WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2007
Pentagon Underreporting War Injuries?
Veterans Groups: Non-Combat Injuries Being Ignored, Real Number Is More Than Double
-
-
Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, center, flanked by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., left, and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., takes part in a news conference about Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
-
Soldiers from Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment help each other across a muddy canal after a predawn raid on a village near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
-
-
Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
-
Interactive New Plan For Iraq Key elements of the plan, excerpts from the president's speech, reaction and more.
-
Who's Who Congress Reacts To Plan Reaction to President Bush's new Iraq stategy, which includes an increase in troops.
From the Pentagon Web site to press materials handed out at the opening of an amputee center in Texas last week, the number of wounded in the wars often circulated publicly is around 23,000.
That number only accounts for those wounded in combat. When troops from those wars who were wounded in other ways are counted, the number more than doubles, to about 53,000.
That latter number is not heavily circulated by the Pentagon. Recently, a Defense Department official publicly criticized a researcher who used it and pressured another government agency to change a public document to report the smaller number.
Obama, a presidential hopeful, wants the government to be more straightforward in reporting on the wounded. He has introduced legislation with Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe to require the Veterans Affairs Department and the Defense Department to "start keeping honest figures on our troops and the potential future costs of the war."
"This is a clear pattern by VA and DOD to conceal the escalating human and financial costs of the two wars from Congress, the press and the public," said Paul Sullivan, veterans advocacy director with Veterans for America.
Non-battle wounds can range from injuries in vehicle accidents to illnesses. Some are sports injuries that need care outside the war zone. Many of the wounded return to duty.
"It doesn't make a difference whether you were hit by enemy fire, or injured because your vehicle crashed, or got sick because of serving in a war zone," Obama said in a statement. "The effects on the soldiers and their families are the same. And the impact in terms of the current fighting force and future demands on the VA are also the same."
Some non-battle wounds can be just as disabling as those inflicted in combat. Dave Autry, deputy national director of communications for Disabled American Veterans, told the story of a soldier riding in the back of a truck when it went off a bridge and into an Iraqi canal.
This soldier, who suffered crushed legs and an injured spine, is not among those listed in the Pentagon's more widely circulated tally, Autry said.
The Pentagon updates its casualty totals for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars daily at www.defenselink.mil.
Clicking on "press resources" or "casualties" on the home page leads to a chart that lists the dead and wounded from combat totals but not totals for the non-battle wounded.
A separate, harder-to-find Pentagon Web site that listed casualties by type for each war had all the wounded. Last week, the number of non-combat wounded was dropped from the chart, produced by the department's Statistical Information and Analysis Division.
Since November, the VA had been reporting about 50,000 wounded from the wars on a Web site fact sheet for media. It changed that number last month to about 21,000 after hearing from the Pentagon, VA spokesman Matt Burns said.
Burns said only combat wounded are supposed to be in the tally.
President George W. Bush's proposed budget increased funding for veterans' medical care from $29.3 billion to $34.2 billion. It anticipated VA providing medical care to nearly 263,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in 2008.
All Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are guaranteed two years of health care at VA when they return from the war. Those with injuries connected to their service get health care treatment beyond the two years.
Also, all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans injured while serving in the wars are eligible for monthly disability payments, regardless of whether they were injured in combat. The amount of the payments is based on the level of disability.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From U.S.
The secrets of tennis legend 
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 59 CommentsA. "Next smoking gun a mushroom cloud." "Sixteen words in State of the Union Address." "We know where the weapons are...(Rumsfeld)."
B. Daring rescue of Jessica Lynch in reality a staged photo op. Bravo landing of Captain Codpiece on the carrier in front of Mission Accomplished also a staged photo op with troops serving as ever-ready props. The lies and cover-up of Pat Tillman's death.
C. The budget distortions. The propaganda efforts from Jeff Gannon to Armstrong Williams. Forged documents that miraculously end up in Dan Rather's hands, only to be exposed the instant he uses them. Similar forged documents used in Niger - Yellowcake Uranium scam. Interesting.
