The LAT article that follows, 5 U.S. troops killed as Afghan violence swells - serves as an example of how the Pentagon and the media reports deaths of occupying troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's a typical, mundane capitalist media report that deliberately ignores the real story of the suffering and death yielded by the 9 year "war on terror".
Media methods of reporting military casualties
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Gerrick D. Smith died on July 29 in Afghanistan from "non-combat-related death". He was promoted to a rank of Sgt. after his death. Will he be listed among his dead comrades? |
The corporate media continues to report deaths of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq with numbers of 1 or 2 here and 3 or 4 there - in drips and drabs. It's just another cheap and dirty way of hiding the truth from the public. One has to go digging to find the total numbers killed and wounded and even then, it appears that they are under-reported.
Rarely counted are the actual numbers of wounded and the resulting lifetime of suffering that follows. The cut-off period for reporting a soldier dying as a result of injuries is about 2-3 weeks. It's difficult to know if non-combat-related deaths are counted in the total numbers of dead soldiers, but it appears that they are not. These are deaths by "friendly fire", suicide, accidents, homocide, illness and "reckless negligence of command". Usually, non-combat-related deaths are simply reported as "under investigation" by the Pentagon and the truth about their cause of death is difficult to know, even for family members.
The Truth is difficult to find, but it is there
While the truth is difficult to find, what is obvious is that the death toll among both, Afghans and U.S. soldiers continues to grow, almost exponentially, under the escalation of the war under the Obama regime. Like Iraq Body Count, Pentagon-friendly iCasualties.com reports 12 U.S. solders were reported killed in Afghanistan in 2001. 294 occupying soldiers were killed in 2008, 155 of them U.S. Already, in the first 7 months and 1 week in 2009, 251 were killed, 143 of them, U.S. In July alone, the bloodiest month in 9 years, 76 occupying have been killed. In the first week of August, 2009, 17 occupying soldiers have been reported killed, 11 of them U.S., 4 British, 2 Canadian, 1 French and 1 - country not yet reported.
In nine years, the 3 countries with the largest numbers of soldiers killed in Afghanistan are: United States: 773; the U.K.: 195; Canada: 128. The numbers of dead from rest of the so-called "coalition forces" are in the single and double-digits, ranging from 1 to 33.
Afghan Resistance Soldiers Killed
CBS/AP reported on July 29,
"Nearly 3,800 insurgents were killed in 2008, based on figures collected by The Associated Press. Some of those numbers came from U.S. military statements; others came from Afghan authorities. So far in 2009, more than 2,310 insurgents have been killed, according to the AP count."
These spurious numbers come from unreliable sources. They are reported by the invading army and their cooperative corporate media to give the impression that they are winning the war. Like the deaths of occupying soldiers, they've been reported in bits and pieces when the number of "kills" they were able to claim in a particular battle, created the illusion of winning. They used the same practice in Vietnam with their daily body counts. Who is it that defines "insurgent" or "militant" and how? Often those killed have been described as "suspected militants" and just as often, alongside their "suspected militants" lay scores of dead Afghan civilians.
On July 23, 2009 the LAT reported, that the U.S. has decided to stop reporting the numbers of the Afghan Resistance they are killing. Here are the reasons they give for their change in policy.
"Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan -- Military officials in Afghanistan have ordered a halt to the practice of releasing the number of militants killed in fighting with American-led forces as part of an overall strategy shift and an effort to portray to the Afghan people a different U.S. approach to the war.
"Under the new order, issued by Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the military will not release specifics on how many insurgents are killed in fighting and will instead provide estimates. The change is part of a strategy to make the Afghan people feel safer, and it comes as U.S. commanders are instituting measures to avoid civilian casualties.
"We send the wrong message if all we talk about is the number of insurgents killed. It doesn't demonstrate anything about whether we have made progress," said Smith, who arrived six weeks ago to overhaul U.S. and NATO communications efforts. "We want to shift the mind-set ... "We have to show we are here to protect the people."
Instead of reporting the numbers of Afghan Resistance killed, the occupation forces speak in general terms about their success. On July 12, 2009, Canadian General Jonathan Vance said in a much reported news conference that "the Taliban-led insurgency is in 'disarray'." The statement belies the fact that the Taliban control 72% of Afghanistan and have the U.S. puppet-president, Karzai holed up and surrounded in Kabul. Some "disarray"! We'll never know the true count of Afghanis who have been killed in their heroic struggle against the invaders - just as we'll never know the real number of Afghan civilians who have been slaughtered in this Goddamned war.
Civilian Body Counts Don't Count
I don't often use the words "always" and "never", but will do so this time. The corporate media always downplays the wounded, dead and misery of Afghans under the brutal U.S.-led war in both countries; instead, they tap the emotions for the "heroic", dead U.S. soldiers with headlines and photos. The lives of their foreign victims count for little to nothing. Moreover, when Afghan and Iraqi civilian casualties are reported, the western media typically blames it on "sectarian violence", "roadside bombs" and "suicide bombers" - pointing to the Resistance as the cause, but rarely caused directly by the U.S. military except when it's impossible to ignore. There is no realistic count for the numbers of Afghans or Iraqis wounded and killed over the 9 year period because, as Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasion of Iraq once said, "We don't do body counts."
After the Vietnam war, the butchers learned that the body counts they bragged and lied about then, only worked against their agenda. Their short-sighted lies to give the appearance that they were winning in Vietnam came back to destroy their "mission" under the scourge of the victorious Vietnamese and when public opinion, at long last, turned against the war. Their lies now haunt them and us with at least a million people slaughtered in Vietnam.
