Think Progress

Pentagon Covering Up Tens of Thousands of U.S. Casualties In Official Reports

Seven Members of Congress issued a letter this week charging that the Pentagon is systematically “under-reporting casualties in Iraq by only reporting non-fatal casualties incurred in combat.” They asked for a full accounting of the accurate numbers.

Their letter cited a CBS News report:

The Pentagon declined to be interviewed, instead sending a letter that contained information not included in published casualty reports. “More than 15,000 troops with so-called ‘non-battle’ injuries and diseases have been evacuated from Iraq,” wrote the Department of Defense. John Pike, Director of GlobalSecurity.org told 60 Minutes in that segment that this uncounted casualty figure “would have to be somewhere in the ballpark of over 20, maybe 30,000.”

But that CBS report came in November 2004. Today, more than a year later, those numbers have risen significantly. This morning, Salon.com published details of an October ‘05 Veterans Affairs report showing that 119,247 off-duty Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are receiving health care from the V.A.

[T]he statistics seem to show that a lot of those health problems are war-related. For example, nearly 37,000 have mental disorders, including nearly 16,000 who have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Over 46,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan receiving benefits from the V.A. have musculoskeletal problems. These are all veterans who within the last four years were considered by the military to be mentally and physically fit enough to fight.

These men and women have suffered injuries that will impact them for the rest of their lives. The Bush calculation: better to have higher Iraq approval numbers than recognize their sacrifices.




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155 Responses to “Pentagon Covering Up Tens of Thousands of U.S. Casualties In Official Reports”

  1. pro-troops Says:

    This is why the criminal NY Times and other MSM need to be exposed. Their pro-war agenda has caused them to continually supress the truth. It's not just Judy Miller. She was paid and supported by Punch and the rest of the gang.

    Idiot Democrats, and the failure to have a strong media message from progressives has allowed this fake 'pro-troops' mantra to survive in the face of an astonishing amount of mistreatment of our citizens in uniform

    http://www.awolbush.com/


  2. unbelievable Says:

    How sad that this isn't even surprising... What aren't they lying about?


  3. Will Says:

    Nothing surprises me about these deplorable fools anymore. They use our young as fodder, never sacrificing any of their own of course, and hope we don't figure out the real cost.

    Those serving under Rumsfeld and the generals who are still in the Pentagon are nothing but a bunch of wimpy-ass chickenshits to allow this to happen.


  4. MichDem Says:

    Fallujah's streets were strewn with bodies that weren't wearing unis , troops just follow orders . A rocket doesen't know the differrence between civis or insurgents .


  5. Grouchy’s Liberaltopia » The Truth Is Always The First Casualty Of War Says:

    [...] Think Progress has some details on the Salon article: Pentagon Covering Up Tens of Thousands of Iraq Casualties In Official Reports [...]


  6. earl Says:

    Your wording makes it sound like you're talking about Iraqis and Afghanis, not U.S. soldiers. it becomes clear, but I just thought I'd mention it.


  7. Susan Says:

    I'm not surprised about this report. Look at how many times we have read about returning soldiers going nuts in public. You know, shooting anything that moves because they suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome. Look at the divorce rate among soldiers.

    You cant spend years blowing away women and children and not be affected by it if you are a human being with a conscience. And thats just the mental part of it.

    A guy I know who returned from Iraq is completely off the wall. A former company I worked for tried to employ him but his mental problems made it impossible for us to allow him to work. He's under continued pychiatric care and I doubt his nightmares will ever end.

    The physical part is very devastating to our troops. Just because they are alive doesn't mean they are doing well.

    A school mate of mine returned from Desert Storm years ago and he still suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. When he returned he was unrecognizable. He lost his teeth and he lost most of his muscle mass due to malnutrition. He's a mess.

    Another guy in my community is paralyzed from the neck down. He's in the exact condition Chris Reeves was. The community is taking care of him and has built him a handicap accessible home. When he dies he will be a casualty of the Iraq war only years later.

    Let Lieberman and the rest of the chickenhawks take the place of these young soldiers, they're nuts anyway so no loss to us.


  8. Admin Says:

    Made the change, Earl. Thanks


  9. mighty aphrodite Says:

    OH MY GOD!!!!! The FIRST war in history in which innocent men, women and children were killed and injured!!!!! (P.S. 60 years ago, no one was happy to have innocents killed and maimed in Dresden, Hiroshima or Nagasaki - IT'S called WAR!)


