By the Numbers, Part Two

Some additional numbers and thoughts to ponder.

From TheDenverChannel we learn:

A Colorado soldier who just returned from duty in Iraq fatally shot his wife and then himself, according to a Fort Carson spokesman.

Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, was with his wife at their home near Fort Collins when the shooting occurred Wednesday afternoon.

[snip]

The couple's 8-month-old child was in the care of a neighbor, who reported hearing the gunshots, said Eloise Campanella, a spokeswoman for the Larimer County sheriff.

[snip]

Sherwood was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery based out of Fort Carson, but had a home near Fort Collins.

Sherwood had returned from Iraq on July 25 after spending nearly a year there and was on leave at the time of the shootings, said Dee McNutt, an Army spokeswoman.

Sherwood enlisted in the Army in January 2004, according to McNutt.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which had previously been based in South Korea, lost 68 soldiers during its tour in Iraq.

He was at least the second Fort Carson-based soldier to commit suicide shortly after serving in Iraq.

• 23,317 – Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq (at least, as of August 4, 2005)

• 13,769 – U.S. military wounded in action since April 2003 (as of August 2, 2005)

• 215 – U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan (where bin Laden was/is)(as of August 4, 2005)

• $3,870,000,000 – Annual cost of all sixteen U.N. peacekeeping missions currently underway

• $4,100,000,000 – Monthly cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq

• 0 – Number of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq

Finally, Joe in D.C., writing about Dubya's vacation on AmericaBlog, reminds us:

And you will recall, it was during a similarly long vacation in 2001, that he was handed a memo that read "Bin Laden Determined to Strike In U.S." and did nothing.

America can do better than George W. Bush.