Vicegerent
2005-12-09 15:36:12 UTC
Neal King's (NZ) Newsletter
<Iron_Clay <***@clear.net.nz>
Please keep in mind that the total number of US soldiers
in the US military, killed in Iraq since March 2003 now
stands at over 16,386 (Neal)
*******************************************************
Members of Congress Ask Bush to Stop Undercounting
U.S. Casualties
December 7, 2005
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are concerned that the Department of Defense has been
under-reporting casualties in Iraq by only reporting non-fatal
casualties incurred in combat. We write today to request that
you provide the American people with a full accounting of the
American casualties in Iraq since the March 19, 2003 invasion,
including a full accounting of the fatalities, the wounded, those
who have contracted illnesses during their time overseas, and
those suffering from mental <afflictions as a result of their
service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring
Freedom.
We are concerned that the figures that were released to the
public by your Administration do not accurately represent the
true toll that this war has taken on the American people.
On November 21, 2004, CBS' 60 Minutes led its program with
a segment on the subject of uncounted "non-combat" casualties.
They interviewed badly injured soldiers who were upset by their
being excluded from the official count, even though they were,
in one soldier's words, "in hostile territory...".
The Pentagon declined to be interviewed, instead sending a
letter that contained information not included in published
casualty reports. "More than 15,000 troops with so-called
'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from Iraq,"
wrote the Department of Defense. John Pike, Director of Global
Security.org told 60 Minutes in that segment that this uncounted
casualty figure "would have to be somewhere in the ballpark of
over 20, maybe 30,000."
As you know, more than one in four U.S. troops have come
home from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical
or mental health treatment. Thus, with more than 300,000 troops
having served in Iraq, this amounts to at least 50,000 cases of
mental trauma. Moreover, 101,000 of the 431,000 troops who
have returned home from service in Iraq and Afghanistan and who
have separated from the military, have sought help.
This figure shows the Pentagon's official Iraq casualty count of
2,082 U.S. troops killed, and 15,477 wounded as of today, to be
inaccurate by several multiples. What we cannot understand is
why you are only reporting the total American casualty figure at
just over 15,000 when you know that this figure is not an accurate
representation of the facts and does not represent the entire
picture of American lives affected by the war. We also need to
understand where your numbers are coming from and how you
arrived at them given the facts and data that has been released
from the Pentagon.
Based on the data that have been released by your Administration
and the unofficial data that are coming out of the Pentagon, what
we can be certain of is that at least tens of thousands of young
men and women have been physically or psychologically damaged
for life. To be exact, the figure ranges somewhere between 15,000
and 101,000 today. This is a staggering range of casualties by any
standard, as these casualties will affect the lives of at least
hundreds
of thousands of family members and others. We cannot emphasize
enough how important it is that we understand the gravity of the
situation that we are faced with.
Since the March 2003 invasion, our troops have been dying at a rate
of about 800 a year, with most killed in action by crude but powerful
roadside bombs. More than 90 percent of the deaths have come after
you declared an end to "major combat operations" on May 1, 2003.
Moreover, the Pentagon reports that of the service members returning
from the Iraq war this year, 47 percent saw someone wounded or killed,
or saw a dead body. This is no small matter that can be downplayed
by superficial reassurances designed to temporarily assuage the
uneasiness of the American public. The effects of this war will remain
for many years to come and each and every one of us will have to
cope with it.
The American people have sacrificed a great deal as a result of this
war and they deserve to know what you know. Those who have
sacrificed deserve to know that their sacrifice counted and that their
service abroad was as recognizable as that of our fallen soldiers.
Further, the failure of your Administration to acknowledge the loss
of Iraqi lives prevents the American people from having a complete
picture of the cost of this war. We urge you to honor your duty as
our Commander-in-Chief to keep the American people regularly
informed of the true human cost of the Iraq War.
