Jan 8, 2006 - The helicopter, which was carrying a crew of four and eight passengers, was flying along with another aircraft between bases in the north of the country, according to news releases from the U.S. military. Rescuers searched for about 12 hours, finding the crash site about noon (4 a.m. ET), some 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) east of Tal Afar. A military release described the area as sparsely populated. -CNN News
Read US Helicopter crash kills 12 in Iraq, 5 Marines also slain over the weekend
The real cost to America of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion, up to 10 times more than previously thought, according to a report written by a Nobel prize-winning economist and a Harvard budget expert.

The study, which expands on traditional estimates by including such costs as lifetime disability and healthcare for troops injured in the conflict as well as the impact on the American economy, concludes that the U.S. Government is continuing to grossly underestimate the cost of the war. By Jamie Wilson
Read Iraq war to cost US more than 2 trillion, report says

Jan  7, 2006 - Most torso wounds that killed Marines in Iraq might have been prevented or minimized by improved body armor, a Pentagon study found.
The unreleased study last summer by the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner looked at 93 fatal wounds from the start of the war in March 2003 through June 2005. It concluded that 74 were bullet or shrapnel wounds to shoulders or areas of the torso not protected by ceramic armor plating.

The findings underscore the difficulty facing the Army and Marine Corps in providing the optimum level of body armor protection in a war against an insurgency whose tactics are constantly changing. - AP
Read Study: Better armor could have saved more Marines

A Marine and soldier died in the attack by a suicide bomber who infiltrated a line of police recruits in Ramadi on Thursday, killing at least 58 and wounding dozens. Two soldiers were also killed in the Baghdad area when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, the military said Friday.

In addition, two Marines were killed by separate small arms attacks while conducting combat operations in Fallujah, the military said. The military had previously announced the deaths of five soldiers hit by a roadside bomb south of Karbala. The attack came minutes before a second suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims in that city, killing 63.

It was the fourth-deadliest day in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, with at least 136 total deaths, including the U.S. troops. By Jason Straziuso, Army Times