Why the FUCK is there no ESTIMATED body count? Are we a 3rd world country

[wndycty]

Its almost a week later and we still have no estimated body count. Why the hell don't we know what the hell is going on?

[gollygee]

1. Have all the abandonded people even died yet?

yes this is a third world country.

[stray cat]

A country who's leader doesn't care about its people

[SoCalDem]

2. Just like Iraq.. they won't "count" them, and with most people

spread out in other states, they will never know what happened to their relatives.. NO accounting for the dead

[tsuki]

3. Yes. eom

[camby]

9. hey, you stole my answer: yes we ARE a 3rd world country!

Ain't we proud. Remember the words on the statue of liberty about huddled masses yearning to be free whenever you see the pictures of the people outside the Superdome in NO. the irony will make you cry.

[Wcross]

16. Bull- We are not a third world country.

We just happen to have third world "leadership" at the moment.

[justabob]

18. Important distinction nt

[KeepItReal]

4. Bush & Co. don't "do" body counts-If they do, they still fudge the numbers

Remember a soldier who is shot in Iraq, but dies in a hospital in Germany after being airlifted out is *not* a combat death in Iraq totals.

Just wait for their version of these casualty stats...

[meganmonkey]

41. That's actually not true - the DoD and icasualties.org both include

those soldiers in their numbers.

Please understand I am not trying to defend bushco and it's ethics by any means.

Just wanted to present the facts.

----
The following is a list of U.S. Fatalities who have died in hospitals in Germany and The United States. Some have claimed that The Department of Defense does not report these deaths, they are obviously mistaken.
Note: these deaths are included in our overall totals.
-----
see link for list:

http://icasualties.org/oif/Dow.aspx

Peace.

[Lefty48197]

5. 20,000 dead

that's my estimate.

[ohio_liberal]

14. I keep gravitating between 50,000 and 100,000

I bet it ends up between the two somewhere.

[AlienGirl]

38. Unfortunately, I agree

A low estimate would be in the 50,000 range; but 100,000 or even 125,000 is not going to surprise me. :cry:

Tucker

[Sgent]

6. There is no

reasonable way to have a body count until the waters are down and every hotel room and residence is searched.

[daleo]

45. But an estimate and a count are different things.

You can bet there are government and/or military estimates out there, but they haven't been made public. It would freak people out too much if they saw the numbers. I suspect the numbers will dribble out slowly for months.

[KaryninMiami]

7. Because they don't want us to know how many died.

My guess is the reason they've closed NO to the Red Cross and other workers, is to give the Feds. time to clean up the dead bodies and hide as many as they can so the world never really knows how many died because of their incompetence. We'll never really know the true number- the only hope in getting a near estimabe is because the NO elected officials (Governor, Senator, Mayor, etc.) are so pissed (rightfully so) at how they've been treated, that they will not let them off the hook on this (and will do whatever they can) to show the true horror of their lack of action.

[Pobeka]

13. I believe this is the reason too.

I think the number is going to be 25,000 if they could account for all the dead, but since they can't it will be about 20,000.

... in america.

[nashbridges]

27. Yeah, that's it

How's that fucking tinfoil hat treating you?

The reason there isn't a body count is twofold:

1) The people who could definitively say that someone died are largely not anywhere near NO

2) The delayed response to taking care of the living is still going on, so counting the dead will have to wait.

The number of dead pales in comparison to getting the living out of the city. If you want to help, diapers, underwear, bras, clothes are needed RIGHT NOW. Offer any free space you have to families who are displaced, my college roommate's parents will be crashing in one of our bedrooms for a few weeks since he doesn't have room for them.

When the count of the dead does come in it will be tragic, and most of the deaths will be largely unnecessary. It won't change the fact that they are dead. To stop focusing on helping the living at this point to get an accurate count of the dead would be cruel.

NO is still underwater, still lawless, still helpless. When the water finally recedes, hopefully we'll get a count.

[Junkdrawer]

33. You got it. Did the same thing after Charley and Andrew...

It pretty much explains everything...

[C_U_L8R]

8. That's the last thing Bush wants out there

keep your eye on this space...
there is gonna be a whole lotta lying and distorting going on.

[Captain Hilts]

10. It's actually not a good idea to guess. (nt)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. This will probably be the first natural disaster in history (certainly US

history) with no estimate on deaths.