  10. KillCon 2006 Says:

    I have excellent news for you Hermafrodite! You will be able to get your health insurance to pay for your disorders soon! You and IRRItant and the rest of you mental patients are about to go mainstream!


  11. mighty aphrodite Says:

    P.S. GOOD NEWS - progs have that has-been Senator, John Kerry, to carry the torch for the dead and injured innocents of war - all over again!!! John Kerry - a pathetic example of how history repeats itself.


  12. unbelievable Says:

    #9

    I genuinely hope you don't have children. Your lack of compassion will keep them in therapy for years.

    The outrage of this thread is about the lying that got us into this war, and keeps us in this war. Not that we expect you to understand that.


  13. Funkycolemadina Says:

    mighty aphrodite,

    sometimes it is better to remain silent and be "thought" a fool...

    oh, the rest of it goes

    ..than to open your F'n mouth and prove to all what an F'n dumb piece of S you really are!!!!!!!1


  14. wwallace Says:

    The title: "Pentagon Covering Up Tens of Thousands of U.S. Casualties In Official Reports"

    But the post says: "This morning, Salon.com published details of an October ‘05 Veterans Affairs report..."

    Is Nico on dope? Why would anyone put such an obvious lie in the title of a post, then demonstrate it's a lie in the body of the post?


  15. Susan Says:

    #10 KillCon, Are you sure the article you posted wasn't about the hermaphrodite? Sure sounds like him/her.


  16. KillCon 2006 Says:

    They will still be petty, stupid, ugly and disgusting but at least they will get treatment for their mental disorders and illnesses! Ya can't have everything like us Progressives do.

    Mental health practitioners say they regularly confront extreme forms of racism, homophobia and other prejudice in the course of therapy, and that some patients are disabled by these beliefs. As doctors increasingly weigh the effects of race and culture on mental illness, some are asking whether pathological bias ought to be an official psychiatric diagnosis.


  17. KillCon 2006 Says:

    Liberalism still isn't a mental disorder (and never will be) but being like Michael "Weiner" Savage, or our trolls, IS!


  18. wwallace Says:

    If there's anyone in the world who needs a mental health practitioner, it's "KillCon2006".


  19. KillCon 2006 Says:

    If there’s anyone in the world who needs a mental health practitioner, it’s “KillCon2006″.

    Comment by wwallace

    Nah! When I have killed conservatives in the past I have always used the insanity defense. It works for me!


  20. afterthought Says:

    I wonder why the "adult" leadership in the WH is
    afraid to tell the truth about:

    * Casualties
    * Prisons
    * Torture
    * Cost
    * Energy policy
    * Plame leak
    * 911
    * MWD
    * Iraq and Osama
    * Climate change

    Are they afraid they can't "lead" without lying?


  21. Susan Says:

    Why hasn't Bushie secured the release of the 4 "Christian" hostages in Iraq?

    Could it be that he could care less about his fellow Christians? Or is it because these particular Christians are peaceful types?

    What do you think? Will they count as casualties when their dead?


  22. afterthought Says:

    Well Susan,

    I think the only crooked crony conservative
    value is hypocrisy, which should explain
    what they will do WRT the four hostages.
    They will NOT count as casualties because
    "it is their own fault" for believing there is
    anywhere close to "safe" in Iraq.


  23. unbelievable Says:

    DNC Fact Check: President Bush Said We Can't Win

    12/8/2005 1:13:00 PM

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To: National Desk, Political Reporter

    Contact: Karen Finney of the Democratic National Committee Staff, 202-863-8148

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the Democratic National Committee:

    The RNC got it wrong. Today, they falsely claimed that President Bush has always predicted victory in the War on Terror, and argued in a release that "President Bush Never Said We Couldn't Win." In fact, last summer, on the first day of his convention, President Bush told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today Show" that he didn't think "we can win it."

    NBC, "The Today Show", 8/30/04

    MATT LAUER: You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war of ter--on terror? For example, in the next four years?

    PRESIDENT BUSH: I have never said we can win it in four years.

    MATT LAUER: No, I'm just saying, can we win it? Do you say that?

    PRESIDENT BUSH: I don't--I don't think we can win it.


  24. KillCon 2006 Says:

    And on a more serious note... (not that mental illness isn't serious, especially when all the conservaturd politicians in office are suffering from it) an interesting story at DKos.


