A Thought On Casualties

During a two day car trip from Nashville to Scottsdale to deliver a car to my sister I listened to a book on tape titled, "A Concise History of the the Middle East Over the Last Twelve Hundred Years". I'll admit that I fast forwarded to the last six hundred years after it became apparent that little had changed in the political, religious and social landscape for the first six hundred. Conquerers came and conquerers went but never, not once did, an outside power bring any change to the region. A great deal of time was spent on Iraq, or the land that has become known as Iraq after it was created by the European powers after WWI. Had anyone of the giant brains in the Bush Administration spent any time, even a light perusal, studying this history, the last thing we would have done was invade. VP Dick Cheney had it right when interviewed after the war to liberate Kuwait and he said that to invade Iraq and oust Sadam Hussein would mire us in a war we could not hope to win. Unfortunately, when he was in power and his oil company puppet masters told him to secure the oil fields for them, he forgot.

When the war on Iraq began my friend Paul and I spent long hours discussing the situation. Paul, one of the most widely read of my friends, and I shared our ideas and our prognostications about the outcome. Paul has kept up with the death toll. Now this might sound odd to some but the death toll in a war can tell us a great deal about the politics of the ones waging it on our behalf. This is an update for your edification:

TOTAL U.S. ARMED FORCES CASUALTIES (dead + wounded) = 31,645*

TOTAL U.S. ARMED FORCES CASUALTIES + NON-HOSTILE INJURIES/DISEASE = 28,308^?

BLACKWATER CASUALTIES (dead + wounded) = 12,917i?

GRAND TOTAL U.S. ARMED FORCES & MERCENARY CASUALTIES (dead + wounded) =

*72,870*

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All Coalition Dead:

U.S. 3760*

U.K. 0169

Other 0129

Total 4058

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As of 07-31-07:

U.S. 118* Died of self-inflicted wounds

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U.S. WOUNDED:

03-19-03 to 09-07-07:

15,291 Wounded returned to duty w/in 72 hrs.

12,476 Wounded not returned to Duty within 72 hours

27,767* TOTAL

As of 07-31-07:

07,459 Non-Hostile Injuries - Medical Air Transport Required

20,849 Diseases/Other - Medical Air Transport Required

28,308?

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BLACKWATER MERCENARY CASUALTIES AS OF c. July 2007 (conservative estimates):

00,917 Dead

12,000 Wounded, applied for benefits

12,917i?