US deaths in Iraq near 20,000

Oh, this is good.

We were deeply moved by a comment by Richard Cheney to John Edwards during the recent debate concerning the relative contributions made by members of the “coalition.” Cheney said that Edwards “won’t count the sacrifice and the contribution of Iraqi allies. It’s their country. They’re in the fight. They’re increasingly the ones out there putting their necks on the line to take back their country from the terrorists and the old regime elements that are still left. . . You suggested. . . somehow they shouldn’t count, because you want to be able to say that the Americans are taking 90 percent of the sacrifice. You cannot succeed in this effort if you’re not willing to recognize the enormous contribution the Iraqis are increasingly making to their own future.”

We agree that not only has Edwards been deficient in this regard but so have we. We shall henceforth operate on the Cheney principle and count not just the casualties of America and its invading allies , but those of the Iraqi people, both military and civilian, as well. We trust other media will follow suit and that readers, out of respect towards the vice president, will urge them to do so.

The current count is as follows, using the lower estimates in case of conflicting calculations:

AMERICAN COALITION CASUALTIES

Deaths (military and civilian): 19,068

Wounded: 47,413

I thought this was one of Cheney’s darkest moments in the debate, making it sound as though Edwards didn’t care about Iraqi lives because he didn’t mention them along with the US caualties. A perfect example of changing the subject and attacking the opponent when you can’t argue against their point. (In this case, Edwards’ point was that as much as bush calls it a “coalition,” most of the blood spilled has been American, by a long shot.)

Via Tapped.

The Discussion: 5 Comments

When you look at the figures how many of those Iraqis were civilians killed by the US, insurgents (nasty men with guns) and how many were Iraqi police etc.

I’m pretty certain that the US has killed more civilians in Iraq that it has killed insurgents, and that’s just since Bush declared victory.

October 9, 2004 @ 3:38 am | Comment

Most of the blood spilled has been American?

I guess Iraqis don’t have blood!

No wonder you care so little about their new freedom!

October 9, 2004 @ 6:45 am | Comment

Where did you get the number of 19,000+ Iraqis killed? I visited a site today and it said it didn’t know, but said the minimum was 13,000 and max. 15,000+

October 9, 2004 @ 8:20 am | Comment

Michael, I care about their freedom. We aren’t giving them fredom now. Have you watched as, due to our lack of planning, we gave them no water, no electricity, no security and Abu Ghraib? This was no way to give a people freedom. Quite the contrary.

Keir, the number was not mine, but from thepost I cited. I’ve seen different numbers from 10,000 to 30,000, but that’s hard to ascertain since the Iraqi government has stopped releasing the figures. It doesn’t make us look good, and we can’t have any of that.

October 9, 2004 @ 9:12 am | Comment

Michael

Iraqis don’t notice their new found freedom becasue they havn’t got it yet. There is still not democracy and no freedom from persicution, in fact things have gotten worse.

The old adminstration might have been one of the worst in the modern age, but it kept a lib on a lot of things that the US isn’t.

Violent crime, reprisal attacks and ‘terrosit activities’ are common place and basic supplies like food and water are in far shorter supply than before the war. Civilians are being gunned down or imprisioned and tortured by US soldiers and there have already been ‘suspisious deaths’ in custody. More people are dieing each day than did under the old government.

Religous tensions are high, freedom of speach has been limited by US media censorship and the closing down of newspapers that don’t support the US and there are more guns on the strets than there were during the invasion.

What has improved? where is the freedom? It’s been promissed but it hasn’t materialised yet.

October 10, 2004 @ 8:25 pm | Comment

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