  25. Granite State Destroyer Says:

    Lets see if I have this right.

    Undercounting black and minority votes for elections.

    Undercount unemployment by allowing for those no longer getting benefits to be excluded from the count.

    Undercount the wounded and mentally ill soldiers from Iraq/Afghanistan.

    Undercount the death toll in Katrina.

    Don't count Iraqi civilian death toll period.

    George, let me help with some numbers.

    Texas executions under "compassionate conservative" G.W. Bush-150

    Dead US troops in Iraq-2,142

    Dead UK troops in Iraq-98

    Dead Coalitoin i Iraq-103

    Dead Iraqi civilians-30,000-100,000

    Dead US troops in Afghansitan-256

    Dead coalition in Afghansitan-65

    Dead US civilians 9/11(Bush forgot to read memo titled: "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the US"
    -3,000

    Katrina Dead-1,300

    Katrinia missing-6,000

    Doing a heckuva job on population control George W. Bush

    -GSD


  26. wwallace Says:

    afterthought, the administration hasn't lied though.

    Susan, they're not for peace, they're for the other side, like you are.


  27. HOT! TIP! Says:

    PRESIDENT BUSH: I don’t–I don’t think we can win it.
    How right he is!
    This is no ordinary war folks.
    This is a Jihad!


  28. afterthought Says:

    Are the "adults" in the WH going to
    hide behind lawyerly weasel
    parsing on casualties as well as
    all the rest?
    Nobody bought Condi's BS in Europe.
    They all know she is "parsing" the definition
    of "torture".


  29. KillCon 2006 Says:

    afterthought, the administration hasn’t lied though.

    Susan, they’re not for peace, they’re for the other side, like you are.

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 2:44 pm

    I love it when you talk that way. You are saying you are on the other side from us. You make it easy for us to demonize and dehumanize you. In fact, you do it for us. It makes it far easier for us D-eliminate you.


  30. Susan Says:

    Did wwwwallace say he hates Christians? Calling them the enemy and all..

    I thought you loved Bushie wwwwwwallace?

    I knew I could get him to admit his real feelings.


  31. Susan Says:

    Did wwwwallace say he hates Christians? Calling them the enemy and all..

    I thought you loved Bushie wwwwwwallace?

    I knew I could get him to express his real feelings.


  32. Susan Says:

    Guess that one bears repeating!


  33. mighty aphrodite Says:

    #10 - "I genuinely hope you don’t have children. Your lack of compassion will keep them in therapy for years.
    The outrage of this thread is about the lying that got us into this war, and keeps us in this war. Not that we expect you to understand that."
    Comment by unbelievable — December 10, 2005 @ 2:17 pm

    ***** Good news, Unbelievable (clever name!!) Mr. Aphrodite and I are the proud parents of FOUR darling little Republicans!!! When you mention "lying" about this war - are you referring to the intellgence proffered by our former President and his most intelligent bride???


  34. Susan Says:

    Wwwwwallace believes the Christian peace workers deserve to be killed.

    Look at post #


  35. Susan Says:

    Look at Post #26....


  36. wwallace Says:

    the administration hasn’t lied though.
    they’re NOT for peace!
    they’re for the other side!
    erhhhh! I,m Confused/ which side am i on?


  37. Susan Says:

    FOUR darling little Republicans!!!

    Are those the 4 that wwwallace believes should be killed?


  38. Granite State Destroyer Says:

    Aphrodite,

    Bill Clinton didn't march the nation into war. France, Russia and Germany didn't invade Iraq, no matter what their intelligence services said. Hillary and John Kerry and Jack Murtha didn't decide to invade Iraq.

    Will you be gladly putting the kevlar helmuts on your "little Republicans"(Are they much like Castro's little Revolutionaries?) and marching them off to war any time soon?

    Will you gladly watch your "little Republicans" die for this "war on terror"? Or will you be glad to send other peoples "little soldiers" off to war?

    God help your "little Republicans" because their mother is a very angry and bitter and hateful person.

    -GSD


  39. Susan Says:

    Darling Republicans can enlist too. Even if their parent has both sex organs. I looked it up.

    Hermaphodites children may be memebers of the military.


  40. wwallace Says:

    Thats Just great. Now dont know whcich side I,m on.'
    Thanks for confusing me.
    I guess its time to Revisit my Phycologist.


