A Grim Memorial

Nearly 1,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines have died in Iraq since last Memorial Day, and President Bush has said he expects the surge in casualties to continue through the summer: “It could be a bloody—it could be a very difficult August.”

AP via Yahoo:

BAGHDAD—Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling—and expected to rise in coming months.
In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces.

“It could be a bloody—it could be a very difficult August,” he said last week.

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AP Photo / Charles Rex Arbogast

Anthony Martini of Chicago mourns his brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Philip Martini, at a Memorial Day weekend display in the city’s Grant Park, where 3,400 pairs of combat boots representing the U.S. military death toll in Iraq covered an area the size of two football fields.