Did msnbc confirm that casualty #'s are secret?

[Rose Siding]

I had the tube on after the speech and semi-heard Nora O'Donnel speak to the issue of casualties but I was floored to read this on another blog:

...Nora O'Donnel said that several days ago there was a closed door meeting in Congress and the REAL casualty numbers were given and the congresmen were shocked, and then even more when Bush&Co. insisted those numbers remain secret....end snip>

Is that true? Did she say that? msnbc is on to regular programming (not news)now. This FLOORED me! Was it the Senate or the House? Did anyone else hear her? Have you heard anything about this meeting before? Or this call to keep it secret?

I know we've all *believed* they have been underreporting the numbers but I don't see HOW legislators can really keep this dirty secret. CAN THEY??? Isn't that ILLEGAL? Or SOMETHING?

[kalian]

1. If this is true....

I think Congressmen and women should SPEAK OUT. This is not about what the US has gained in terms of oil control... Its not about corporate profits.

Its about American LIVES!
Its about being LIED too!
Its about turning this country into a fascist state!

We need to get these people OUT...NOW!!!!

[tjdee]

2. YES--I was shocked to hear it too. She said

that the actual number of wounded daily is about 1,100. She said casualties, but when she was talking, that was the info she gave (she didn't say that the number of deaths was any different, if that's the case she had no numbers).

It was weird--she started out talking about how Bush showed "strength and resolve", but then she said "BUT..." and let loose all this stuff.

She said that John Warner (Asshole-VA) was questioning why the number was so high. She emphasized that even Republicans were concerned.

[burrowowl]

4. Can't be daily or

we would run out of troops in a 150 days or so. This if this is the total so far, it isn't good.

[tjdee]

7. You may be right--thought I heard that, though.

But if we'd run out of troops that way, LOL, maybe it's total.

MSNBC is crap with their transcripts, too.

[Lindacooks]

5. I like that!

I'm going to copy you, if you don't mind, and add that to all my remarks about Coleman (Asshole-MN).

[tjdee]

9. Oh, for sure!

I took that from someone else, I think, LOL.

I like to change the words up, myself.

[IndianaGreen]

8. The number of wounded average about 10 a day

many of them seriously enough that they have to be evacuated to Germany for treatment.

The Washington Post carried a story about this several days ago in which it told of a daily flight of C-17s that arrive in the US carrying wounded that have already been treated in Germany. The wounded are then ferried by smaller C-130s to towns near their homes having a VA medical facility. According to WP, Central Command does not report the wounded unless there are killed in action.

I think that the number of wounded is about 4,000 of which roughly 1,500 will require long term care.

Now, if Nora knows of higher figures, then I think that we are in deeper shit than what I have come to believe.

[tjdee]

11. Oh, boy.

Hope someone else caught that, now I'm questioning my memory... but she DEFINITELY said the numbers were classified, at the very least, and seemed to indicate that the numbers were higher than we're being told.

[IndianaGreen]

13. This means that the MSNBC story from September 2, that I just reposted

on this thread, that the numbers of 10 wounded per day is a conservative count.

[alcuno]

10. Actually, I think she said that Warner wanted to know why the

casualty numbers were in a classified document.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

18. Hold on... 1100 a day could be quite reasonable..

Remember, that "casualty" means everything from a scratch caused by a tiny piece of shrapnel to being killed. Of those 1100 per day, a large percentage could be being treated in theatre and returned to service, while an even larger amount could receive treatment at a foward aid station and sent back on duty with nothing more than a bandage and a stitch or two.

By the way, a couple of people have pointed to the total of over a thousand being mentioned in the media. I just have to point out that the total being mentioned in the media is not likely to be a classified total is it?

It is more likely that the total mentioned in the media is the total of soldiers so severely wounded they had to be returned to the US for treatment and who would be disabled and therefore unable to continue their duties.

In other words, the only wounded we are being told about are the ones who will no longer be able to serve on the front lines, if at all, because of their injuries. The vast majority of wounded will recover and be sent back into battle, even if that is after a few weeks in a Kuwaiti hospital.

[pruner]

3. the real #s were probably only given to Congressional Republicans

during one of their morning prayer breakfasts I'd imagine.

[laruemtt]

6. where can we get this

verified??? we need to get this out STAT to every possible outlet. we need to scream it from the rooftops! how much more evil can this whole mess get?!?????

