US death toll in Iraq - higher than you think

"The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour.

--George Orwell, ‘1984’

That is not to say that the lives lost in warfare are not welcomed by those who control the purse.

After all, dead men can't complain.

The US military confirmed today [October 18] that nine troops had been killed in fighting and bombings in Iraq yesterday, raising this month's death toll for American forces to 67.

If the rate of US fatalities continues at the same level throughout this month, it will make October the deadliest for coalition forces since January 2005, when 107 US troops died.

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As of Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006, at least 2,766 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,198 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

Qualifiers like "at least" are there for a reason.

They enable the government to mislead the American people without actually 'lying' to them. There are other tricks of the trade that help our elected liars mask the high American death toll.

After all, it is a NUMBER and like all numbers, it can be 'tweaked' by simply modifying the 'accounting policies' used.

So, what's the REAL number of US soldiers who died in Iraq?

“The actual death toll is in excess of 10,000. [Given] the officially acknowledged number of over 15,000 seriously wounded (and a published total of 25,000 wounded overall,), this elevated death toll is far more realistic than the current 2,700+ now being officially published.”

Don't believe it? This kind of discrepancy is NOT unprecedented.

The U.S. Veteran Dispatch had uncovered Pentagon records revealing that the United States suffered nearly 20,000 more fatalities during the Vietnam war era than the 58,182 servicemen whose names are engraved on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

How do they manage to hide these figures?

According to a U.S. Army file called TAGCEN which contains over 293,000 Army casualty records, there are 19,644 U.S. Army servicemen who were killed or died between January 1, 1965 and December 31, 1975 that are not counted as Vietnam war dead because their death certificates were written in other countries, including the United States.

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DOD Instruction 7730.22, ("Reports of U.S. Casualties in Combat Areas," January 20, 1967, and March 20, 1973) provided that the Vietnam casualties to be reported were all those occurring within the designated combat areas and those deaths occurring anywhere as the result or aftermath of an initial casualty occurring in a combat area. The current related document, Military Personnel Casualty Matters, Policies, and Procedures" DoD Instruction 1300.18, December 18, 2000, is simply silent on this critical matter.

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[Moreover,] the official DoD count, which appears to undercount US casualties [accounts] for them only once the next-of-kin have been notified and the names publicly released. Casualties whose next-of-kin are not notified or cannot be contacted/located do not therefore appear to be counted in the official tally.

Additionally, an April 27, 2004, story titled "The Lasting Wounds Of War: Roadside Bombs Have Devastated Troops and Doctors Who Treat Them" by Karl Vick and published in the Washington Post, page 1, mentioned instances where US casualties, having suffered extensive brain-damage and with no prospect of regaining consciousness, are sent home for families to decide whether or not to terminate life support . . . It is not immediately apparent the extent to which these casualties are accounted for in the official DoD casualties count.

In a world that is all about numbers, acounting policies are like scripture.

But, since accountants are neither gods nor saints, when their policies are secret, you can be sure they're up to no good.

I'll leave you with a link to a video of US soldiers being killed in action, presumably compiled by those who kill them.

Warning - it's graphic and may be very painful for those who have loved ones serving.

It's provided as evidence that things are very ugly in Iraq - not just for Iraqis.

These are dark days for humanity.



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Thanks, Furry for the information and bruce1337 for the video clip