  41. Susan Says:

    A visit to the gynocologist couldn't hurt either wwwallace. I heard the hermaphrodite has contracted some form of virus that only spreads to bitter, angy, ugly, christian hating delussional people.
    You are in the high risk category.


  42. afterthought Says:

    The trend is pretty clear:

    * Want to torture? Change the definition
    from that which is generally accepted and call
    Geneva "quaint"
    * Too many dead? Use an odd definition of
    "casuality"
    * Want to save a "leaker"? Change your
    criterion for firing.
    * Want to ignore responsibility for 911? Call a daily
    briefing based on recent Intel. "historical".

    These guys are better than Orwell at playing word
    games.
    So strong in their convictions (there will be some
    of those soon) and their public support that
    they weasel EVERY word.
    Yeah, people should be REAL proud of these guys.


  43. Granite State Destroyer Says:

    Oh yes, and your brain stem will begin to regenerate too.

    -Dr. Granite


  44. KillCon 2006 Says:

    Thats Just great. Now dont know whcich side I,m on.’
    Thanks for confusing me.
    I guess its time to Revisit my Phycologist.

    Comment by wwallace

    Yes, well it was JFK who said that "sometimes party loyalty asks too much". But never for a Rovian Bushevik... eh, comrade?


  45. Fidel Says:

    GSD, Castro neevrmarched them off to war any time soon. Not that I know of. Do you know something I don,t Know
    ”(Are they much like Castro’s little Revolutionaries?) and marching them off to war any time soon?


  46. KillCon 2006 Says:

    Let's all go to the micologist and eat some magic mushrooms!


  47. Fidel Says:

    never marched


  48. Susan Says:

    Hurry wwwwwallace and hermaphrodite, your people need you in Toledo a.s.a.p. Bring a coat and some guns.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051210/ap_on_re_us/nazi_rally



  49. Granite State Destroyer Says:

    No the comment was rhetorical. The right wing demonizes Castro for his efforts to propagandize children into the ways of the "revolution"....I thought it was interesting that Mrs. Aphro was referring to her children as "little Republicans"...just seemed like a classic controlling right winger thing to do...My childrend are good little Republican robots, they have been programmed by me and Mr. Aphro to love God, hate Hillary and wish ill on all poor people who don't pick themselves up by the bootstraps and save themselves...except for Iraqis, we will belp them pick themselves up and give them momey for welfare, healthcare and free volleyballs form now until George W. Bush rides the streets of Baghdad like a Alexander the Great.

    Crazy world.

    -GSD


  50. unbelievable Says:

    #33

    I know you neocons don't get anything that isn't explained to you... I don't 'believe', so that makes me unbelievable. Play on words. I know, you're not very bright, I know it's hard for you.

    My parents were Republicans. So there is still hope for your unfortunate progeny yet!


  51. Swords of Righteousness Brigade Says:

    This is sooo sad. even though it HAS Been so Broadly Broadcasted!
    Its Your Fault, Osama!!!!

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10394646/


  52. Susan Says:

    Dear MoveOn member,

    Next Wednesday, MoveOn members will be delivering petitions to a congressional office in your region. The petition is signed by hundreds of thousands of people nationwide. The petition calls on Congress to insist "that America have an exit strategy from Iraq. We need a timeline that starts now and gets us out of Iraq in 2006."

    Congress has reached a tipping point on Iraq. Right now, politicians are considering whether to support an exit strategy, and they need to hear from us. If you can come on Wednesday and help present the petitions, click the link below to find a location and RSVP.

    http://political.moveon.org/event/iraqdeliveries/? =&id=6512-4799693-fwRVVtC_GeHWkQswomuy4Q&t=3

    Already a MoveOn member in your region has volunteered to lead and organize the petition delivery. But that person needs help and support from other MoveOn members.

    The plan is to gather outside the congressional office and then go inside and present the petition and list of signers to the staff. The local media will be invited and often report on events like this.

    This will send an important message to Congress that constituents want an exit strategy plan to bring the troops home from Iraq. Please RSVP today.

    Thanks for all you do.

    –Tom, Eli, Marika, Rosalyn and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
    Friday, December 9th, 2005

    Marie, I'll be at Henry Hydes office on the 14th. Can you attend?


  53. wwallace Says:

    "Marie, I’ll be at Henry Hydes office on the 14th. Can you attend?"

    I'm sure security has already been notified.


