2 Answers 2. The Moon has an orbital eccentricity of 0.0549, so its path around the Earth is not perfectly circular and the distance between the Earth and the Moon will vary from the Earth's frame of reference (Perigee at 363,295 km and apogee at 405,503 km), see for example second animation explaining Lunar librations in this answer.
The attack was part of the Al-Anfal Campaign in northern Iraq, as well as part of the Iraqi attempt to repel the Iranian Operation Zafar 7. It took place 48 hours after the fall of the town to Iranian army. The attack killed between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injured 7,000 to 10,000 more, most of them civilians.
The U.S. troop increase, he added, would be to give the Iraqis the capabilities that âwould best enable the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga to be successful in operations in Mosul.â. Even if 5,000 U.S. troops end up inside Iraq, thatâs less than 3% of 170,000 U.S. peak in 2007. After an eight-year occupation that killed 4,491 American troops and cost an estimated $2 trillion, Obama has no desire to re-enter that quagmire.