US Fatalities drop for the fifth month in a row

[Nederland]

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Oct - 96
Nov - 84
Dec - 68
Jan - 62
Feb - 55

I wonder how this can happen. With the increased insurgent activity in Iraq these days, perhaps this means that US troops are simply getting better at protecting themselves from attacks, or perhaps the the insurgents are directing their attacks on softer targets. I suppose it could also be that US troops are simply huddling in Green zone...

On edit: I just realized that because February has fewer days than January, the average number of fatalities in last month was actually higher. Granted that doesn't break the previous four month downward trend, but it may indicate a plateau of sorts.

[NMDemDist2]

1. one small thing to be grateful for but it's still too many n/t

[tocqueville]

2. reports I read say that they are staying inside and are cutting

off the patrolling....

[mikeanike]

3. i spoke with the guy who handles that site

regarding the lack of zero's on the count. If you notice when a day goes by with no deaths he just leaves out that day. Apperantley though he is going to start to leave in those zero's which frankly will make it a little easier to look at in terms of progress.

[Maggie_May]

4. American troops are in the Green zone

I heard this morning on CBS news that the US. where putting Iraqi troops
in tanks to help with the attacks. I really think our troops are on the side lines trying not to get involved in a civil war.

[TexasLawyer]

5. It may be good news for us but

bad news for the Iraqis. I have read that the US will be relying more on air assault, since house-to-house fighting and raids were causing escalation of US casualties.

But with less careful targeting comes the greater likelihood that innocent civilians will be hurt.

In any event, 55 dead is 55 too many! This madness needs to end!

[mikeanike]

6. an interesting note to these figures

If you compare the months where coverage of the war was low you'll notice that generally the fatalities go down. Example look at september of last year. The lowest count in a while. And what happened in september? Why Katrina!! The press wasn't giving two shits about Iraq! You can't deny that the terrorists over there do know how to time their attacks. When no one is paying attention to them why kill? It really won't stop the Bush machine....

[MadMaddie]

7. Remember we have to question the accuracy of the numbers...

I would pray that the numbers are decreasing. If could be like you said the commanders are keeping soldiers in the green zone while the civil war escalates.

Keep in mind...
If a soldier dies immediately he/she is counted as a fatality

If a soldier manages to survive the incident and gets loaded into an ambulance and makes it to the military hospital but dies on the operating table...that soldier is not counted in the fatality roster.

If a soldier manages to survive the hospital and gets to Landstuhl, Germany medical facilities and lives for 1 day, 1 month or longer but dies of an infection from the battle wounds they are not counted as a battle field fatality..

The * cabal parses the numbers of fatalities, wounded and limb loss like they play with the numbers of the economy...They twist it and distort into what they think is consumable and palatable by the public...

I don't trust the figures....

[Nederland]

10. Agreed

The way the US military counts fatalities is deceptive. However, the same method is used for all months, so the trend line is still accurate.

[SteppingRazor]

11. You have a link for that?

Because I've heard that before, and as far as I can tell, it's crap.

Think about this -- if the family of one of these uncounted fallen soldiers found out their son or daughter was not counted among the war dead, don't you think they'd speak out? Even ONE family that it happened to? Anywhere? The silence is deafening.

[MadMaddie]

18. Here is a link....

Here is a link to a 2004 60 minute story...I am still looking for more current links..I will add them when I find them..

http://mvp-seattle.com/pages/extrapages/pageTrueCasualties.htm

Theres something else to keep in mind all of the military families that have lost loved ones are spread around the country going through their grief of accepting their loss or their wounded and impaired loved ones...

They are individual voices....I think they are out there....Because they are not vocal and not organized at this point doesn't mean they don't exist....

Remember whether we agree or not on this issue....1 soldiers death or maiming in this illegal war is 1 too many.

[SteppingRazor]

19. The link you provided is about wounded, not killed...

I still haven't seen anything that supports the idea that there are thousands of dead soldiers unaccounted for.

Although, I agree with you 100%, even one is too many, especially when it occurs in a stupid, unnecessary war like this.

[onenote]

13. wrong wrong wrong

The idea that soldeiers who die in a military hospital aren't counted in the list of war fatalities has been debunked approximately one zillion times. Soldiers who die in Lahdstuhl or even Walter Reed are included.

onenote

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. Absolutely false

And easily proved as such.

The fatality numbers for February COUNT three troops who died in stateside hospitals:

http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=2-2006

You are spreading misinformation and lies.

[quispquake]

8. Don't forget there are only 28 days in February...

If you added another 10% of days, that brings it up close to January's Number :(

[demosincebirth]

9. I think they've turned on killing themselves and when ever they think

about it, they set off a few roadside bombs to kill our troops

[greenbriar]

12. they don't count the ones that die after they leave the field

or the ones that just can't adjust back home

[onenote]

16. wrong wrong wrong

Sigh....how many times does this have to be debunked?

Here's a specific example of a reported casualty who died in a German hospital: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040510-0761.html

For a more complete list: http://icasualties.org/oif/Dow.aspx

[madrchsod]

14. no they haven`t------

look at the averages since oct 2005- the average death count per month is over 2 and that is 5 months in a row- there`s been one other block of months of 5 or more in a row since the war started. the numbers are trending down but what will happen this month when the troops have to come out and patrol instead of being holed up in their bases? this could be a very bad month for our forces in iraq.

[Nederland]

21. Sure they have

The averages have dropped every month for the last four months, and although as I noted February is technically higher than January (2.07 versus 2.06), that's basically statistical noise. As I mentioned originally, it looks like we are entering a low plateau, despite the fact that there is actually more violence going on today than in past months. I think that this is evidence that the insurgents recognize that the US is going to duck out soon and their real enemy is the new Iraqi government.

[onenote]

15. there never has been any consistent trend - you can argue its increasing

the average number of fatalities per day for the last four months was 2.29. For the four months before that, it was 2.38. And for the four months before that it was 2.15. Within those quarterly periods it has fluctuated. Some months its over 3 per month, some months its been under two.

In fact, if you average it over the five month period you refer to, the number of fatalities is increasing. It was 2.476 for those five months, but only 2.39 for the five months before that and 2.336 for the five months before that.



onenote

[Stinky The Clown]

The back story the 'news' won't mention is that our guys have

dramatically reduced the number of patrols. They're spending much, much more time in their bases.

Canasta, anyone?

[iconoclastNYC]

17. I think the insurgents are concerned with formenting a civil war

I think they are operating in a phase two.

Higher fatalities on US forces aren't likely to further errode US support for the war.

However a big huge messy civil war will drive home that IRAQ is FUBAR.

That's my theory. This IRAQ thing was a mistake. We shoudln't have gone in and now we've destroyed a country and made a huge mess that we can't fix.

[Javaman]

22. Because now, they are shooting at each other more so than at the

troops.

That makes it so much better. :sarcasm: