Guard	IED attack
	1st Class		illness
	1st Class		IED attack
			mortar attack
		Guard	IED attack
			IED attack
		the Army	unspecified
			illness
	1st Class	Reserve	IED attack
	1st Class		IED attack
			vehicle accident
			helicopter crash
	Sergeant		IED attack
			accident
	rant Officer		helicopter crash
			helicopter crash
	1st Class		helicopter crash
	1st Class		mortar attack
			unspecified
	1st Class		grenade
			weapon discharge
			weapon discharge
	1st Class		ambush

Name size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Photo face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Age size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Rank size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Branch size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Cause of Death

04/08/06