Iraq casualties: Bush doesn't want us to know

[DuctapeFatwa]

The magic number is 1,737. That's the number they don't want you to see. It's the number that The Wall Street Journal published on Oct. 29.

It's different from the number 144. That's the number of American soldiers who have been killed in combat since May 1, the day the war was "won." The larger figure is the number of American military personnel injured between the end of "major combat" on May 1 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 27.

"Injury" has a nice ring to it. When you fall and break a bone while skiing you have been injured. When you bump into a door in the middle of the night and get a mild concussion, you have suffered an injury. When a soldier is hit by a land mine and loses a leg, he has been injured. When shrapnel enters a soldier's eyes and she is permanently blinded, she has been injured. The word describes all those things — it does not do justice to what happened to the 1,737.

The Oct. 29 Wall Street Journal article by Yaroslav Trofimov does. It is a brilliant and horrifying description of what that word means when applied to life for service personnel in Iraq. Sometimes injury is referred to as casualty. That is a better word, but even it fails to convey the horror of the injuries that are being inflicted daily on those who will some day return to the United States and try to get on with their lives.

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/opinion_columnists/article/0,1713,BDC_2490_2411654,00.html

[Don_G]

1. Wounded Is Under Reported

I would guesstimate the wounded at 7000+ and rising. Dimbo can't afford to have the actual number lest it "hurts" his bid for 2004.

[BrotherBuzz]

2. Yep, Those are the numbers that CBS is using.

They're used to big numbers here. Since the combat in Iraq began, including combat casualties, serious non-combat injuries and disease, this hospital has had to treat more than 7,700 U.S. personnel.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/04/eveningnews/main581912.shtml