  54. Ryan Neat Says:

    if security had been doing their job, wwallace would already be in jail with the other terrorists :()


  55. Susan Says:

    If security had been doing their job, Bushie would be in jail handcuffed to wwwwallace.

    It really bugs wwwwallace when real Americans get off their asses and do real work.


  56. Susan Says:

    Lucky for us Illinoisans, Hyde isn't running again. Poor baby, the media got ahold of his long term extra marital affair and ran with it. He is an insignificant speck, never the less, it will be fun to stick it to him one more time.


  57. Susan Says:

    Wwwwwwallace, you are welcome to attend as a counter protester. See ya on the 14th.


  58. Marie Says:

    #9, This is a war we didn't have to undertake. This is a war of choice -- a war of substitution - this is criminal, and your beloved Bush is lying about the Americans who are dying and suffering from his folly.


  59. Marie Says:

    Susan, This is a bad week for me -- going to be tied up most of Wednesday (although I rec'd info on it and it's still on my desk in case something happens and I get some free time).


  60. Susan Says:

    Marie, there's one in Clarendon Hills too if that works better for you. Its during the lunch hour.


  61. Marie Says:

    Is there nothing that the Bushies don't lie about?
    I have learned to carefully listen to what they say because their words are chosen so they can deny them later. That's one reason why Bush won't take questions for non-scripted replies.
    From reading various sources, we have long suspected that the figures of casualties has been under-reported. What amazes me is that this information is from the V.A. and yet the VFW and other retired military organizations remain loyal to the commander...even as the Chimp in Chief is shown to have contempt and disrespect for the military pride of these guys; even as he denies the numbers that are injured; even as he slashes their benefits; even as he sends more and more healthy young people to fight his wrong war; even as he uses them and their uniforms as mere backdrops and stage props for his "shows" -- the veterans are proud of their service for America, and Bush shamelessly exploits that for himself.


  62. --Aj Says:

    #OH MY GOD!!!!! The FIRST war in history in which innocent men, women and children were killed and injured!!!!! (P.S. 60 years ago, no one was happy to have innocents killed and maimed in Dresden, Hiroshima or Nagasaki - IT’S called WAR!)

    Comment by mighty aphrodite — December 10, 2005 @ 2:11 pm

    Wrong again MAD, its not war its YOU and your B-School Husbandmen and their IDIOTIC interpretations of PLATO,
    Plato and Socrates Dialogue was about The Beginnings, if you READ it correctly, HUSBANDMEN means Hydrogen, you are NO GOD, WAR is FOR Profit, and YOU have been a SUCKER your Whole Life..Games OVER,
    Wake up.
    YOU have LOST the Biggest War of ALL, the War for the Peoples Hearts..All for What? Wordly Posessions?
    Money? Power that isnt? YOU ARE A FOOL, A Husbandmen FOOL.
    ITS HYDROGEN, MORON...-Aj


  63. Susan Says:

    Pretty pathetic when 20% of Iraq (Sunni's) can kick our asses.

    Before you know it, Easter Island will be kicking our asses too.


  64. Susan Says:

    Remember when the Army tried to lie about Pat Tillmans death when they found out that Tillman realized that the war he was fighting was wrong?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman

    McCain was just on CBS news using Tillman to further his agenda. Made me think of him.


  65. Susan Says:

    Oops, McCain was just on CBS news lying about Tillman..


  66. RS Janes Says:

    Vietnam redux. Inflated enemy body counts and low-balling our losses while defaming those who want to stop a gross (intentional) mistake as 'unpatriotic' and 'not supporting our troops.'

    Since we now know of the depleted uranium shells (sure to be the 'Agent Orange' of the next decade for our troops, and the slow death of many Iraqis), the use of white phosphorus, the wholsesale destruction of Iraqi neighborhoods, and torture chambers every bit as nasty as Saddam's, one wonders what other horrors the Pentagon is hushing up.

    Will we next find out we've been gassing innocent civilians, too?

    As Mrs. Aphrodite mentioned on this thread, this is called war. Yes, it is, a war that never had to be fought for reasons that have vanished.

    Mrs. A, why don't you leave your kids with the folks and you and Mr. A. sign up to fight in Iraq; it might change your mind real quick about the necessity for war and the flip dismissal of its horrors.


  67. KillCon 2006 Says:

    Pretty pathetic when 20% of Iraq (Sunni’s) can kick our asses.

