R.I.P. Jessica Housby

Jessica Housby has become one of the latest Americans to die in George W. Bush's war of choice. Housby, 23, of Rock Island, Illinois was killed Wednesday. She is one of 17 Americans to die this month.

Housby, 23, of Rock Island, died in Iraq after a roadside bomb detonated near the truck she was driving, military officials said Thursday.

Housby's truck was part of a convoy hauling cargo to a base at Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday when the bomb exploded and she was killed, said Maj. Tim Franklin, a public affairs officer for the Army National Guard. She was a member of the 1644th Transportation Company, based in Rock Falls, Ill.

For the record:

At least 1,457 Americans have died in Iraq since the war began in March, 2003.

At least 1,319 Americans have died since George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May, 1, 2003.

At least 10,740 Americans have been wounded in action since the start of the war.

The numbers of innocent Iraqis killed is much harder to know. Estimates range in the tens of thousand to over one hundred thousand killed.