One endless stream of lies. Cynical, pathological, and criminal. From Tony Snow-job to Neo-con Artist Talking Heads to Faux News it all spins just the same.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/963363.html
"Two weeks ago, Schulze went to the VA hospital in St. Cloud. He told a staff member he was thinking of killing himself, and asked to be admitted to the mental health unit, said his father and stepmother, who accompanied him. They said he was told he couldn't be admitted that day. The next day, as he spoke to a counselor in St. Cloud by phone, he was told he was No. 26 on the waiting list, his parents said.
Four days later, Schulze, 25, committed suicide in his New Prague home."
Anyone who is aware of this tragedy and doesn't contact their member of congress and senators has no right to say they support our troops. You can submit your comments at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov to your senators and congressman/woman. You should really Support Our Troops not just say it. 1% of Iraq's cost could provide over $4 million/day for veteran's health care. A couple of tons of "Good Job Bremer"'s misplaced cash could help, too.
The surge was going to be 21,500 more troops, but it casually became combat troops. The total will likely be 35,000-48,000, including support troops. When the support troops get to Iraq, nothing can stop the commander-incompetent from reassigning them to combat roles requiring still more support troops.
The injury numbers result from the same philosophy. If the overall truth is unflattering to the administration, they redefine or limit terms so that they indicate a general condition that is untrue by telling little bits of the truth. They lie through omission and near-surgical precision.
You've got to examine each word's definition in its context and what exclusions it may indicate. This administration's statements can't be accepted at face value. They're like used car salesman or con men. They use verbal misdirection the same way a magician uses visual misdirection to conceal what's really happening.
How do fascist nazi islamic muslims sleep at night knowing how many lives they have destroyed ?
They have no soul, no heart. They are sociopaths one and all. It's a form of mental illness to support this type of madness. They're as sick as the people they support who have brought this disease on the world. There can be no other explanation for believing in "leaders" who are this evil.
let the eradication begin......
Ali Sina, an ex-Muslim from Iran. He is the creator of Faithfreedom.org.
Yet I know that by eradicating Islam we can save the world from the dangers of a catastrophe that otherwise is looming over our heads and could cause more disaster than the 1st and 2nd World Wars combined. Eradication of Islam means restoring peace among humanity and civility, democracy and prosperity in the Muslim world.
http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/sina/why_i_left_islam.htm
Posted by tejasdemo at 03:31 PM : Feb 07, 2007
They have no soul, no heart. They are sociopaths one and all. It's a form of mental illness to support this type of madness. They're as sick as the people they support who have brought this disease on the world. There can be no other explanation for believing in "leaders" who are this evil.
This war and the illegal, immoral means used to start it have not been worth 1 life. Not one !
How do Republicans sleep at night knowing how many lives they have destroyed ?
It's not MSM, but truth that has a liberal bias. Republicans, in typical Pavlovian dog form, proclaim "liberal bias" everytime they see or read a news report that doesn't conform to their world of make believe. This self-delusion would be sad it it weren't so dangerous and vicious.
The truth is that, were it not for big advancements by the US in battlefield medical technology, the casualty figures would be quite similar despite a smaller US military in Iraq as opposed to the number of US military that was present in Vietnam.
If 23,000 were wounded in combat and 53,000 were wouded overall, that means 30,000 were wounded in "non-combat". What the frig were these guys doing? Falling off of trucks, slamming face first into doors? Apparently, the US military is not only the most powerful on Earth, they are the clumsiest too. Yikes.
This would all be teribly funny if it weren't so tragic for so many thousands of people who are dead and maimed. Great job der Bush and his neo-con handlers. Maybe youa nd your crowqd will bankrupt the country financially - you've already doen the moral damage with years of lies and "half-truths."
A conservative without slogans is like a plague without disease.
As the old saying goes, "Perception is reality." It doesn't matter what the truth might be, the only issue of importance is what the individual in question believes to be true. They have whipped your fear with images and jingoistic phrases throughout your lifetime, Perception. They have repeated the mantra again and again until you can mumble the slogans in your sleep. They asked you to buy duct tape in preparation for the coming biological weapons attack so you trooped right down to WalMart and bought a whole box. You have it stocked neatly down in the cellar right next to those lima beans that were going to get you through Y2K. I'll stop typing now, as I know you have some black helicopters on which to keep your eye. Good vigilance to you, Sarge. I hear tell the Minutemen need some reinforcement along the border.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 59 Comments