    Before you know it, Easter Island will be kicking our asses too.

    Comment by Susan — December 10, 2005 @ 5:38 pm

    Susan,

    We can kick anybody's ass with both hands tied behind our backs when we use our military as it was designed to be used, i.e. kicking another military force's ass on a battlefield where we manuever and fight, shoot and scoot. Occupying a country that doesn't want you there can only be done the way Saddam, Hitler, Stalin, The Mongol hordes, the Romans did it... you get my drift.


  68. wwallace Says:

    The liberals/Democrats here do nothing but post an unending stream of hate-filled bile and lies about the president and America. They are the definition of unpatriotic.


  69. KillCon 2006 Says:

    The liberals/Democrats here do nothing but post an unending stream of hate-filled bile and lies about the president and America. They are the definition of unpatriotic.

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005

    Patriotism is the first refuge of a scoundrel. You've been hiding behind that flag since we took your grandaddy's slaves awa7y and kicked you off your plantation and made you go out and get a real job.


  70. wwallace Says:

    KillCon, your last post was entirely ad hominem. That violates the site Terms of Use.


  71. KillCon 2006 Says:

    The liberals/Democrats here do nothing but post an unending stream of hate-filled bile and lies about the president and America. They are the definition of unpatriotic.

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005

    Patriotism is the first refuge of a scoundrel. You've been hiding behind that flag since we took your great grandaddy's slaves awa7y and kicked him off the plantation and made him go out and get a real job. You'll get used to it.


  72. KillCon 2006 Says:

    KillCon, your last post was entirely ad hominem. That violates the site Terms of Use.

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 7:32 pm

    Was it? Why hasn't it been moderated then? Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I can even cite examples for you of clowny assed wingnut rednecks with websites dedicated to the proposition that the old south will rise again. Can you believe that? In this modern day and age? The Federalist Society to name just one. They even have their own Uncle Tom's. Perhaps you've heard of a few of them, Walter Williams, Armstrong Williams, Thomas Sowell and what's the name of that clown on the SCOTUS with the pubic hairs in his coca-cola? I always forget his name, perhaps because he has yet to write one decision. I just call him Long Dong Silver but he reminds me of Eldridge Cleaver too. In Soul On Ice, old Eldridge wrote, "The only thing I want black is my Cadillac". He loved the white women, too, old Eldridge did. Maybe they just don't like you here, wawa-walla.


  73. wwallace Says:

    KillCon, unfortunately, your racist diatribe is right at home on a Democratic party site such as this.


  74. KillCon 2006 Says:

    Tell me Tom DeLay and the GOP don't have a hard-on for slavery, wawa-walla, and convince me, and I will retract my comments. Otherwise, stick it up your redneck poopchute.


  75. wwallace Says:

    KillCon, convince me you're not a complete lunatic. All the evidence is going the other way so far. ROFL


  76. KillCon 2006 Says:

    KillCon, unfortunately, your racist diatribe is right at home on a Democratic party site such as this.

    Comment by wwallace

    Is this site connected to the Democratic party in some way? Or is it the fact that it is just not connected to the wingnut, redneck, racist GOP that bugs you? I got a clue for you, wawa-walla, the closer we get to the election, the lonelier you are gonna get. Should I get the cluebat to beat that into your head or will it just fall out like your brains at birth?

    As the Internet's smartest liberal blogger, Digby, puts it, tongue only partially in cheek: "'Conservative' is a magic word that applies to those who are in other conservatives' good graces. Until they aren't. At which point they are liberals."


  77. KillCon 2006 Says:

    KillCon, convince me you’re not a complete lunatic. All the evidence is going the other way so far. ROFL

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 7:55 pm

    What possible difference could that make? Hitler was a lunatic and millions of people still worship him to this day. You do agree he was a lunatic, don't you? But you worship him anyway, is that it?


  78. pigboy Says:

    Gawd this is great: just in from AMERICAblog: Troops being sent home as freight:

    Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

    But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

    so much for dignity


  79. pigboy Says:

    Liberal Democrats = Progressive

    Conservative Republicans = Regressives


  80. wwallace Says:

    "Liberal" Democrats = Fascists

    pigboy = moron


  81. Liberal Larry Says:

    NOTHING NEW HERE

    Some websites have been reporting this for months. It's just that some news agencies and most regressives choose not to believe.


