Why the silence on US fatalities from the tsunami? Coverup?

Initial reports of only 30 to 50 US dead in Thailand seemed ludicrously low to me. Then it became apparent that the Thai government is suppressing the numbers by refusing to count a fatality until the body is identified.

But then Powell says, out of the blue, that there are 5,000 missing americans. And that has been followed by utter silence.

What the fuck is up? Is this story being squashed? In the meantime, Hannity on Fox is railing that we shouldn't send aide because it will only be used to build hotels for swedes. This is too weird, the US deaths being swept under the rug and the european deaths serving as jingoistic fodder for the conservatively insane.

Is it just because Bush's response would look even more lame if it were known there were 5,000 US deaths?

Anyone know?

No one wants to just declare all the missing dead without bodies.

what motivation there could be to cover up deaths that are due to a natural catastophe. its not like there is something to hide to keep someone from being held accountable. i heard someone yesterday say that there is really no way to know because hotel records were destroyed along with the hotels and that all bodies will not be recovered. i think there is just no way of knowing with any certainty the nationlity of all the dead. im sure there are hundreds if not thousands of people lost at sea who will never be recovered along with the hundreds of thousands under the debris and mud yet to be found.

The number of confirmed American fatalities is up, although I don't remember what they said it was (70 something?) and the number of missing has been reduced to 2500. An American spokesperson (I don't remember who he represented) said that the initial 5- 6000 number included a lot of inquires like "the last time I heard from my uncle he was in the area" that were quickly resolved.

I don't think that the number of American deaths is being suppressed. The media is easily influenced by the government, of course, but more bodies with an American connection make a better story. They'd print it if they could. Besides, I don't see why that many Americans would have died. What percentage of those that died would have been tourists and what percentage of those tourists would have been Americans?