Undercounting Americans killed in Iraq?

[Eric J in MN]

On a local radio show in Minnesota, host Nick Coleman had a caller saying that the number of Americans killed in Iraq are being undercounted.

Coleman didn't believe it.

Another caller said this issue is based on a Daily Kos post. I clicked around the Daily Kos and didn't see such a post.

Does anyone know more about this?

[DODI]

1. I saw a post a DU months ago saying that the "Americans Killed"

numbers are for troops killed in action, on the spot. It does not take into account troops who die in transit to medical care, at Walter Reed, Germany, etc.

[Eric J in MN]

2. If they counted non-combat deaths and deaths of the wounded

who died in hospitals outside Iraq, then how many would it be?

[geek tragedy]

3. Bogus conspiracy theory

They count everyone who dies from wounds suffered in Iraq. This has been debunked numerous times around here.

[DemonFighterLives]

8. You say it has be debunked

but that is not entirely true. The questions remain.
Yes ICC does a great job with the information they can get.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. No, it is entirely true.

Several people involved in actually doing independent counting of the deaths have disputed this story repeatedly. Unfortunately, nobody bothers to listen to them and this story keeps getting repeated ad nauseum.

[DemonFighterLives]

17. Well, I just ain't buyin what the * regime is selling

He is so proud of his little war. :nuke:

[wookie294]

18. No, it's completely NOT true

There have been no independent investigations to debunk it. But thanks for playing. lol

[kittenpants]

4. there is a site that a DUer keeps that has every soldier

who has been killed in Iraq. It shows where they died (some in Germany for instance), when, etc. I have a hard time believing any family members would let it go if their child had been killed and didn't appear on the official list. I'll look for a link to the list.

[kittenpants]

5. here's a link

http://icasualties.org/oif/

[longship]

6. It has been reported multiple times

that soldiers who die as a result of their wounds, but not on the actual field of battle are not listed as killed-in-action.

If this isn't true, is there a link showing this?

Thanks.

[kittenpants]

7. look at the link I posted under fatality details.

It shows some of the casualties died in hospitals outside of Iraq. Maybe they aren't listed as 'Killed in Action' (I don't know), but they ARE part of the total # of casualties.

[longship]

11. Thank you. But that begs these questions.

I have heard via AAR that the number of soldiers who have died after they were pulled off the battlefield is larger than the number who died on the battlefield--that the number of dead from action in Iraq is over 4,000.

Also, I remember the Pentagon announcing that they will only count soldiers who die on the actual field of battle. Have they announced a change since then and I didn't hear about it on the news?

I'm not trying to dispute your information, I'm just trying to make some sense of it.

[kittenpants]

12. have you looked at the link? It counts people who

died in military hospitals outside of Iraq. Look under fatality details.

[longship]

13. Yes, of course I have.

As I said, I'm not disputing your information.

[kittenpants]

15. I misunderstood (misunderestimated?)

what you were asking--about the policy change rather than the stats. I wasn't trying to be snarky!:) I don't know if there has been a policy change in counting troops who die outside of Iraq, but the official numbers coincide with the ones on this site so maybe there has been.

[longship]

16. No worries.

I didn't take your response negatively. I thought I might have not been clear. ;-)

[TomClash]

10. Well . .

From the November 24, 2004 Stars and Stripes, hardly a bastion of the radical left:

"As of Tuesday, 20,802 troops have been treated at Landstuhl from injuries received in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom."

http://www.stripesonline.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24783&archive=true


Now go to ICC and you will see there were only about 11-12,000 KIA or wounded in Iraq and maybe 2,000 more in Afghanistan through November 2004.

http://icasualties.org/oif/


Where did the other 6-7,000 come from?

[kittenpants]

14. now that's different.

I know they don't count people who suffer from post-traumatic stress & those people could be treated. Also, if wounds are received in a non-combat accident (for instance a guy who lost his legs when a road gave way)... they aren't counted either.
That could account for some of the wounded. Interesting though.