The 4431 # is NOT bogus. It is factual, and derived from numbers recently printed in a recent LA Times article. Everyone seemed to miss it though. Perhaps because it's an extremely long article replete with various data. Now that you're tipped off, read it yourself to see if you can catch the slip up. For those short on time as well as the skeptical, I will spell it out in painful detail. Democrats everywhere have to start using this number, and stop using the official pentagon undercount, because this illustrates the damnning cynicism behind the Republican Culture of Corruption.
The key bit of data revealing how to figure the actual number of killed in action in Iraq (4431NOT 2544) read this lengthy L.A. Times article.:
http://www.latimes.com/...
The article is full of stats courtesy of the DofD. The current data can be found here. I have used data current at the time I am writing this post to calculate the true #.:
http://64.233.187.104/...
Luckily and ironically all the information anyone needs is contained in one succinct Pentagon statistic: blatently mentioned in the LA Times article.
Despite the destructive force of roadside bombs, the rate of wounded who die is lower in Iraq than for any war in U.S. history. Since the war began three years ago, about 10% of those wounded have died of their injuries,according to the Pentagon
With that number anyone can now calculate the REAL total of Troops killed in Action in Iraq. All you need are the current DoD casualty numbers at the link I provided above.
First: multiply the official Pentagon numbers for "soldiers wounded in Iraq" by 10%
18,874 X .10 (or 10%) = 1887 who have NOT been included in the official Pentagon Killed in Action statistic for Iraq, because they died LATER, not on the battlefield from wounds suffered IN Iraq ON the battlefield, and outside Iraq (In Germany, or after being transferred Stateside.)
Then add that result to the released Pentagon undercount for Soldiers KIA while serving in Iraq.
2544 KIA(officially undercounted) + 1887 WIA and died later = 4,431 the TRUE ACTUAL TOTAL number of military personnel killed in Iraq
Remember when quoting this #:
1.) KIA has been redefined to EXCLUDE military Wounded In Action, and Die after being taken from the battlefield. Those military never count towards the Killed In Action number. For information on the policy changes that have resulted in dramatic undercounts of KIA in Iraq go here:
[http://www.dissidentvoice.org/....]
2.) OTHER DEATHS is the NON-descript catagory for Military personnel who subsequently die from wounds suffered while serving in Iraq. This seeming trivial detail has been universally effective in blinding people to the obvious.
Democrats we cannot win if we are shy about telling the truth.
Americans have absolutely NO tolerance for deceptions in regards to the sacrifices of our military, especially in the Red States. Truths like this will get them angry enough to kick the Republicans out of office. :-)
If Americans find out the actual KIA # is closer to 5000, the pro-war Republicans will not be able to justify the sacrifice nor explain the misleading, lying numbers.
Official estimates predict we will go above 5000 deaths by the end of 2006.
Every time we use the undercount as if it were the truth, the Big lie wins one against Patriotic Americans everywhere.
Defeating the big lie requires repeating the BIG TRUTH AD NAUSEAM.
Someone at the Pentagon gave us the truth. Now we have to be brave enough and consistantly use the truth for it to be effective. :-)