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During the Vietnam conflict the American people were treated to a daily body count of Viet Cong killed. Our military was under increasing pressure as it went on to show “progress”. It was thought by some that under this pressure by the administration the numbers were inflated by double counting and including innocent collateral damage in the count.
During this Iraq conflict the American people are treated to a daily body count of our troops killed. It seems to be averaging from two to three per day, although last month’s count was down somewhat. Our military is under increasing pressure to show “progress” for the Bush Regime’s fiasco. One might ask, in view of the blackout on coverage of the returning flag-draped coffins, if perhaps this time around we are being fed an undercount of the casualties.
I guess that is considered progress in a twisted way: we have gone from measuring it by the number of enemy dead to measuring it by our own troops killed in action. |
Twisted Statistics
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Posted By: AZ Moderate Posted on: Aug. 17, 2007 at 7:06 PM  6 Comments
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Aug. 17, 2007 at 07:59:08 PM
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| Even if we focus of the "official" body count, the waste of life has just surpassed 4,000. We are not counting . . .
I wrote a while back that not only is the "official" death toll misleading when compared to previous wars because of the amazing improvement in medical triage, but also that the impact on and personal risk to the soldiers in Iraq is magnified like in no other war. In Vietnam, our soldiers were there for one of two tours of duty at most. In Iraq, seven to eight extended tours of duty are not unheard of. Our military is literally serving in a shooting gallery, and eventually all of the cardboard ducks on the rotary belt get shot. |
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Aug. 17, 2007 at 10:40:20 PM
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| Ahhh yes, private contractors, the Praetorian Guard in training for emperor Bushlite Lyre Maximus the Most Arrogant when he makes his move. I feel an article coming on … |
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Aug. 18, 2007 at 01:52:01 AM
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Another factor in the Iraq to Vietnam comparison, from wiki,
So from the Americanization - Jan 1965 until 4 years later - Dec 1969 the USA lost over 35,000 men. But Us forces go from 16k in 64 to 553,000 in 1969 but in that same time frame US forces American forces rose from 16,000 during 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969. Much higher casualties, but many more soldiers, fighting against one army who was fighting the US, but in Iraq we are fighting against 3 main groups, who are also fighting amongst themselves. The USA was fighting a unified Viet Minh army intent on driving out the US Army and unifying Vietnam whereas the US Army was fighting a limited war, in the worst terrain, against an enemy they couldn't find, for a people who wanted the USA out, in urban and jungle areas that eliminated our great advantages of technology, and superior firepower. To this day 99.9% of Americans still have no idea what their govt was trying to do, bu many believed we needed to try to win, as if the 500,000 American soldiers were putting all on the line with the intent to lose. What caused our defeat was not having clear, concise objectives. Charlie did, he knew who, what, when, where, why and how he was fighting, and the USA never knew any of these issues. But in that same time frame US forces American forces rose from 16,000 during 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969. |
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Aug. 18, 2007 at 07:18:58 AM
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| A couple of other semi-related topics. We are running out of bullets. So much so that police departments are cutting back on live fire exercises in order to save ammunition. A 75 year old Texan was notified by the Pentagon that he qualified for a Purple Heart due to injuries he had suffered in the Korean War. The catch? They don't have any more Purple Hearts to hand out...the supply is exhausted. |
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Aug. 18, 2007 at 08:06:46 AM
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| Yes, when we are running out of Purple Hearts that is a very telling fact. I mean, can Bush do anything so as to not offend, create poverty, or destruction. Crap he's like the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse, well Cheney can be Drunken Hunter at War, and Bush is like Pestilence...
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1) Contractor deaths are not included. Estimates are 1000+.
2) If a soldier makes it back to the states, then dies, they aren't counted in the total.
Additionally, pro war advocates are fond of saying something like "while every death is tragic, they have only been xxxx deaths, not like Vietnam." What they fail to acknowledge is that if we applied Vietnam era medical care to today's wounded the number of dead from the Iraq war would 10,000 plus.
And then there is the story of Army Private Lavena Lyn Johnson. She died in Iraq. The Army said due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Trouble is:
1) She supposely shot herself with her M-16
2) In the left side of the head, when she was right handed.
3) She had a fat lip, busted teeth and broken nose at the time of death.
4) Upper body trauma was also apparent.
5) There was no evidence that Johnson fired a weapon
6) There was a blood trail outside her tent.
This administration has a record of lying about the number of troop deaths and how they died.
So, yes Mody, I think we are being fed a bunch of baloney about how many have died and how they died.
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