U.S. Troops Dying at Rate of Over 1 a Day

Star-Telegram ^ | Tue, Feb. 03, 2004 | ROBERT BURNS

[FreedomCalls]

343

Real numbers in Iraq.
Michael Novak

The news media, which constantly accuse the Bush administration of exaggerating the threat in Iraq, are constantly exaggerating the number of U.S. combat deaths there. I first pointed this out last August. For a while, the exaggeration stopped, but early in January it recommenced. The round number "500" was apparently irresistible.

Yet as of January 15, exactly ten months after the war began on March 16, 2003, the official number of U.S. combat deaths listed by the Defense Department was 343. Another 155 had died from non-hostile causes, including 100 in accidents and others from illness. Since non-hostile causes are responsible for army deaths in peacetime as well as wartime, in bases at home as well as in war zones, many of the non-hostile deaths ought not to be counted as specific to Iraq, although, of course, a portion of them are.

These 343 (not 500) combat deaths, furthermore, need to be set in context. During 2003, the number of homicides in Chicago was 599, in New York City 596, in Los Angeles 505, in Detroit 361, in Philadelphia 347, in Baltimore 271, in Houston 276, and in Washington 247. That makes 3,002 murders in only eight cities.

The least the media could do is print the number of combat deaths in Iraq in two columns. The first would show the number of days since the war began (as of January 15, 305). The second column might show the number of combat deaths as of the same date (343).

Since January 15, the death toll has climbed in one of its upward spurts, as roadside bombings by more sophisticated agencies become more deadly. The countdown toward the turnover of the levers of government to Iraqi leaders is now less than 150 days away. We can expect the bitter despair of the Sunni diehards and the foreign jihadists to grow. They will try to stop history in its tracks. They will become ever more violent. They have been drawn like moths to bang against the brightness of our troops in the dark. Now, more than ever, we need a steady hand at the American helm. Now is not the time for recriminations and retreat.

The war in Iraq has been one of the noblest and brightest pages in American history. At enormous risk to ourselves, and at great cost, our troops have liberated an entire people from one of the most sadistic despots in history. In the near future, they will leave behind a far better infrastructure (better schools, hospitals and clinics, power grids, telephone systems, oil technology, television, etc.) than has heretofore existed in Iraq, a greater array of free media, and the first beginnings of a new form of republican government not before experienced on the ancient soil hallowed by Hammurabi. The fear Saddam struck in the hearts of his neighbors, and the instability he promoted in the region, will be no more.

Those who died in that cause have given an unforgettable gift to the Iraqi people, which will be remembered with gratitude for generations to come. Their extraordinary achievements have burnished the glory of our nation, and their fame will long outlive the early opposition of those compromised by their past dealings with Saddam. The rich rewards raked in from Saddam's network of international bribery are only now being revealed. The predictions of those who marched against the war — about massive streams of refugees, hunger, the unleashing of weapons of mass destruction, immense domestic destruction, huge uprisings in "the Arab street," etc. — have been proved false.

The international terrorist groups led by al Qaeda have now been deprived of their bases in Afghanistan, their potential source of chemical and biological agents in Iraq, their support from Libya, their unrestricted access to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the reliability of their hitherto totally safe assistance from Iran and Syria. All this our honored dead have won for us. Their families deserve to glory in it for generations.

"Greater love no man hath," the Good Book tells us, "than that he lay down his life for his friends." This, too, they have done for their fellow citizens. They have saved the cause of liberty from the shame of appeasing terror. They have protected their homeland and countrymen.

One day it will be a great boast for their children: "My father fought in Iraqi Freedom. He altered the course of history." And so they will be remembered by grandchildren, so long as memory lives.

[ShadowDancer]

Sad news to be sure, but what is the alternative for iraq?

I don't know, how about this? They figure it out for themselves. Anyone who believes, really believes, we are going to change the mindset of that culture is deluded. Are there some who want the change? Of course. Are there far more who are so foreign to our political and social ways that will truly inhibit real change there? Of course again. We are not going to change an entire mindset rooted in centuries of belief just because, Gosh, we want to. It's not terrible or unpatriotic to say it. It's just the damned truth.

[FreedomCalls]

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

~William Shakespeare, Henry V

[luvbach1]

Since George Bush couldn't find the real bully (Osama Bin-Ladin), he had to pick on the crippled kid down the street.

Saddam was a real bully too. And Osama has not been forgotten. Even money says he will be in custody this year.

