Pentagon Cuts Back on Casualty Info

[PSU84]

A daily look at U.S. military deaths in Iraq

ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 5 — The Pentagon no longer lists non-hostile injuries and now updates hostile injury numbers only once a week on Friday. As of last Friday, 2,988 U.S. service members had been injured in hostile action. As of Monday, April 5, 607 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, cacording to the Department of Defense. Of those, 417 died as a result of hostile action and 190 died of non-hostile causes. The British military has reported 58 deaths; Italy, 17; Spain, eight; Bulgaria, five; Ukraine, three; Thailand, two; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia and Poland have reported one each. Since May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 469 U.S. soldiers have died — 308 as a result of hostile action and 161 of non-hostile causes, according to the military.

The latest deaths reported by the military:
— A Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Division died Monday from hostile action in Iraq's Anbar province.
— A 1st Armored Division soldier died Monday of wounds received Sunday while fighting Shiite militiamen in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, Iraq.
— U.S. Central Command said Monday that reports of a U.S. soldier's death in Najaf on Sunday were incorrect. A soldier was wounded in the attack. The Spanish defense ministry had reported the death.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/096/nation/A_daily_look_at_U_S_military_d:.shtml

[NMDemDist2]

1. Friday nite? Isn't that when the gov. releases things they don't want

people to notice?? The ratb*stards strike again :wtf:

[Ilsa]

2. Both Lunaville and CNN say it's 616. n/t

[Florida_Geek]

3. Link please

:)

[papau]

4. have the ones killed via non-hostile injuries come back to life? - stats

need to be revised re purple heart awards and flags given moms of those that died due to non-hostile injuries.

Sure would like to see the purple heart rules - non-hostile injuries never got an award - and now I wonder if Humvee bombed gets one since hostilities have ended.

[Columbia]

9. They do

"I wonder if Humvee bombed gets one since hostilities have ended."

I know people that this exact scenario happened to and they received a purple heart.

[papau]

11. A final insult avoided - good to hear

:-)

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Any information can be disinformation in time of "war"

These guys can justify any and all lies to the public in the interest of "national security". Body counts could be said to lower troop morale, and they could simply stop reporting them. They have already stopped allowing the coffins to be shown, and news coverage is highly restricted, this is just the next logical step for them.

[bobthedrummer]

6. They are manipulating the figures, especially on the wounded GI's.

Many wounded not reported at all, sent back to units "fit for duty" if the anecdotal reports from GI's and military families are correct.
A really tragic figure, glossed over, are reported 23-25 suicides.

All these dead and wounded are solely the responsibility of George W. Bush aka The War President, as well as the thousands of uncounted Iraqis, be they men, women or children.:grr:

[PSU84]

7. The deaths by "non-hostile causes"

(190 as of 4/5/04, according to the DoD) include deaths by accident and suicide. I heard a breakdown by cause of death on a news broadcast over the weekend....

Of course, any day now our troops will be greeted as liberators. And peace and democracy will spontaneously appear across the land. And the WMD will be found stashed under a bed in one of Saddam's palaces. And the oil wells will flow, filling the coffers of Halliburton.

If there is a more evil, deceitful human being than Paul Wolfowitz anywhere on this planet, I do not want to meet him.

[saigon68]

20. Don't want to upset the Sheep

Baa, Baaa, Baaa,

[Cooley Hurd]

8. Walter Rodgers on CNN said tonight that today the fighting...

...was more fierce than yesterday. If a news blackout is now in effect, I wonder how many soldiers died today. :(

[leftofthedial]

10. <3,000 wounded

out of 14,000 medical evacuees?

Is that reasonable?

[swag]

12. kick n/t

[NMDemDist2]

16. check out democracy now link for more info on the numbers

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/02/1516232

can't get a straight answer out of the pentagon it seems.

[neverforget]

13. So when do the military families say enough is enough? Not only

are they fighting and dying for lies, but now they're sacrifice is being shoved out of the way because it's inconvenient to Bush.
:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr::grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Hand]

14. 'Nam flashback...

There came a time when the US command stopped enumerating battle casualties and instead just characterized them as "light", "moderate", or "heavy". There were ways of fudging these categories to hide the truth, e.g., if six grunts in a 20-man platoon died, but the platoon sergeant and commanding lieutenant were still standing, these were "light" casualties, since (in theory) the unit could still carry out its mission.

Then once a week they'd announce the death toll for the week past... and hey, 300 dead out of 450,000 troops is "light"...

We're headed down the tunnel--and there's NO FUCKEN LIGHT AND NO FUCKEN END!!!!

[IndianaGreen]

15. This won't stop the Pentagon from bragging about "body counts"

Why does it feel like I am reliving a bad life experience, over and over again?

[DeepModem Mom]

17. kick

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. So is General Westmoreland going to preside

over the Five O'Clock Follies?

[dbt]

19. Kick!

Gotta get this little jewel back onto the Front Page next to the latest KIA reports.

:grr:
dbt

[PeanutOne]

21. The disrespect the Bush Regime shows our dead is disgusting!

They play up the four dead "contractors" because they can use it to manipulate public opinion, yet they do their best to hide the deaths of over 600 sons and daughters who died for our country. God I hate those pigs in the WH.

The US media is guilty, too. How about a little acknowledgment of the sacrifices made by American families for the glorious homeland? How about showing every one of their pictures on our tv screens every day until we get the message.

Better yet, how about an hour long, commercial free prime time special of simply reading the names and home towns of each American soldier killed in Iraq? That would be a somber hour...