108 More US Combat Casualties

By Michael Munk

US military occupation forces in Iraq suffered at least 108 combat
casualties in the week ending May 6, as the official casualty total
reached at least 65,500. The total includes 33,325 dead and
wounded by what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and 32,175
(since over a month ago on March 1) dead and injured from "non-hostile" causes.*

The actual total is over 85,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count
as "Iraq casualties" the approximately 20,000 casualties discovered only
after they returned from Iraq -mainly brain trauma from explosions.**

In addition, a rare report showed that 1,123 "US civilian contractors" has been

killed since the invasion, including a record 353 in 2007. No numbers are

available on the wounded and injured, nor about casualties among the

"contractors" who are not US citizens. (Houston Post, Feb. 9, 2008.)

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb
> by routinely reporting only the total killed (4,073 as of May 6) and
> rarely mentioning the 30,004 wounded in combat. To further minimize public
> perception of the cost, they cover for the Pentagon by ignoring the 31,325
> (as of March 1)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough
> to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,058 reported deaths
> include 752 (no change last week ) who died from those same causes,
> including 145 suicide as of March 1.

> * The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesdays) by the
> Pentagon at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf. The dead are
> reported by Iraq Coalition Casualties http://www.icasualties.org/oif/
>
> ** see USA Today, Nov. 23, 2007
>
> *** the number of "non combat" injured is reported by Iraq Coalition
> Casualties. The AP
>
>
> visit my website www.michaelmunk.com