Iraq War: Are we winning yet?

March marks the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War, aka “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” As winter recedes and roads open up again in Iraq, we learn that violence is again increasing, as it has every year around this time. In fact, the last few weeks have seen an uptick in attacks by home-grown insurgents, but the Bush administration doesn’t dare call it a “trend.” Instead? Commanders “need more time” to assess things. So how do we look after five years?

• 58: Minnesotans who have died
• 492: Minnesotans wounded in action
• 3,395: Troop deaths
• 60,645: Troops wounded, injured, or ill
• 299,585: Patients (from Iraq and Afghanistan wars) treated by the Veterans Health Administration
• 120,049: Patients diagnosed with mental-health condition
• 67,717: Patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder
• 34,138: Approved by VA for PTSD claim (only about 50 percent of claims)
• $350-700 billion: Financial cost over 40 years to taxpayers as veterans file claims

(Sources: Department of Defense, Veterans for Common Sense)