Distorted picture
There have been a number of reports suggesting that certain Western
media sources are misleading the public as to the extent of the
coalition casualties in Iraq. The creative accounting methods employed
by major US news networks range from underreporting non-combat deaths
among the US troops to simply neglecting even the
officially-acknowledged casualties.
This failure to report non-combat deaths coupled with the US
militarys practice of passing certain combat casualties as non-combat
lead to a seriously distorted picture of the war in Iraq being
presented to the US public. On July 10, for example, Pentagon detailed
US fatalities sustained in Iraq between May 1 and July 9: 29 soldiers
killed by hostile fire and 44 troops killed by non-hostile fire or in
accidents. (Pentagon: 1,000 troops wounded in Iraq war, CNN, July 10,
2003)
Polls show that the majority of Americans believe that the
coalition fatalities in Iraq are no higher than fifty. In reality,
however, even the official US and British military reports show that
the number of fatalities is nearly six times higher: as of July 30 the
US and British officials announced 295 fatalities among its troops
operating in Iraq.
Counter reset
Many media reports reflect only the US fatalities sustained since
President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1. With
time this side note disappeared from many reports published by AP,
Reuters, UPI and other agencies and the pre-May 1st casualties became
forgotten.
A characteristic illustration of how US casualties in Iraq are
being misrepresented by the mainstream news agencies is the August 3
piece by the Associated Press entitled U.S Goes Two Days With No
Combat Deaths by Steven R. Hurst. The article opens with the
statement: For a second straight day, the U.S. military reported no
fatal attacks Sunday on American soldiers in Iraq. The two days in
question are August 2nd and August 3rd.
This assertion by the AP was made at the stroke of midnight in
Baghdad and it is clearly premature and misleading as almost always US
fatalities in Iraq are not being reported until 1-3 days later.
Nevertheless, this AP piece was immediately reprinted by at least 200
major online news sources, including Yahoo, ABC, the Guardian and the
News Journal. That will make at least one positive headline from
Iraq...
The missing pieces
Another underreported aspect of the Iraqi war is the number of
non-fatal casualties sustained by the coalition forces. Official
reports detailing the numbers of US wounded, sick or injured in Iraq
are few and far between. On July 10th the Department of Defense
announced that since March 20th 791 US troops were injured in combat
and 253 soldiers were injured in various accidents unrelated to combat.
Thus, between March 20 and July 30 the US sustained approximately 2
dead and more than 9 wounded per day.
The first reported US fatality was Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin of the
Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron - 1, 3rd Marine Aircraft
Wing from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. The last fatality
reported on July 30 was 1st Lieutenant Leif E. Nott of the A Troop, 1st
Battalion, 10th Cavalry from Fort Hood, Texas. Between these two
reports 247 killed US soldiers.
These are the official reports but how accurate are they? The
official reports detail US casualties in Iraq, but what about the
thousands US troops deployed in support of this operation in Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other places outside Iraq? There is no
official information about casualties among these troops.
Statistics
The ratio of the killed to the number of wounded can reveal
significant information about the nature of combat. Another important
factor is the ratio of combat killed to non-combat. A high percentage
of non-combat fatalities points to difficulties the troops are
experiencing with adapting to unusual combat environment in addition to
indicating morale and discipline problems.
A substantially high number of wounded compared to the number of
killed is a characteristic result of hit-and-run attacks and similar
brief combat engagements.
Based on the official figures, on the average the US forces sustain
about 9 wounded for every two fatalities. The resulting
wounded-to-killed ratio of 4.5 is the highest of any sustained combat
operation conducted by the US military during the past hundred years.
The wounded-to-killed ratios for previous armed conflicts involving the
US troops are as follows:
Conflict: Wounded-to-Killed Ratio
WWI: 1.75
WWII: 1.65
Korean War: 2.45
Vietnam War: 2.64
Persian Gulf War: 1.59
Afghanistan War: 3.21
Iraq War: 4.5
The high wounded-to-killed ratio is an indicator of intense guerilla warfare.
In terms of absolute numbers, the US forces in Iraq on the average
sustain about 60 killed per month. This is nearly nine times lower than
the average number of monthly fatalities during the Vietnam War:
Conflict: Avg. Killed per Month
WWI: 2816
WWII: 6639
Korean War: 909
Vietnam War: 526
Persian Gulf War: 148
Afghanistan War: 1.6
Iraq War: 60
Of course, the key factor is the duration of the conflict. At 148
killed per month the Persian Gulf War was substantially more intense
than the current operation in Iraq. However, the Persian Gulf War
lasted only about a month and 148 killed represent all US fatalities in
this conflict. The war in Iraq has been continuing for 4.5 months and
the intensity of fighting remains high and indeed has been steadily
increasing over the past several weeks. If the rate of US losses in
Iraq remains at the same average levels as during the past four months,
then by the end of the current year the total US losses would reach 550
killed and 2,600 wounded. It has been announced that the US troops will
remain in Iraq for at least four years.
richardstevenhack 04.08.2003 [15:49]