[Marinir] The Real Cost of the Iraq War: 50,000 U.S. Casualties

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http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/46161/

WAR ON IRAQ.
The Real Cost of the Iraq War: 50,000 U.S. Casualties
By Michael Munk, AlterNet.
Posted January 4, 2007.

"Death is not the only measure of loss in Iraq. What about all of the lost
limbs, bloodshed and other casualties that aren't being reported?"


To bring the human cost to Americans of the invasion and occupation of Iraq
home, antiwar groups across the country are marking mark the 3,000th death
of a member of its military components (at this writing the total is 3,004).

But by focusing only on the number of dead Americans we are being
manipulated along with the media and public by the administration's
determination to minimize the cost in blood of establishing permanent
military bases in the heart of the Middle East oil patch.

That public relations strategy consists of prohibiting images of the dead
and wounded returning home and those of U.S. casualties in Iraq in the U.S.
media as well as aggressive efforts to prevent such coverage by foreign
media --including deadly attacks on Al-Jazeera reporters and offices. It
also plants stories and interviews, leaks to FOX and other Pentagon-friendly
reporters and provides generous payola to foreign (especially Iraqi) news
sources.

Still, the most consistent propaganda effort since the invasion aims to keep
public attention away from the actual amount of blood being shed by American
military victims of the war and their families. That cost now exceeds 50,000
casualties -- a far cry from the 3,000 to which most of the public is
restricted to know.

"Casualties" in the military sense is the total number made unavailable for
duty from all causes, including deaths and wounds suffered in combat as well
as injuries, accidents and illness in a war "theater" such as "Operation
Iraqi Freedom" (the official Pentagon name for the invasion and occupation).
So whether caused by "hostile" (24,965 as of Dec.27) or "non-hostile"
(25,406 as of Dec. 2) causes, the Pentagon's own web sites record a toll of
more than 50,000 so far in "OIF."

However, for most Americans who depend on mass media for information,
the approaching number of only 3,000 is the only measure of the loss of life
and limb the media allow them to know. For the rest of us, here are the
facts: The Pentagon reports deaths on a daily basis at although its own 
total
always lags behind the wire services number because it insists survivors
must be informed before a dead solider, marine, sailor or airman can be
added to the casualty lists. But the Pentagon only reports the wounded on
the weekly basis (usually on Tuesdays) at the same site and it reports the
non fatal casualties from non hostile causes only monthly and on another
website.

>From those sources, we can count U.S. military occupation forces casualties
as more than 50,371 as of Dec. 27. The total (as above) includes 2,400
killed and 22,565 wounded (which includes both severely and less severely
wounded) by what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes. By that date,
another 583 military personnel had died from "non hostile" causes such as
accidents, suicides (there were 99 "self inflicted fatalities") and illness
and, as of Dec. 2, another 24,823 had been injured or become ill seriously
enough to require medical evacuation. According the excellent siteIraq
Coalition Casualty Count, another 147 U.S. "contractors" have also been
killed since they invaded Iraq.

I urge opponents of the war to make the public aware that the actual human
cost of the invasion and occupation of Iraq exceeds 50,000 troops and their
families who have suffered death and often life-long disability -- of whom
the 3,000 are just one tragic part.


Tagged as: iraq, iraq war, casualties, death toll

Michael Munk is a retired political scientist in Portland, Ore., where his
"Portland Red Guide" is to be published by Ooligan Press on May Day.