9K US dead?
Is this claim true? Is Brian Harring a reliable source?
Subject: 9K US dead? is this lie impeachment-worthy?
06.18.2005 Jim Lampley
The Ultimate Deception?
A Bush-watcher website identified as TBRNews.org is reporting under the byline of "domestic intelligence reporter" Brian Harring that the Department of Defense is using a cynical tactic to mislead the public regarding the true death toll for American military personnel in Iraq.
Harring claims he has an internal pdf. file from the D.O.D. which establishes that nearly 9000 Americans have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but that the official number has been held to 1713 by designating as Iraq deaths only those who perish on Iraqi soil. The remainder, he says, are military personnel who have died en route to Germany or in German hospitals-- casualties of the war, but not listed in the official death toll.
There was a post on DailyKos recently debunking this story and included work from iCasualties.org. The DailyKos post, with links to a statistical database, is available here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/20/24437/8204
The newly created Open CRS network has a page focusing on casualties in Iraq. This site includes papers prepared for the Congressional Research Service - a wing of Congress.
http://www.opencrs.com/document/RS21578/
The most recent report comes from June 6, 2005. Since the war "officially" started on March 19, 2003 it lists 1,674 deaths and 12,762 wounded in action. Of those, 6,367 have not returned to duty. I do not believe these counts include media, private contractors or other US citizens on the ground in Iraq.
If there is some sort of conspiracy holding down the numbers, it would be quite a feat. The story of 9000 casualties has not gained traction among "mainstream" media outlets as no mention comes up in Lexis Nexis or Ebscohost databases.