Just as we can classify combat troops as non-combat troops we can call war dead "nonhostile."
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Stalled Withdrawal
What this article tells you is the MILITARY and MSM are COVERING UP the WAR DEAD just as they have since 9/11.
Also see: AmeriKan MSM Continues to Ignore American War Dead
"Accidental deaths plaguing US in Iraq; Military aiming to reduce toll" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | May 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - The 130,000 American troops serving in Iraq are more likely to die in accidents, from natural causes, or in other "nonhostile" incidents than at the hands of insurgents, according to Defense Department statistics for the past eight months ending in April.
Then GOOD LORD why are we STILL THERE?
The statistics highlight the dramatic reduction of violence in Iraq over the past year, but also underscore a challenge that has bedeviled US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since hostilities began: A steady stream of soldiers and Marines are losing their lives in circumstances that are often preventable.
In response to the growing number of deaths and injuries occurring outside combat - most of which are attributed to accidents - the Defense Department recently approved plans to hire hundreds of additional safety specialists to deploy with Army and Marine Corps units, according to top safety officials. The military has also initiated a series of new training drills such as a simulation exercise that teaches troops how to escape if their Humvee rolls over.
Notice there is NEVER ANY THOUGHT to ENDING the EMPIRE and BRINGING OUR TROOPS HOME? Never enters the debate! We are OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES -- according to the lying MSM and military.
In my view, THEY ARE ALL WAR DEAD because they SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN THERE!!!!! This WHOLE THING was built upon LIES and PEOPLE SEEM to FORGET THAT HERE!!!
Well, REMEMBER it the NEXT TIME they try to SELL YOU a WAR, 'murka!! Or ANOTHER OCCUPATION like is currently underway regarding Pakistan!
Some specialists, meanwhile, also expressed concern that an increase in accidental gunshot wounds and suicides may be new evidence of pressure on troops who have served multiple tours.
Yes, thank you very much, George W. Bush!
Related: Surprise!: Boston Globe Discovers Anti-War Protests
Now BRING THEM HOME, 'bamer!
Paul Reickhoff, an Iraq veteran who is now president of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a leading advocacy group.:
"That is a sign of wear on the force. It has become cumulative."
Did you just feel a draft?
Officials say they have made strides in controlling some types of accidents, such as vehicle rollovers. But those declines have been offset by the increase in weapons accidents and suicides, meaning that the rate of deaths by nonhostile causes has remained fairly steady throughout the Iraq war - between 100 and 175 per year.
Translation: The MILITARY is HIDING the TRUE COST of the WAR by calling these deaths "nonhostile." Suicides and "accidental" shootings sound like pretty hostile acts against oneself, no?
What else are they hiding? Chemical sicknesses and depleted uranium contamination?
Compared with past conflicts, the percentage of nonhostile deaths is at a historic high. A full 20 percent - or 1 out of every 5 - of all US troop deaths in Iraq have been the result of nonhostile wounds. In Afghanistan - where far fewer US troops have been engaged in combat - the share of nonhostile deaths is nearly half of the total, although, with violence increasing, hostile deaths are on the increase.
But in nearly every article you read it is violence down because of the surge, etc, etc. Bush gotta look good for the official propagandists.
While officials stressed that the casualty information is far more accurate and detailed today than it was in the past, in both cases those percentages are higher than in the Vietnam and Korean wars, according to historical Defense Department data. Military officials began taking notice last summer that, even as overall violence in Iraq declined, nonhostile incidents continued unabated - and in some categories increased.
Some would suggest that it is because no soldier likes to face up to the fact that he is a Nazi tool of empire.
"Unfortunately, according to casualty and medical reports, noncombat injuries and illnesses are now the number one hazard in Iraq," an internal report by the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned concluded.
Then WE SHOULD BE COMING HOME!!!!!
The biggest cause of nonhostile deaths remains accidents. Since the start of the war in March 2003 more than 500 troops have died from vehicle or aircraft crashes and other accidents such as falls, according to the data. Dozens more have drowned, while at least 26 troops were slain by fellow soldiers.
Another major cause of accidents are so-called negligent discharges - or accidental gunshots - which the Marine Corps report said increased every year between 2004 and 2008, including those involving "more senior, highly trained personnel." More than 180 troops have died from accidental gunshot wounds since the invasion, most recently two Marines in Anbar Province who died within the past two weeks, according to the Pentagon.
Highly trained personnel with accidental discharges, etc? I don't know about that. Maybe they aren't as highly trained as claimed, hmm?
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Miller, the top ground safety officer at Marine Corps headquarters, said many of the accidental-discharge deaths involved units that had recently arrived in the combat zone, suggesting that lack of training played a role.
"Now you are armed to the teeth 24-7 and you are walking around essentially with a loaded weapon all the time," he said. "Even when you go to the shower you bring your personal weapon with you. There is a learning curve."
You need your weapon in the shower? In the latrine, too?
Other gunshot accidents have been traced to complacency or fatigue, he said. "If it's 3 o'clock in the morning and you've been on a combat patrol for the last eight hours you can sometimes miss some things," Miller said.
Have the lies been worth it, America? Seriously, how much longer?
Now, the Marines are preparing an aggressive effort to get safety specialists into every major fighting unit overseas, recently approving plans to more than triple the number of so-called tactical safety specialists over the next 18 months from 78 to 245.
"Every infantry battalion, every combat logistics battalion, is going to have a full-time safety specialist to work with the commander to identify and abate the hazards and risks associated in theater," Miller said....
Yup, NEVER a THOUGHT as to ENDING the ILLEGAL and IMMORAL OCCUPATION though!!!!!!!!!
That's why AmeriKa's War Media is a real bummer!
Would we really miss the Boston Globe (one of the outlets that helped lie us into this mess)? Articles like this are too few and far between, and even then there is really no debate in the Globe or any other AmeriKan newspaper.
