Media manipulation regarding the loss of lives in Iraq is nothing new, but according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a total amount of 73,846 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the beginning of the occupation. Although the US military today has much faster and safer services for evacuating injured soldiers than it had 37 years ago, it has lost about 25% more soldiers on the battlefield in Iraq than in Vietnam. The estimated number of US fatalities in Vietnam totals 58,195 men and women.
As another element of its strategy, the US government has restricted the US press from showing images of the coffins coming returning from Iraq, and it has even kept secret the number of deaths by using peculiar methods for counting them: deaths en route or post evacuation are not counted as combat deaths.
US operations in Iraq have left behind at least 1820 tons of depleted uranium, enough radioactive material to eliminate one third of the world’s population, according to some scientific estimates.
Title: “Iraq War Deaths Exceed Vietnam War Numbers”
Author: Gary Vey
Publication: Viewzone
Date of Publication: June 2011
URL: http://www.viewzone.com/wardeaths.html
Student Researcher: Álvaro García Nieto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty Evaluator: Luis Luján (Research Assistant) and Miguel Álvarez-Peralta (Research Assistant), Universidad Complutense de Madrid