EDITORIAL – Troop casualties undercounted by 17,000

The war in Iraq — and, to a lesser extent, the occupation of Afghanistan — is a war of… The war in Iraq — and, to a lesser extent, the occupation of Afghanistan — is a war of numbers: $85 billion budgeted, 30 countries in the coalition, and about 8,200 U.S. casualties, 1,000 of those fatalities.

Yet, a recent report done by United Press International indicates that the last number might be a little short — around 17,000 short.

Without much notice, the Pentagon has revised its definition of the term “casualty.” UPI reports that, in December, it included all those missing, injured and ill, in addition to fatalities. With further clarification this month, however, it redefined casualty as fatalities and those injured in combat, but not all the others.

So the casualty reports we’ve gotten list those killed (both in combat and non-combatively) and injured in action, according to Pentagon statements, leaving out the 17,000 personnel who have been otherwise medically evacuated.

War — or combative occupation, or whichever euphemism du jour we’re using — taxes soldiers physically. Neither Iraq’s deserts nor Afghanistan’s mountains are what most consider ideal vacation destinations. The climates are hostile, the locals are unfriendly and armed, military food is nothing to write home about and there’s the constant fear of being killed. It’s like Cleveland, but with landmines.

People are getting sick, and their illnesses have been underreported. The public has a right to know about not only death totals in battle, but also about the full condition of the war. That about 17,000 people have been medically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan tells more about the statistics of the war than do imbedded reporters or skewed casualty lists.

A July military study printed in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that about 16 percent of troops returning from Iraq now suffer from mental disorders — which, along with kidney stones and persistent fever, wouldn’t be reported as casualties. This study shows the pervasiveness of non-combat-related illnesses. And those are just mental disorders.

Who knows what the rest of the 17,000 medically evacuated troops are suffering from? Heatstroke? Trench foot? Pacifism?

Uncertainty over this number casts a fair amount of doubt upon all the numbers we’ve been getting. Where does the credibility gap begin, and who is being left off of the lists?

We should know the numbers, good or bad. The public has been misled, and the Pentagon should hone a definition of “casualty” and stick to it. It owes it to the troops, and to the truth.