Misleading Reports of Troop Deaths
Dear editor:
Well, the Bush administration and its minions in the Departments of Defense and State are once again getting out “the word” of how there is so much improvement in Iraq. Republican congressmen and senators are taking their obligatory visits to the war zone and declaring how the morale of our troops is upbeat and the Iraqi government, while not accomplishing a lot, is moving forward.
All of this is expected politics and really doesn’t affect much. But, the troubling and misleading statements about our troop deaths are where the real damage is done. Everyone, including the media, is talking about how the number of American deaths in Iraq is down from the high water mark of early summer. They note that the past two months has seen a drop to less than 100 fatalities as being a real accomplishment. The truth, though, is not a drop, but really an increase.
Eighty-one (81) Americans died in Iraq during the month of August 2007. This was an increase of 25% over the previous year’s August. It was the second deadliest August in the five year war. This brought the current total for the year 2007 to 738 troop fatalities, which was an increase of 60% over 2006. In fact, the first eight months of this year was the worst for losses since the war began. That’s improvement?
Well, the Bush administration and its minions in the Departments of Defense and State are once again getting out “the word” of how there is so much improvement in Iraq. Republican congressmen and senators are taking their obligatory visits to the war zone and declaring how the morale of our troops is upbeat and the Iraqi government, while not accomplishing a lot, is moving forward.
All of this is expected politics and really doesn’t affect much. But, the troubling and misleading statements about our troop deaths are where the real damage is done. Everyone, including the media, is talking about how the number of American deaths in Iraq is down from the high water mark of early summer. They note that the past two months has seen a drop to less than 100 fatalities as being a real accomplishment. The truth, though, is not a drop, but really an increase.
Eighty-one (81) Americans died in Iraq during the month of August 2007. This was an increase of 25% over the previous year’s August. It was the second deadliest August in the five year war. This brought the current total for the year 2007 to 738 troop fatalities, which was an increase of 60% over 2006. In fact, the first eight months of this year was the worst for losses since the war began. That’s improvement?
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 6:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home