[BluH2o]

Bleeding heart liberal media types dwell on U.S. casualty figures in Iraq with morbid zeal. They are desperate to put President Bush in the worst possible light. To make a comparison, over one thousand Marines & Navy personnel were killed in three days during the assault of Tarawa in WWII ... most of them in the first 12 hours. Nearly 7000 were KIA on Iwo Jima in March/April 1945 in the three weeks it took to secure the island. A democ"RAT" by the name of Roosevelt was President at the time ... was he blamed for every casualty by the media? Of course not ...

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

US ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY DEATHS - 1980 through 2002 - PDF file

The totals range from 774 to 2465 per year.

[luvbach1]

...Roosevelt was President at the time ... was he blamed for every casualty by the media? Of course not ...

And the opposition party putting country before party was not the Demonrats.

[SandRat]

Sicily cost 145+ a day between July 10 and August 18 1943. Haven't read any news stories of the press crying about that fight.

[Tymesup]

NYC and Chicago were neck and neck for 2003. There was some question about a small number of homicides in NYC which, if counted, would put it over 600 and past Chicago.

Note NYC has been in the 600 range since Giuliani was in office. It was around 2400 when Dinkins was mayor.

Springsteen wrote "41 Shots" about the tragic death of Amadou Diallo. No one wrote anything about the 1800 extra deaths each year under Dinkins.

[Ditter]

welcome to FreeRepublic

[Red6]

Remember the media needs to make money and scandals or shocking stuff sells.

It's election year so the issues will be politicized and before long, Bush himself will be at fault that there is a lack of quality tiolet paper in Baghdad. Things tend to get distorted, overexagerated and taken out of context for political gain.

It's not that bad in Iraq. Soldiers have internet, sat TV, phone banks PXs on every Forward Operating Base and much more. The quality of life just isn't really that bad.

The danger is real, but it's not that the Iraqis hate Americans. MOST violence is Iraqi on Iraqi and existed before the Coalition rolled in. Only now the West cares and the media can travel freely.

The only thing that the opponent has against us is the media which generally works in their favor. An American public with unrealistic expectations. It's all about the information war now.

The US military is the best equiped, trained, most experienced and the 6th (Army)largest in the world. Remember this: The US smashed a force of almost equal size in 3 weeks with 200 or so casualties. Our industrial base is in the US, we commanded the war from Florida and fought this war against an enemy that knew our axis of advance. We kind of were limited after the French and Germans threated the Turks with possible EU membership if they let us in. So a northern option was closed. We rolled up a city with 5.6 million in population with few casualties. Point is- While not glorified in the media, our military performed in a way that is unprecidented. Never before has something like this been done at any time any where. No one else in the world can even dream of doing this.

Red6

[Ranger]

This thread and the blathering idiots on it disgust me. Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are not traffic fatalities to be trivialized or marginalized by politicians or their lackies.

[johnb838]

The freakin liberals don't seem to think that Iraqi lives count for very muich, in spite of all their so-called humanitarian feeeee-lings

[Reeses]

If one soldier out of 140,000 dies every day, they'll all be dead in 372 years.

I'd just like to live till 200. The last 172 years aren't the greatest.

[armymarinemom]

It is sad and tragic that we are loose one troops a day. It is sinful that they press touts their deaths on a daily basis for their own vile spew.

[saquin]

NYC and Chicago were neck and neck for 2003. There was some question about a small number of homicides in NYC which, if counted, would put it over 600 and past Chicago.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but I just wanted to point out that NYC has about 3 times the population of Chicago so while the actual homicide numbers may have been close, Chicago's murder rate was much higher. NYC is actually an amazingly safe city. Safer than any other large city in the U.S. and safer than many other smaller cities, too.

[Cobra64]

And 14,000 French 'persons' died last August from heat exhaustion. I'm not discounting our heroes, but the media is J. Effin-up Kerry. In WWII, we lost 5,000 guys on the shores of France on D-Day. And those bastard French piss on American graves. /rant

[CamelRiding4U]

Every loss, accidental or combat-related, is a tragedy, but we know the dangers of military service when we volunteer.

It is the height of disrespect for those with an agenda to use the dead to make a political point, but it doesn't surprise me.

Things are very different than the media makes them out to be. Until we get back to unbiased reporting, the masses will never know. I fear the tide will never turn.

[Krodg]

This thread and the blathering idiots on it disgust me. Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are not traffic fatalities to be trivialized or marginalized by politicians or their lackies.

No one here has trivialized the deaths of those brave soliders. They were merely pointing out the number of soliders who died for a just cause was much lower than those who died totaly senseless deaths. The soliders that died in Iraq had just as good of chance of dying here in the US.

As for calling people blathering idiots.....I'm not sure you want to go there.