Jesus Tap-Dancin' Christ

Given that some have "drowned", and one fell off a roof while standing guard, suicide seems pretty likely.

Bill

Fell? Or was pushed? Thats the sort of ambiguity I was talking about, above. If the soldier wasn't depressed, then "fell" seems awfully suspicious.

By the way, if you are looking for the official announcement of each casualty (with a brief description of the circumstances), they are available from the DOD web site HERE (just look for any press release with the word "casualty" or "casualties" in the title of the release). The guy who "fell" off the roof is HERE: So, he was on guard duty, 60 feet in the air, and he fell. Why did he fall? Of course, the release doesn't say.

== Bill

Bill

One more point on the overall issue of underplaying the casualties: in past wars, the word "casualties" always included the number of "wounded" along with the number of "killed." There are occasional mentions of people being "wounded" in the press, provided that somebody is "killed" too, but I don't see anything like a running total (like there is for the number of "killed").

Anybody know where this information is being tracked? I can't find it on the DOD site..... I recalled a web page at CNN that had it during the early part of the war, but I can't find it now.

So, where is that information, anyway?

== Bill

Thor Q. Mada

Hi Bill,

I see a lot of figures about US military death, and even some unreliable figures about civilian casualties, but how about Iraqi military casualties,(of which many were conscripts)? Any figures there, or are these people subhuman.
And all in the name of the loving Jesus.

enrious

1) It's unlikely there's a reliable number out there.

2) In warfare, you generally aren't that interested in determining the enemies losses except in terms of how it makes your victory easier.

Making it a racist issue is a bullshit way of dealing with it.

I have seen various estimates but can't find any with the quick search I did.

Bill

That is only true for the classified military estimates. For the public press releases, the rationale is the propaganda value of convincing everybody that "our side" is winning, which is why just about everybody presumes that all claims about enemy losses are inflated (which they generally are). So, my understanding is that the US military has stopped issuing estimates of this sort because they know that nobody would believe that they were in any sense "accurate," so why bother?

== Bill