"I had no idea so many had died!"

[Ilsa]

Was the report from my son's teacher today. We were discussing money for school, rising taxes and tuition, and I commented on the cost of the war and how we couldn't afford it. Then I mentioned US casualties were almost 400. She was shocked and i explained that there was no reason for her to have thought it was so high because the media always reports the lowest component of the death count, ie, "120 KIA since May 1" (or whatever).

I went to correct myself, that it was about 380, but no end was in sight, and the total for coalition forces was over 430. She was shocked.

The media ploy is working on regular folks who are too busy to watch the news and stay informed of the details.

[Cush]

1. It will be brought up during the campaign

and unfortunately, the numbers will likely be higher :-(

[evil_orange_cat]

2. that's just Americans

I don't know the number of Iraqi deaths, but I imagine its in the thousands... the American media doesn't talk about those deaths though.

[wuushew]

3. Since Iraq has been linked to the war on terra, include Afghan dead

n/t

[mandyky]

4. Wait until we find out how many wounded there have been -

I have heard 3 to 5 times as many deaths. And these wounds are major wounds - broken bones and missing limbs, etc.

[nostamj]

6. CBS Evening News last night reported..........

7700 wounded.

SEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED.

of course, it's higher now. and will be higher tomorrow.

[MissB]

12. No kidding?

Sheesh. I really thought it was half of that. Half. Sheesh.

Is there a good on-line source for numbers or is the Bush administration keeping that from happening?

[nostamj]

18. NO kidding.

there was an LBN thread on the story. you might be able to find it.

or, you might find it on the CBS site.

but, no question, they reported it last night. 7700.

[stopbush]

21. Notice how often our soldiers get "hurt" rather than "wounded?"

I've heard this little spin cycle floated out there. Right after the Chinook went down, I heard there were "30 soldiers hurt" in the crash.

Call me nutty, but to me, hurt is a much softer term than wounded. Hurt is a scraped knee, a stoved pinkie; it's a kid whose feelings got hurt because he was made fun of on the playgound; it's a MINOR injury that's easily fixed.

Hurt isn't dismemberment. Hurt isn't legs on fire. Hurt isn't brain damage. Hurt isn't having your guts stapled together until you finally get to an OR in the middle of nowhere to fight for your life and the lifetime of nightmares that will follow if you survive.

At least CBS called them "wounded."

God, I hate these bastards (the whore media, that is).

[BrotherBuzz]

9. I believe the wounder will be closer to a 20:1 ratio

Nothing official, but the numbers floating around are 6-8000 wounded at the present time. Is there any wonder why the damn asses don't release the true numbers?

[arcane1]

5. "cooking the books" on dead Americans

is reprehensible, IMHO

:grr:

[proud patriot]

7. Man that's a great sound bite arcane1

I'll be looking for that to be repeated on T.V.

[arcane1]

14. too bad we can't disseminate like the Repubes can

:evilfrown:

[tom_paine]

10. Oh, they've been cooking allright.

You see, even that 380+ figure is a lowball, because it doesn't include "accidental" deaths.

Now, and this is a real Soviet thing to do, but MANY of the "accidental" deaths (for which there are NEVER any numbers published, are actually combat deaths.

For instance (and I'd wished I saved the link because it's impossible to find now), there was a story about an "accidental death" by Jeep accident.

The story went like this:

Jeep with two soldiers comes under small arms fire in city streets. Jeep then crashes into brick wall, killing one soldier and wounding another.

Listed as "accidental" and therefore not part of the 380+ combat deaths.

What fresh Orwellian hell is this?!?

From this and other not-quite-so-obivious Bushevik lies, I infer that the actual combat death toll is closer to double the 380+ reported so far.

[arcane1]

13. and how many of those wounded have since died?

:shrug:

tell me and we'll both know. If you don't die right there on the spot in Iraq, then you simply don't count..

:argh:

[karlschneider]

17. I've asked that for months. Harley Sorensen wrote an article in the SF

paper something like "The wounded who never die" or something like that. Forget where I saw it...probably smirkingchimp.com
:grr:

Edit: found the link
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/sorensen/

I'll see if this has been put in Editorials

[electricmonk]

8. Military doctor on CBS News

yesterday I think was talking about the wounded and the reason they have so many. The new body armour is saving lots of soldiers that would have been killed in previous wars. Which makes me wonder how many of the KIA had the new armour and how many didn't since there is a shortage of it.

[Julien Sorel]

11. "I had not thought death had undone so many"

And Bush promised us April would be the cruelest month...

[prolesunited]

15. Here's an excellent site

for totals on casualties and the number of wounded and it is updated frequently

http://www.antiwar.com/ewens/casualties.html

They have U.S. troops at 376 deaths and 53 coalition deaths, with 2,176 wounded.

For the impact on Iraqis, go here
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

They say there have been 1,500 civilian deaths and at least 20,000 injuries.

[Ilsa]

22. Nothing jives.

I've heard exactly 380 after Monday, not 376. And I heard that over 6,000 had been taken out of Iraq back to Germany, but Abizaid said only about 1,800 wounded a month ago, so the 2,176 makes some sense, but I don't believe that either as I think it probably is higher and closer to 6,000.

Geez. We can transact billions in complicated financial transactions every day but we can't even keep count of our dead and wounded or our fucking votes.

[Lars39]

16. She was shocked AND I bet those totals were known to every adult in

that school by the end of the day. You did good, Ilsa.:thumbsup:

I hope it shocked every single one of them, too. Makes me wonder if we shouldn't all become walking total boards.

[Kanary]

20. Bingo!!

"Makes me wonder if we shouldn't all become walking total boards."

[loudnclear]

19. You can thank Clear Channel for this ignorance

They effectively block out any real news with shows like Rush, Hannity, and other RWingnuts all over the country. In some areas Rush is on five stations at one time.