Sincerely,
Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
Rep. Sam Farr
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva
Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Rep. Betty McCollum
Rep. Jim McDermott
Rep. Jan Schakowsky
LINK: http://uruknet.info/?p=m18558
Posted by: Vicegerent
<Iron_Clay <***@clear.net.nz>
Please keep in mind that the total number of US soldiers
in the US military, killed in Iraq since March 2003 now
stands at over 16,386 (Neal)
*******************************************************
Members of Congress Ask Bush to Stop Undercounting
U.S. Casualties
December 7, 2005
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are concerned that the Department of Defense has been
under-reporting casualties in Iraq by only reporting non-fatal
casualties incurred in combat. We write today to request that
you provide the American people with a full accounting of the
American casualties in Iraq since the March 19, 2003 invasion,
including a full accounting of the fatalities, the wounded, those
who have contracted illnesses during their time overseas, and
those suffering from mental <afflictions as a result of their
service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring
Freedom.
We are concerned that the figures that were released to the
public by your Administration do not accurately represent the
true toll that this war has taken on the American people.
On November 21, 2004, CBS' 60 Minutes led its program with
a segment on the subject of uncounted "non-combat" casualties.
They interviewed badly injured soldiers who were upset by their
being excluded from the official count, even though they were,
in one soldier's words, "in hostile territory...".
The Pentagon declined to be interviewed, instead sending a
letter that contained information not included in published
casualty reports. "More than 15,000 troops with so-called
'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from Iraq,"
wrote the Department of Defense. John Pike, Director of Global
Security.org told 60 Minutes in that segment that this uncounted
casualty figure "would have to be somewhere in the ballpark of
over 20, maybe 30,000."
As you know, more than one in four U.S. troops have come
home from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical
or mental health treatment. Thus, with more than 300,000 troops
having served in Iraq, this amounts to at least 50,000 cases of
mental trauma. Moreover, 101,000 of the 431,000 troops who
have returned home from service in Iraq and Afghanistan and who
have separated from the military, have sought help.
This figure shows the Pentagon's official Iraq casualty count of
2,082 U.S. troops killed, and 15,477 wounded as of today, to be
inaccurate by several multiples. What we cannot understand is
why you are only reporting the total American casualty figure at
just over 15,000 when you know that this figure is not an accurate
representation of the facts and does not represent the entire
picture of American lives affected by the war. We also need to
understand where your numbers are coming from and how you
arrived at them given the facts and data that has been released
from the Pentagon.
Based on the data that have been released by your Administration
and the unofficial data that are coming out of the Pentagon, what
we can be certain of is that at least tens of thousands of young
men and women have been physically or psychologically damaged
for life. To be exact, the figure ranges somewhere between 15,000
and 101,000 today. This is a staggering range of casualties by any
standard, as these casualties will affect the lives of at least
hundreds
of thousands of family members and others. We cannot emphasize
enough how important it is that we understand the gravity of the
situation that we are faced with.
Since the March 2003 invasion, our troops have been dying at a rate
of about 800 a year, with most killed in action by crude but powerful
roadside bombs. More than 90 percent of the deaths have come after
you declared an end to "major combat operations" on May 1, 2003.
Moreover, the Pentagon reports that of the service members returning
from the Iraq war this year, 47 percent saw someone wounded or killed,
or saw a dead body. This is no small matter that can be downplayed
by superficial reassurances designed to temporarily assuage the
uneasiness of the American public. The effects of this war will remain
for many years to come and each and every one of us will have to
cope with it.
The American people have sacrificed a great deal as a result of this
war and they deserve to know what you know. Those who have
sacrificed deserve to know that their sacrifice counted and that their
service abroad was as recognizable as that of our fallen soldiers.
Further, the failure of your Administration to acknowledge the loss
of Iraqi lives prevents the American people from having a complete
picture of the cost of this war. We urge you to honor your duty as
our Commander-in-Chief to keep the American people regularly
informed of the true human cost of the Iraq War.
Sincerely,
Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
Rep. Sam Farr
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva
Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Rep. Betty McCollum
Rep. Jim McDermott
Rep. Jan Schakowsky
LINK: http://uruknet.info/?p=m18558
Posted by: Vicegerent