The media operates differently than it did many years ago. There is so much competition in that field now that they try hard to be the first to break any news story, and at times they become a nuisance.  They also seem to feel they must update the number of casualties each day in Iraq.  The U.S. war casualties in Iraq from March of 2003 to June of 2005 was 1741. In perspective, here are some other interesting war casualty figures from the past. (source: Dept. of Defense).  

4,435  Revolutionary War  (1775-1783) 116,516  World War I       (1917-1918) 405,399  World War II  (1941-1945)  36,574  Korean War   (1950-1953)  58,200  Vietnam War  (l964-l975)  195  Afghanistan   (2001-2005)

    Other interesting non-war death statistics include: 129 killed in airplane disasters each year; 728 deaths from bicycles (in 2004 alone)  2,819 uncalled for World Trade Center deaths  by terrorists (9-11)  3,000 Africans died from mosquito bites; 3,239 deaths due to lightning (approx. 90 each year) 15,517 murders in the U.S. in 2000 alone; 29,199 suicide deaths in the U.S. (1999)  42,900 died in auto crashes in 2001 (114 each day)

    If the media are going to report war casualties each day and every day, perhaps they should also report the daily auto fatalities and murders of Americans on Americans daily.  There are those who want us to pull out of Iraq because of these daily deaths, but would they want US to retreat from driving cars since more die per day than our servicemen in Iraq? I think not.  This puts the war in Iraq in perspective. Think about it. God Bless the U.S. Military who are putting their lives on the line for the cause of freedom.  

KK

© 07-08-2005