1700 Dead in Iraq or 7000?

[pstans]

I heard Mike Malloy speak about this and then saw this on Bushflash (http://www.ericblumrich.com/)

The US military's official death count in Iraq recently crept past the 1700 mark, but as bad as that is- it only tells a small fraction of the story. It turns out that those US personnel who have died in transit to, or on US military bases OUTSIDE of iraq, are not reported as Iraq fatalities, by the DOD.

When you take into account those who have died in the circumstances detailed above, the unofficial death toll is in excess of 7,000.

[politicaholic]

1. Are you talking about those who died of injuries later...

in hospitals in Germany and Turkey?

Or are you talking about the sum total of military deaths since march 2003?

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Any vaguely official documentation of that?

[paula777]

5. Someone posted this article about it last week. I'm still wondering if

it's true or not.

http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/246435.shtml

9000 Dead GIs In Iraq?
author: Brian Harring
Jun 05, 2005 19:31

US Military Report: Bush’s Achilles’ Heel


The Bush Butcher’s Bill: Officially, 84 US Military Deaths in Iraq from 2 through 28 May, 2005 – Official Total of 1,747 US Dead to date (and rising)


U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals have not previously been counted. They total about 6,210 as of 1 January, 2005. The ongoing, underreporting of the dead in Iraq, is not accurate. The DoD is deliberately reducing the figures. A review of many foreign news sites show that actual deaths are far higher than the newly reduced ones. Iraqi civilian casualties are never reported but International Red Cross, Red Crescent and UN figures indicate that as of 1 January 2005, the numbers are just under 100,000.


Note: There is excellent reason to believe that the Department of Defense is deliberately not reporting a significant number of the dead in Iraq. We have received copies of manifests from the MATS that show far more bodies shipped into Dover AFP than are reported officially. The educated rumor is that the actual death toll is in excess of 7,000. Given the officially acknowledged number of over 15,000 seriously wounded, this elevated death toll is far more realistic than the current 1,400+ now being officially published. When our research is complete, and watertight, we will publish the results along with the sources. In addition to the evident falsification of the death rolls, at least 5,500 American military personnel have deserted, most in Ireland but more have escaped to Canada and other European countries, none of whom are inclined to cooperate with vengeful American authorities. (See TBR News of 18 February for full coverage on the mass desertions) This means that of the 158,000 U.S. military shipped to Iraq, 26,000 either deserted, were killed or seriously wounded. The DoD lists currently being very quietly circulated indicate almost 9,000 dead, over 16,000 seriously wounded and a large number of suicides, forced hospitalization for ongoing drug usage and sales, murder of Iraqi civilians and fellow soldiers , rapes, courts martial and so on – Brian Harring

Haven’t we had enough of this?

more .....

[magnolia]

3. I read somewhere...

...I can't remember where...that a lot of the troops are not American citizens. If they are killed they apparently are not counted as an American killed in Iraq. Is this true?

[marmar]

4. I suspect that the official casualty count...

is probably quite a bit lower than the actual one, or has been doctored somehow. (i.e., not including people who died from injuries suffered in the field).

[pstans]

6. When they say in Iraq, they really do mean IN Iraq

When you ask how many people have died in Iraq, they really mean IN Iraq, within the borders, on the ground, etc. We need to be asking how many Americans have died from injuries sustained in Iraq or something on that order.

A lot of times when a soldier sustain injuries they are flown to a US military hospitol in Germnay or Turkey. If they die while in flight or when they get to the hospitol, they aren't included in the 'official' count.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Cynthia McKinney said something about this last week

The issue is how are war dead in Iraq being counted. The accusation is that a soldier wounded in Iraq who is taken out of the country (to a military hospital in Germany, for instance) and subsequently dies of his wounds there is not being counted as war dead.

If this is the case, then the Honorable Ms. McKinney and Mr. Milloy are right at least insofar as the figure of combat fatalities in Iraq needing to be adjusted upward.

Whether the figure is actually 7000, I don't know. However, even if its really 3000, it fits the pattern of systematic deception played by the Bush regime.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. And this is why I don't get my news from uncorrobborated gibberish...

...I see on blogs.

This has been thoroughly debunked several times by DU members who track war casualties.

For God's sake they don't even cite a source in the article. It is completely made up, and it keeps circulating and rearing its ugly head here every few weeks because some new moron decided to post it to his blog without bothering to FACT-CHECK it.

Sheesh.