[IndianaGreen]

12. MSNBC: Toll of U.S. wounded rises fast

Toll of U.S. wounded rises fast

Sept. 2 — U.S. battlefield casualties in Iraq are increasing dramatically in the face of continued attacks by remnants of Saddam Hussein’s military and other forces, with almost 10 American troops a day now being officially declared “wounded in action.”

THE NUMBER of those wounded in action, which totals 1,124 since the war began in March, has grown so large, and attacks have become so commonplace, that U.S. Central Command usually issues press releases listing injuries only when the attacks kill one or more troops. The result is that many injuries go unreported.

The rising number and quickening pace of soldiers being wounded on the battlefield have been overshadowed by the number of troops killed since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations May 1. But alongside those Americans killed in action, an even greater toll of battlefield wounded continues unabated, with an increasing number being injured through small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades, remote-controlled mines and what the Pentagon refers to as “improvised explosive devices.”

Indeed, the number of troops wounded in action in Iraq is now more than twice that of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The total increased more than 35 percent in August — with an average of almost 10 troops a day injured last month.

http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/960067.asp?0sl=-22

[tjdee]

14. Thanks for the link...

but nothing about the information being classified. Hmm.

[IndianaGreen]

15. This story is from September 2

Nora O'Donnell has good sources, and she is a good reporter despite the fact she is a Republican. If she says that Congress got a classified briefing, and that the number of casualties is far higher than what this story says, then you can bet the story is true.

[angka]

17. i believe you

but i would really like to get primary source confirmation some way on this. it's potentially bigger than shit.

[angka]

16. the fact that this is not 100% front page all caps headline

means that something has gone terribly, horribly wrong with every kind of accountability in this country—from government to media.

if this is really true we are through the looking glass, and this is not the same country i was born in. it is illegal to advocate the forcible overthrow of the government of the united states. i am shutting up now.

[grasswire]

19. yes

She said there was high indignation that the casualty numbers are classified. She portrayed it as a fiery situation.

[Rose Siding]

22. Secret meetings with Congress

to conceal the real costs of the war. Hot stuff- no KIDDING.

This is the kind of thing that actually can contribute to bringing Bush down. Hope to God it makes it into print.

[JPace]

20. The casualties are on the increase....

the number of wounded in the month of
August equaled the total for May, June,
and July combined.

[pansypoo53219]

21. and where

is the # of soldiers that have commited suicide. that is a # I want to know.

[HereSince1628]

23. I suppose you shouldn't tell the enemy how ineffective you are...

I just don't think the American people ever figured they were Cheny's enemy.

Seriously, though, it seems to me that it wouldn't be too hard to get information from family members, especially for guard and reserves. Just poll them about wounded in their family who have had their soldier rotated to hosptials in the states. Then do the extension. If it looks WAY different from the reports then its time to hand it over to one of our favorite pundits...

[IndianaGreen]

24. Families of the wounded are not being notified by the Pentagon

In a story from a small town newspaper posted in DU in late August, a man complained that he only found out about his son being wounded when his son called him from Germany to tell him about. His son had to sleep in the hallway because all of the rooms in the hospital were full.

[IndianaGreen]

25. MSNBC has confirmed, but it is buried in another story. Here it is!

Bush calls for ‘whatever is necessary’
MSNBC NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7

<long snip>

Shortly after the speech, NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reported that a growing number of lawmakers, including Republicans, have lately expressed dismay at administration efforts to keep classified the number of U.S. casualties in Iraq. O’Donnell, speaking on MSNBC’s “Hardball With Chris Matthews,” said those casualties included more than 1,100 wounded in the conflict to date.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/951994.asp?0cv=CA00

[Rose Siding]

26. Ominous, that "more than"

Wish they'd Written about the meeting they had and the shock at the number. Thanks, IG

[tjdee]

27. And the shock at the classification!

Maybe because they just *tried* to have it classified, and didn't succeed?? I dunno. I got the impression that the numbers *were* classified. ????

Thanks for posting, IG.

[Patriot_Spear]

28. Yes...

We're not getting the whole story on casualties. An old Special Forces trick is to hide 'covert operations' casualties inside 'routine' accidents'; helicopter crashes, vehicle accidents, etc...

I guarentee the bad numbers we're hearing are in reality much worse.

edit: typo

[IndianaGreen]

29. Humvee overturns after hitting land mine

Incident is reported as a traffic accident.

[Patriot_Spear]

30. You got it...

n/t