Where the numbers are headed
We conclude with words about the occupying soldiers killed. It is obvious that these are the only numbers that matter to the U.S. and the pottage of governments they've been able hustle. Nor would these numbers matter were it not for the bad PR their dead soldiers bring against them. Where are we headed? Incredibly, on August 8, the head of the British army warned that England could be in Afghanistan for another 40 years. In January the then defence secretary, Des Browne, warned that British troops could be fighting in Afghanistan for decades. This directly contradicts Obama's nonsense and double-talk about having an "exit strategy". Time supports him with this telling, Nixonian pretzel logic: "Americans don't want a long war in Afghanistan. But the only way to avoid one may be to convince Afghans that the U.S. isn't going anywhere."
58,268 names are carved into the granite wall at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. One day we will see a "War on Terror Memorial" constructed and the number of names to be inscribed on that wall is yet unknown. With currently under-reported numbers of U.S. soldiers dead in the "war on terror" at over 5,000, how many will be killed in the coming decades? How many from England, Canada, France and other "coalition" countries? Perhaps the invaders will be bankrupted with a collapse of their capitalist system and forced to abandon their bloody project. But for now, the answer depends on the strength of the Afghan Resistance, the Iraqi Resistance, The Palestinian Resistance - and the will and courage of people like us, who say that we are opposed to war.
- Les Blough, Editor
Note: Photos and references gathered from a variety of sources and added to this article by the author.
Afghans dig graves after an air strike in Gozara district of Herat province February 17, 2009. In an air strike in western Afghanistan that Afghan police say killed 12 civilians and U.S. forces said killed 16 militants. (Photo -Reuters). More photos and story at Rawa News)
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| The deaths bring to 11 the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan so far in August, on the heels of what was the worst month for Western and U.S. troop fatalities since the conflict began in 2001. Of the 74 foreign troops killed in July, 43 were American. (BBC) |
Coalition Military Fatalities in Afghanistan By Year
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Occupying soldiers killed, listed by country as reported |
Related Article
5 U.S. troops killed as Afghan violence swells
L.A. Times by Laura King
August 7, 2009
| 26 Afghans, most of them members of a wedding party, are reported killed in roadside bombings. The Americans died in two separate incidents. (emphasis added) |
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan -- The pace of American combat deaths in Afghanistan has quickened anew as roadside bombs killed five U.S. troops in 24 hours in the same western province, the American military said Thursday.
The deaths bring to 11 the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan so far in August, on the heels of what was the worst month for Western and U.S. troop fatalities since the conflict began in 2001. Forty-three American military personnel died in July. Violence has been surging in advance of Afghanistan's presidential and provincial assembly elections, which are two weeks away. In addition to the troop fatalities, a total of 26 Afghans, most of them members of a wedding party, were reported killed in roadside bombings Thursday.
The U.S. deaths occurred in Farah province, bordering Iran, where a force consisting mainly of U.S. Marines staffs a string of small forward operating bases set deep in the desert. They are connected by a route American forces have been struggling for months to keep free of roadside bombs, which have made travel extremely dangerous for villagers and military convoys alike.
One of the fatalities occurred Wednesday, and the other four, in a single incident, came Thursday, the U.S. military said. Such "clusters" of fatalities are becoming less uncommon; three American soldiers were killed over the weekend in a roadside bombing in the south.
Some American field commanders have said that more insurgents may be moving into Farah in response to a major U.S.-led offensive in Helmand province, to the east, which began in early July. But insurgents had been tightening their grip on Farah even before the Helmand offensive.
Faced with a far stronger force of 4,000 Marines who have seized the lower Helmand River valley, insurgents have avoided a full-on battlefield confrontation, melting away into the countryside while redoubling their efforts to seed the roads with explosives.
The roadside bombings in Helmand on Thursday killed 21 members of a wedding party and five police officers, Afghan officials said. The wedding-party blast also injured at least five other people, said Helmand's police chief, Asadullah Sherzad.
The roadside bomb that hit the wedding party was almost certainly aimed at coalition troops. A tractor carrying the party, which included women and children, set off the buried bomb on a road in Garmser district, which Western troops have repeatedly tried to clear of insurgents.
Marines occupied the district for much of last year and returned last month with the current offensive.
Elsewhere in Helmand, a vehicle carrying Afghan police officers struck a roadside bomb in Nad Ali district, another insurgent stronghold. Five officers were killed and three others injured, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, controversy erupted over allegations that a Western airstrike late Wednesday resulted in civilian deaths in Kandahar province, which borders Helmand.
The police chief in Zhari district said five farmers were killed as they loaded produce into a truck, preparing to take it to Kandahar city. The U.S. military, however, said it was believed the five were loading the truck with munitions.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said the incident would be investigated, including a review of cockpit video from the Apache attack helicopter that carried out the strike.
Civilian casualties are a point of major tension between Western forces and Afghan officials. A United Nations report said noncombatant deaths rose nearly 25% in the first half of 2009, with about 60% of them blamed on insurgents and most of the remainder on coalition forces.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, on a visit to Afghanistan, said at a news conference Wednesday in Kabul, the capital, that the alliance would do everything in its power to avoid causing civilian casualties.
The new commander of American and Western forces, U.S. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has also ordered field commanders to make safeguarding civilian lives their top priority.