  82. WORFEUS Says:

    OH MY GOD!!!!! The FIRST war in history in which innocent men, women and children were killed and injured!!!!! (P.S. 60 years ago, no one was happy to have innocents killed and maimed in Dresden, Hiroshima or Nagasaki - IT’S called WAR!)
    Comment by mighty aphrodite — December 10, 2005

    Well, one thing I can say about you, you are consistent.

    I am never failed to be amazed at how well you cling to the lie.

    But I will not bother to tell you again how Iraq is not a war, but an illegal occupation, or explain the differences between the great war, in which my father and his brothers served in, and this nazi like criminal invasion of a small, defenseless country.

    I won't bother to tell you about any of these things because you are to thick, to stupid to ever understand it.

    But don't bother spouting off about what war is. We know what it is. And this ain't it.

    But if your group of dimwits keep on the way they are going, then your gonna get all the war you want.


  83. WORFEUS Says:

    “Liberal” Democrats = Fascists

    pigboy = moron

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005

    Brilliant discourse, absolutely brilliant.

    I imagine one would have to attain a minimum of a 3rd grade education to deliver such prose, such wit.

    I stand in awe. :|


  84. KillCon 2006 Says:

    I stand in awe. :|

    Comment by WORFEUS — December 10, 2005 @

    I just find we all stand knee deep in bullshit when they come around.


  85. KillCon 2006 Says:

    NOTHING NEW HERE

    Some websites have been reporting this for months. It’s just that some news agencies and most regressives choose not to believe.

    Comment by Liberal Larry — December 10, 2005 @ 9:54 pm

    And now a TV news station in San Diego is reporting it. That's why I get all my news on blogs like this. Last nite NBC Nightly News aired the video of the terrorist private contractors conducting their terrorist drive by shootings on the innocent Iraqi populace. I saw it on blogs like this a month ago. That's why you ass in deep trouble slime ball and there ain't jack shit you can do about it.


  86. WORFEUS Says:

    Thats why I wear my waders :D


  87. pigboy Says:

    85.

    Brilliant discourse, absolutely brilliant.

    I imagine one would have to attain a minimum of a 3rd grade education to deliver such prose, such wit.

    I stand in awe. :|

    The sad thing is this mentality is in power. The good thing is we call them on it and no long follow Herr Leader blindly.


  88. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    here's a fact for you Wallace:

    "KillCon, your last post was entirely ad hominem. That violates the site Terms of Use.

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 7:32 pm "

    "“Liberal” Democrats = Fascists

    pigboy = moron

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 8:26 pm "

    What a wally!


  89. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    So Wallace I still have not seen a single fact from you, you seem to be a shallow, dishonest talking point bot. Prove me wrong sonny....


  90. WORFEUS Says:

    On October 18, 1944 Hitler knew Germany was defeated, and Berlin was about to be overrun by the Russian and American armies, so Hitler ordered all remaining men capable of shooting a rifle into service in the "peoples-storm" to defend Berlin and the Vaderland.

    They did not have a chance of victory, their only mission was to impede the enemies progress and hold out as long as possible.

    They were the last stand of dying regime.

    I consider wwallace, mightyaprhrodite, and I-RIGHT-I to be such soldiers.

    The last bastion of evil but dying regime sent here to fire their measly and feeble shots from their government issued peashooters, against the rolling onslaught of the mighty Shermans rolling up to their doorsteps.

    They are just the republicans Volkssturm, nothing more.


  91. Dodgy Says:

    I am someone who does not delve into politics but GW has astounded me beyond belief, that he can willingly allow his own countrymen to die for nothing more than money is truly disgusting. That the American Army covers up its actions and lies to world about what it gets up to makes it far worse than anything any terrorist has ever done. That the UN idly sits by and watches all this taking place proves how useless it truly is.


  92. Martin Ostrye Says:

    U.S. Marine's body shipped home by commercial freight.
    http://www.10news.com/news/5504608/detail.html


  93. wwallace Says:

    So TerrytheTurtle, I still have not seen a single fact from you, you seem to be a shallow, dishonest talking point bot. Prove me wrong sonny….


  94. Pablo in Mexico Says:

    There is going to be a huge, huge awakening of the American people before this is all over.

    The death toll at something like 2,200. Want to buy a bridge I have for sale?

    The actual death toll of American soldiers in Iraq is more than double that figure. Take it to the bank.


  95. wwallace Says:

    That Dodgy would post lies about his president and country like that is truly disgusting.