[pretzel4gore]

30. the tsunami....

bush hid the 3000 americans who died in the tsunami. i still cannot understand how they got away with it. it was as if the question never got asked (3000 whites, dead, including many blonde women, and no one asked? the usa truly was fukked long before katrina!)
even on the internet, there wasn't the least bit of curiousity, as if subconsiously everyone knew bush suffer if the tsunami american dead got any publicity...thus hohum....
fox 'in the henhouse' news estimates that almost 100 people were victims of katrina!....in a couple weeks they'll say 'oops, that was 28 thousand' nudge wink ;)

[linazelle]

12. We ARE third world--unfortunately. nt

[Wind Dancer]

15. After 9/11, the media kept running possible deaths tolls.

I watched the news constantly and heard up to 20,000 possible dead from terrorist attack, the silence in today's tragedy speaks volumes.

Why didn't the government plead for hotels to open their doors to the homeless? The corporations and government rule this country and the poor are slaves to the elite. I am disgusted.

[restorefreedom]

17. I just read an estimate of "thousands"

on, of all places, Fox News.

It was on the ticker.

And sadly, that is probably a conservative estimate.

[Pepperbelly]

19. How the fuck would they know right now?

They are going to have to go house to house and there are huge swaths of city where the water is still damned near to the roof lines. Being in the USA does not cause the laws of biology and physics to differ from that in Indonesia or Thailand.

No way to do more than guess until the city is drained and those guesses will be absolutely useless. In addition, don't forget that good ol' apex predator the alligator who was having his way with the dead for a week now.

[Wind Dancer]

25. They didn't know on 9/11 yet it didn't stop them.

The media ran non-stop estimates of possible death tolls.

[Pepperbelly]

26. this will be far more difficult ....

Look at the size of the area. Around 90,000 square miles. You guess. It would be about as good as anyone else's right now.

[Wind Dancer]

29. I agree it will be more difficult.

Hopefully, when everyone has been evacuated, they will set up a center for people to post the names of the missing like they did on 9/11. Unfortunately, people are scattered throughout many states so the task will be a challenge.

[pretzel4gore]

32. a high estimate maybe compel earlier action!

geebush=teebundy

[Mr_Spock]

20. They were estimating "thousands" on one cable news channel

I can't remember which one. It will start to become clearer as info on missing persons gets centralized...

[maddezmom]

23. AP: HHS Chief: Katrina Death Toll in Thousands

WASHINGTON - Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Sunday the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath is in the thousands, the first time a federal official has acknowledged what many had feared.

Leavitt said he couldn't provide a precise number on the impact of the devastation, but when asked if it was in the thousands, he told CNN's "Late Edition," "I think it's evident it's in the thousands."

"It's clear to me that this has been sickeningly difficult, and profoundly tragic circumstance," Leavitt said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050904/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_washington_16

[Mr_Spock]

31. Thanks - that sound like what I heard...

n/t

[kedrys]

21. Because the "government" KNOWS their goose is cooked

A conservative estimate I heard on MSNBC last night put the number of dead at 10-15K. Another speculated that it might be as high as 45,000.

I live in Houston, and I don't even want to think about what the 200,000 evacuees we're housing will do once numbers are released.

[AlCzervik]

22. i think---sadly because it will be large and they haven't gotten to many

of those houses where the water is up to the rooflines, my feeling is that there are mnay people that are in those attics that did not have an ax.:cry:

[Spurt]

24. I don't want to know...

...until they report the actual counting of corpses.
Anything else will probably be wrong.

Eventually a reasonable count will be made. The people who pick up and process the decaying bodies of fellow Americans will keep records and apply due respect to their national brothers.

This is not a case of American soldiers being ordered to ignore the deaths of Iraqi's. Have faith in your fellow citizens to do the right thing.

Cheers

[MercutioATC]

28. Because they don't know how many stayed.

Without knowing how many people you started with, it's impossible to estimate casulties in NOLA.

[Dob Bole]

34. Do you work for CNN? WE don't have time for this when people are still

being rescued.

The day after the hurricane CNN was whining about no body count. Pisses me off.

[maveric]

35. They dont want to bother our "beautiful minds", with body counts!

Do we even have an accurate body count in Iraq?

[me b zola]

36. "Third World America"

That was the headline of a foreign newspaper.

[kohodog]

37. It's called collateral damage. No need to keep track of such things.

Why should Bush have to worry about such trivial matters. It might upset his day...he only likes to hear good news after all.

[BootinUp]

39. It hasn't leaked through the info filter yet. n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. We don't do body counts

Isn't that what Rummie said?

[nolabels]

43. Family values, pro-life and all the rest of that faux garbage

:puke:


Them republicans that put these fools in charge must be real proud of themselves

[DoYouEverWonder]

44. Now you know why they want to teach evolution

this is social darwinism at work here.

[daleo]

42. Bush admin "doesn't do body counts". n/t

[unblock]

46. i can't imagine fewer than 25,000.

they'll be finding entire families dead, trapped in their houses, weeks and weeks after the city has been dried out.

[Joanne98]

47. Out of sight, out of mind.....Do you think they'll fudge the numbers?