Attacks on U.S. troops grow in lethality.

“The intensity of combat and the greater lethality of attacks on U.S. troops is underscored by the lower ratio of wounded to killed for May, which fell to about 4.8 to 1 — compared with an average of 8 to 1 in the Iraq conflict, according Pentagon data. ‘The closer you get to a stand-up fight, the closer you’re going to get to that 3-to-1 ratio’ that typified 2oth-century U.S. warfare, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense information Web site.”