The unreported cost of war: at least 827 American wounded

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The unreported cost of war: at least 827 American wounded

>

> Julian Borger, Washington

>

> Monday August 4, 2003: (<http://www.guardian.co.uk>The Guardian) US

> military casualties from the occupation of Iraq have been more than twice

> the number most Americans have been led to believe because of an

> extraordinarily high number of accidents, suicides and other non-combat

> deaths in the ranks that have gone largely unreported in the media.

>

> Since May 1, when President George Bush declared the end of major combat

> operations, 52 American soldiers have been killed by hostile fire,

> according to Pentagon figures quoted in almost all the war coverage. But

> the total number of US deaths from all causes is much higher: 112.

>

> The other unreported cost of the war for the US is the number of American

> wounded, 827 since Operation Iraqi Freedom began.

>

> Unofficial figures are in the thousands. About half have been injured

since

> the president's triumphant appearance on board the aircraft carrier USS

> Lincoln at the beginning of May. Many of the wounded have lost limbs.

>

> The figures are politically sensitive. The number of American combat

deaths

> since the start of the war is 166 - 19 more than the death toll in the

> first Gulf war.

>

> The passing of that benchmark last month erased the perception, popular at

> the time Baghdad fell, that the US had scored an easy victory.

>

> According to a Gallup poll, 63% of Americans still think Iraq was worth

> going to war over, but a quarter want the troops out now, and another

third

> want a withdrawal if the casualty figures continue to mount.

>

> In fact, the total death toll this time is 248 - including accidents and

> suicides - and as the number of non-combat deaths and serious injuries

> becomes more widely known, the erosion of public confidence is likely to

> continue, posing a threat to Mr Bush's prospects of re-election, which at

> the beginning of May had seemed a foregone conclusion.

>

> Military observers say it is unusual, even in a " low-intensity " guerrilla

> war such as the situation seen in Iraq, for non-combat deaths to outnumber

> combat casualties.

>

> The Pentagon does not tabulate the cause of those deaths, but according to

> an American website that has been tracking official reports, Iraq

Coalition

> Casualty Count, 23 American soldiers have died in car or helicopter

> accidents since May 1, while 12 have been killed in accidents with weapons

> or explosives.

>

> Three deaths have been categorised as " possible suicides " , three have died

> from illness, and three from drowning. The rest are unexplained.

>

> Wounded American soldiers continue to be flown back to the US at a

> relentless rate, in twice-weekly transport flights to Andrews air force

> base near Washington.

>

> Hospital staff are working 70- or 80-hour weeks, and the Walter Reed army

> hospital in Washington is so full that it has taken over beds normally

> reserved for cancer patients to handle the influx, according to a report

on

> CBS television.

>

> Meanwhile, at the nearby national naval medical centre in Bethesda, new

> marine injuries are delivered almost daily by a medical plane known as the

> Nightingale.

>

> The Pentagon figure for " wounded in action " in Iraq is 827, but here again

> the total number of injuries appears to be much higher.

>

> The estimate given by central command in Qatar is 926, but according to

> Lieutenant-Colonel Allen DeLane, who is in charge of the airlift of the

> wounded into Andrews air base, that too is understated.

>

> " Since the war has started, I can't give you an exact number because

that's

> classified information, but I can say to you over 4,000 have stayed here

at

> Andrews, and that number doubles when you count the people that come here

> to Andrews and then we send them to other places like Walter Reed and

> Bethesda, which are in this area also, " Col DeLane told National Public

Radio.

>

> He said 90% of injuries were directly war-related.

>

> Some of that number may involve double-counting - if a soldier stays at

the

> Andrews clinic on the way to Washington and then again on the way back to

> the war or back home, for example. But the actual number of wounded still

> appears to be much higher than the official figures.

>

> " When the facility where I'm at started absorbing the people coming back

> from theatre [in April], those numbers went up significantly - I'd say

over

> 1,200, " Col DeLane said.

>

> " That number even went up higher in the month of May, to about 1,500, and

> continues to increase. "

> http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4343.htm

>