Perspective on the War's Casualty Rate

I want to be clear - I am in no way minimizing the value of a life or the sacrifice a person has made in the name of freedom, nor the impact the loss has on families.

All we hear, day after day, in this blood thirsty media environment is the death toll for the day. We don't hear about the good works our soldiers are doing in Iraq. The building of schools and rebuilding of mosques. Only the count. The number of times the Reaper's scythe has swung in the hands of cowards.

I recently had some journalists from State TV in Iraq visit my business. They have been fighting for freedom on the airwaves since the US invasion and may be instrumental in the high voter turnout near Mosul because of a program they created called Terrorist Confessions, Their work has landed them on the death list in Iraq. They havemoved from their homes and are now being guarded by US troops in their television station. Their families have either fled or are moved on an almost nightly basis to keep the insurgents at bay. I use the word insurgents purposefully. They say that 95% of the people trying to create havoc are from Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. They say in their experience, no Iraqi is a homacide bomber - there are some Iraqi's helping with information and the like - but none in their estimation are fighting against the US. The Iraqi's are victimizing their own people. So regardless of what you read on the AP or in the NY Times, be proud of our soldiers. They are doing incredible work.

Now the comparisions.

Since the begining of the conflict in Iraq there have been 1,843 deaths in 875 days of occupation. If you go back to the begining of the conflict, that is approximately 3 deaths a day. If you take into account the anecdotal evidence from two free Iraqi journalists that the insurgents are not Iraqis, you are looking at a free country with surrounding Theocracies in the Middle East that do not want Democracy to prevail.

In Vietnam, the US losses totaled: 47,378 KIA + 10,799 other = 58,177 (Official US DoD, 1964-73) during an inserection that lasted nine years or 3,285 days. That averages nearly 18 deaths per day. Total dead for that "war" reached 1.7 Million people on both sides.

In Korea, the US losses totaled: 33,629 KIA + 20,617 other = 54,246 (Official US DoD, 1950-53) during an inserection which lasted 3 years or approximately 1100 days. That average is 50 deaths a day. Just as a point of order, the UN (Korea was a UN "Police Action") lost only 2,186 men from 12 countries. The total killed on both aides was 2.95 Million.

In World War Two, the US mobilized 16 Million people. Of those, 295,000 were killed in both theatres between December 7th 1941 and September 16th 1945. This does not include the deaths which occured in Germany in what are very similar circumstances to what soldiers are experiencing now. The average deaths per day in WW2 were 202. Total killed on both sides is estimated at 55 million.

In World War One the US mobilized 4,355,000, of which 126,000 were killed in roughly a 18 month period or 540 days; 234,300 were wounded; 4,526 were missing or POW's. That is roughly 2.89% of the doughboys mobilized or an average of 233 dead a day.

My point, is, well, perspective. We live in a society who thinks that TODAY is the most important day in history, but it isn't. We have the best army in the world and the best equipment. This about this: the average reported murders per month in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City are 48.7, 51.9 and 49.3 deaths per month. The murder statistics in the US cities are for hostile deaths only — whereas the death toll in Iraq includes both hostile and accidental deaths. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report of May 24, 2004, the number of murders reported during calendar years 2002 and 2003 show a comparable death toll exists in several US cities. Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City reported 1,168, 1,246 and 1,184 murders during the subject 24-month period. It is statistically more dangerous to live in America's three largest cities than to be stationed on active duty in Iraq.

It's something to think about when you pick up the paper, turn on the TV or radio and hear the death count for the day. It's propaganda really. Anti-American propaganda spun by America's own media.