Every Day One KIA --On the Iraq War Casualty Figures

[Say_What]

<clips>

As of mid-day, EST, October 25, 2003, 343 U.S. troops had officially died in Iraq since the war of aggression, based on lies, began March 20. 138 were killed during the conventional war (the term I use for want of a better one to distinguish it from the guerrilla war raging since), the war of which Bush spake: "Mission Accomplished" on May 1. In the interim, 205 more have died. These figures include soldiers who died due to accidents, sickness, and suicide, as well as combat deaths. Here's the pattern:

...There were relatively few losses from accidents or non-combat causes during the conventional war. But those have now come to total about half the total deaths. Of course, war-zone stress and fatigue can cause accidents, and even cause soldiers to kill themselves. (The suicide rate among U.S. troops in the present conflict is abnormally high.) Accidents happen anywhere, and increase with the mere passage of time. The conventional war was a six-week affair, whereas the occupation has gone on almost six months, so you'd expect a lot more "accidental" deaths during the latter period. If we look at the daily averages we see no change in their frequency.

...During the conventional war, there was one U.S. combat death every 9 hours. That figure plummeted to one per 149 hours in May, but then rose dramatically. Official military figures indicate the following pattern:

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp10292003.html