WP: U.S. Postwar Deaths Now Equal Iraq War Fatalities

Moderators this headline is from WP website - more descriptive and important than article title.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45034-2003Aug25.html

Rising Toll Shows U.S. Challenges
138 Deaths Since May 1 Reflect Shift in Fighting

With the death yesterday of another U.S. soldier in Iraq, the number of U.S. troops who have died there since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, rose to 138 -- the same number as perished during the six weeks of fighting that marked the fall of Baghdad and its immediate aftermath, according to Pentagon records.

The figure of 138 includes not only those killed by enemy fire -- called "hostile" deaths by the Pentagon -- but also those who died as a result of vehicle accidents, drowning, medical problems or other factors unrelated to combat. Yesterday's casualty, for instance, involved an unidentified soldier from the Army's 130th Engineer Brigade who suffered a "non-hostile gunshot wound" -- a phrase that can mean suicide or the accidental discharge of a weapon.

Although the 62 deaths from hostilities since May 1 remain well below the 115 that occurred in March and April, the combat death rate has been averaging one soldier about every other day since Bush flew to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." If that trend continues through the end of the year, those killed in action after May 1 will outnumber those killed in action before then.

Yesterday's threshold event represented a largely symbolic moment in the grinding Iraqi conflict. But by highlighting the steadily mounting U.S. death toll, it underscored the political challenge for the Bush administration in sustaining a reconstruction effort that is clearly costing more U.S. lives than winning the war did.

I wonder if people will pay more attention.

a non-hostile gunshot wound could mean suicide.

I mean it's 120 degrees, nobody's getting laid, nobody can take a good shit anywhere, you gotta bunk with people you don't like, you're in fear of getting shot every moment of the day ........

If there's any problems between soldiers they could easily boil over into violence.

I can see a lot of this happening. Unreported, of course.

I tried writing one for this same story in the GD forum and it came out crappy. Good job.

Don

Far more powerful than what the article is titled. Wonder which headline appears in the print edition. I'd love to know if someone sees the WP print edition.

Predictions were for around Labor Day. This will make even local news coverage. It will sink home to the people.

"since Bush flew to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Hmmmm looks like the history rewrite has made mainstream.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/pol/iraq-combat/

The Washington Post seems ready to illuminate this tragic and important issue with some front-page coverage. Of interest is that they especially take notice of the "hostile" vs. "non-hostile" coding.

The tide is turning, my friends...

to truthful to be true. Well, at least it was mentioned and I am surprised about that.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-usa-deaths.html

Postwar U.S. Iraq Deaths Exceed Toll During War
By REUTERS


Filed at 10:01 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More American troops have died since President Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1 than during the actual war, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command said a U.S. soldier was killed on Tuesday in an attack with an improvised bomb on a military convoy near the town of Hamariyah.
That brought to 139 the total number of American troops killed since May 1, including 62 from hostile fire and another 77 in non-hostile circumstances such as vehicle crashes and other types of accidents, the Pentagon said.

A total of 138 U.S. troops died from the start of the war in March until May 1. Since the beginning of the operation, 277 U.S. troops have died -- 178 in hostile fire and 99 in non-hostile incidents, the Pentagon said.

NOT!

Unless of course, your name is A"W"OL George and your mission is to get your fake photo-op on the deck of a carrier, then, yep, you can check that one off your "to do" list, Sparky.