'PEACE' IN IRAQ AS DEADLY AS WARTIME (Media Alert)

Scripps (Drudge) ^

[Happy2BMe]

'Peace' in Iraq as deadly as wartime

By LISA HOFFMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
August 25, 2003

- For U.S. troops, the "peace" in Iraq is on the brink of becoming more deadly than the war.

On Monday, the number of GIs who have died in Iraq since May 1 - the day President Bush proclaimed that major combat was over - reached 138.

That equals the total number of war deaths that occurred during the fiercest fighting of the war, from the March 19 start of combat until Bush made his pronouncement, on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier off the coast of California, that hostilities were largely over.

The Pentagon announcement Monday of the death of a GI from a non-combat gunshot wound is the latest in what has become an almost daily dirge in the past two months. During that time, Iraqi and other U.S. enemies have targeted American troops in convoys and on guard duty with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper bullets and, increasingly, bombs and booby traps.

But a growing number of the 145,000 U.S. soldiers deployed to Iraq and environs also have perished in accidents, from illness and by their own hands. In all, 141 American troops have been killed in hostilities, while 135 have died from non-combat causes.

That comes to a death rate for U.S. troops of about one every other day in the 22 weeks since the war began. Compared to the death toll in other U.S. wars, that amounts to a fraction.

In Vietnam, for example, an average of 18 GIs died a day for more than seven years. During World War II, the rate was 221 combat deaths a day for four years. Even during the first Persian Gulf War, a 42-day blitz, America averaged about nine dead a day.

But the steady drip of casualties in Iraq - coupled with truck bombings in Baghdad, an escalating price tag and reports of building Iraqi resentment at the U.S. presence - is contributing to what polls show is a growing unease in America about the course of the mission, said Ohio State University professor John Mueller, an expert on the effect on casualties on public opinion.

"An increasing number of people are thinking about why we are there," Mueller said.

Using official Pentagon information, data gleaned from local media reports, and other sources, a Scripps Howard News Service computer analysis of the Iraq war dead has found, among other things, that:

- Overall, more U.S. troops - 48 - have been killed by sniper or other small-arms fire than by any other enemy weapon. Next most deadly -with 39 deaths - have been rocket-propelled grenades, cheap, shoulder-mounted devices that can be found by the thousands in Iraq.

Enemy-placed explosives, such as land mines and the homemade bombs that increasingly are infesting routes the troops travel, have killed 30.

- Convoys have proved particularly deadly. More than 25 American troops have died from ambushes or other attacks while they were traveling with U.S. military vehicles. In most of these cases, soldiers were killed when their vehicles hit jerry-rigged bombs left by the enemy, often detonated from afar.

- Troops were almost as likely to die from non-combat causes as from enemy action. Since the opening salvo of the war, 45 have been killed in vehicle wrecks, 23 in plane or helicopter crashes, and 29 in explosives or weapons accidents.

Though it might seem unlikely in a desert environment, at least six troops have drowned. They included those who died when their Humvees or other vehicles fell into canals or rivers, as well as others who drowned while taking an off-duty swim.

The oven-strength Iraqi heat has claimed at least three troops. Another seven died from breathing problems, including two from a mysterious pneumonia. Heart attacks felled four. The military is investigating at least seven deaths as possible suicides.

- Nearly one third of the fatalities were 21 years old or under. About 16 percent of the war dead were 35 or older. That included four soldiers who were 50 or above.

- States with the highest number of war dead are California, with 30; Texas, with 23; Illinois, 13; Pennsylvania and New York, 12 each; and Florida and Michigan, 11.

- Just two female troops have died. One was Army Pvt. Lori Piestewa, 23, who was killed in the ambush that led to the capture of Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch. The other was Army Sgt. Melissa Valles, 26, who was shot in the stomach in what the Pentagon calls a "non-combat" incident.

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[Happy2BMe]

Elections are less than 16 months away. Look for an increase in this type media coverage between now and then.

We lost more in one week (500) during the last year of Viet Nam than we have up to this point in the Iraqi War.

One Single Loss is too many, but freedom 'aint free.

Fight the Islamic terrorists over there or fight them here.

[dirtboy]

That equals the total number of war deaths that occurred during the fiercest fighting of the war, from the March 19 start of combat until Bush made his pronouncement, on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier off the coast of California, that hostilities were largely over.

He never said such a thing - and it's telling that this lie has crawled from Op-Ed columns into what passes for reporting.

[Happy2BMe]

"He never said such a thing . ."

Exactly.

The skewing started with this sentence:

"But a growing number of the 145,000 U.S. soldiers deployed to Iraq and environs also have perished in accidents, from illness and by their own hands. In all, 141 American troops have been killed in hostilities, while 135 have died from non-combat causes."

Immediately, the eye of the reader focuses in on "145,00 U.S. soldiers are perishing in Iraq."

This will be a long 16 months.

[.cnI redruM]

The media misses Saddam Hussein. They need a photogenic fascist to replace Saddam's ratings appeal. My guess is that they are pulling for Howard Dean to fill that slot in their line-ups.

[wayoverontheright]

But the steady drip of casualties in Iraq - coupled with truck bombings in Baghdad, an escalating price tag and reports of building Iraqi resentment at the U.S. presence -

More "Judy Tanuta" journalism ("It could happen").

If anything there is building, it is "please don't leave us now" sentiment. The bombings on the UN and their infrastructure have made it much more apparent who the enemy of the Iraqi people is, and it's not the US.

[SolidSupplySide]

We lost more in one week (500) during the last year of Viet Nam than we have up to this point in the Iraqi War.

I doubt that's true. US losses were closer to 500 total in the last year of Vietnam.

However, it is true that summer in Paris is more deadly than Iraq.

[Happy2BMe]

[Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Current File (CACCF)

Computerized records on casualties from the conflict in Southeast Asia have been transferred into the National Archives from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Record Group 330). The [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Current File (CACCF) includes final records for persons who died as a result of a hostile or non-hostile occurrence in the Southeast Asia Combat Area, including those who died while missing or captured. For information about the creation, maintenance, and provenance of the CACCF, see the companion Electronic Records Descriptive Handout.

The most recent version of data from the CACCF in NARA's custody is from December 1998. There are records for 58,193 personnel in this most recent version of the CACCF.

Reference Report # 9: Electronic records of Vietnam Conflict Casualties

[SolidSupplySide]

http://thewall-usa.com/stats/index.html

Approximately 620 servicemen died in Vietnam in 1972, the last year of the war.

[Happy2BMe]

Excellent resource.

672.

Way too many. One was too many.

This is a different kind of war though - a different enemy.

We can trace the 9/11 bombing directly to Islamic terrorist roots in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Baathists and Saddam not only were sympathetic to Al Qaeda, but actually funded many of their operations.

We need to be in Iraq.

[steve8714]

We can better afford to lose some Frenchmen than American soldiers.