MORE MARINES: The Marine Corps may need to grow to sustain deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan without sacrificing needed training or putting undue stress on the corps, the new Marine commandant told reporters Wednesday. Gen. James Conway said that if a decision is made to increase the number of Marines in Iraq–currently about 23,000 of the 141,000 U.S. troops there–he has enough around the globe to respond. But he warned that there could be long-term repercussions.
U.S. DEATHS: The U.S. military reported the deaths of two U.S. soldiers. One was killed by a roadside bomb, and the other died of non-combat causes, both on Tuesday. So far this month, 49 American service members have been killed or died.
JOURNALIST KILLED: Violence continued against Iraq’s journalists Wednesday, when gunmen sprayed Raad Jaafar Hamadi with bullets as he drove his car in Baghdad’s Washash neighborhood, police said. Hamadi worked for the state-run al-Sabah newspaper. At least 92 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began. Thirty-six other media employees, including drivers and guards, have been killed–all of them Iraqi except for one Lebanese.
