Non-Combat Deaths

From the July 8, 2003, Buzzflash Mailbag, snippet:

Don’t Dismiss Non Combat Deaths
As a former U.S. Army medic and veteran of a previous disastrous U.S. military escapade in Southeast Asia (you know, the one we’re not supposed to compare Iraq to because it would be unpatriotic). I am saddened but not surprised to see a common Pentagon misinformation tactic once more being resurrected to deceive the public, this time with the full complicity of the US news media. No doubt you've seen the many broadcast and print stories tracking the US military death toll since May 1st when the Great Leader declared "mission accomplished" in that bloated political publicity stunt aboard an aircraft carrier steaming in circles a few miles off the San Diego coast. Most of the stories report that something like 28 US soldiers have died in combat since May 1st. That is a deception. The actual number is closer to 70. The difference is that the Pentagon and the Media typically don't count non hostile combat related deaths in their reports. As near as I can tell from reading various reports, since May 1, there have been 28 hostile combat related and somewhere around 42 non combat related U.S. deaths, according to U.S. military officials. (That’s as of July 7th. The number increases every day.)

...Someone who dies in an accident in a combat zone is just as dead as someone shot while on patrol. Their wife, husband, mother, father, brothers, sisters, children and friends grieve just as deeply as the friends and family of those killed by hostile fire. Their sacrifice is just as great. Amazingly though the Pentagon and news media don’t see it that way. Somehow the "non-combat" deaths aren't accorded the same gravity as hostile combat deaths. This deceit dishonors many of those who have lost their lives in service to our country in a faraway land. It dishonors their families. It dishonors us all.

...The distinction between combat and non-combat casualties in a theater of war is petty. The public deserves a full and accurate accounting of the ongoing costs of this war.

Pete Goodwin, Weatherford, OK