  96. Shep Says:

    These casualty numbers shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Joe Vialls (http://www.vialls.com/) had been reporting since the invasion/occupation began that the number of US soldiers reported dead was bogus -- and severely undercounted.

    I've been wondering for years when this was going to bubble up into the mainstream. They couldn't hide all those fatalities forever, but managed to do so a heck of a lot longer than they should have been able to.


  97. wwallace Says:

    No one is hiding casualties, Shep. Stop lying.


  98. WORFEUS Says:

    Ahh, the volkssturm speaks.

    wwallace, I'm sorry, did you just accuse someone of lying?

    LMFAO :D

    that's too funny buddy......stop...you're killin me....:D


  99. wwallace Says:

    #99 contained no point. That will surprise no one. :()


  100. WORFEUS Says:

    wwallace, you are pathetic.

    On my worst day, I would put my logic, training and knowledge against yours, on your best, you pathetic, under-educated lowbrow schmuck.


  101. WORFEUS Says:

    There, was that enough of a point for you?


  102. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    Wallace you are the liar on this board. Yesterday you accused me of posting no factual arguments when I had clearly done so, today you simply replace my name with yours in your comment and again accuse someone of exactly what you are. You have no facts, you have no honesty, you have no credibility.


  103. wwallace Says:

    Terry is not the liar on this board, he is merely one of many liberals.

    Terry has no facts, honesty, or credibility.


  104. WORFEUS Says:

    I have learned TerryTurtle, that most of wwallaces arguments equate to "I know you are but what am I?".


  105. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    #104 thanks for proving my point, Wallace. I suppose your mother still takes you seriously.


  106. MichDem Says:

    Hey but Wally does check grammar though , give him credit for that .


  107. wwallace Says:

    All these personal attacks against me only prove you have no arguments to offer.


  108. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    You'll know if I decide to use a personal attack:

    here’s a fact for you Wallace:

    “KillCon, your last post was entirely ad hominem. That violates the site Terms of Use.

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 7:32 pm ”

    ““Liberal” Democrats = Fascists

    pigboy = moron

    Comment by wwallace — December 10, 2005 @ 8:26 pm ”

    Hypocrite.


  109. wwallace Says:

    Terry is a hypocrite.


  110. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    Let us know when you have an argument to offer, wally, we'd be happy to have an adult conversation with you. Until then, keep trying..


  111. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    Where did you learn to debate wally, preschool?


  112. wwallace Says:

    Where did you learn to debate Terry, preschool?


  113. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    Wally, now you can waste your time here if you like, but I think I have had enough - BTW, what you are doing is called a logical fallacy an 'ad homimem tu quoque'. You obviously never found onto a debate team after preschool, which is where I grew out of that particular flaw. You can too, it is not hard.


  114. wwallace Says:

    Again Terry chooses to attack me personally instead of making any arguments. How pathetic.


  115. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    Prove to me that were on a debate team after preschool wally - how can the truth be a personal attack?


  116. TerrytheTurtle Says:

    Oh on second thoughts, I can't be bothered. There's no debate here, I'm better off reading to my six-year-old.


  117. bob the nihilist Says:

    What's Republican Welfare?
    The tip.
    Har-har-har-har.


  118. RJ Crane Says:

    I have been actively trying to get the real casualty numbers reported by Congress and the MSM for over a year now and even spoke with John Pike on this issue being assured that his group would put out a better and higher number soon and before the 2004 election.

    Unfortunately this information never made it into the mainstream consciousness because if it had, Bush would have been voted out of office by an overwhelming majority as people understood the true human costs of this war. The media is to blame but also our elected officials are to blame. I contacted both of my Democratic Senators about this issue and never got any support. Instead they told me I could find this information in the same discredited DOD sources. None of these elected officials seemed to care why it was so hard for anyone to obtain an accurate reporting of these numbers from the DOD and the military or became suspicious of this cover-up behavior.

    All along the McLaughlin group has been reporting a much higher casualty number on every program. Currently they claim 49,500 military personnel are permanently out of Iraq because of medical problems or death. Before the election this number was already about 25,000...much higher than anything reported by the DOD. Yet no one in our Congress seemed to be overly concerned about a much higher number of US casualties being reported by The McLauglin Group and whether the DOD number was being deliberately understated for political reasons.

    If anyone knows how to get a MSM evening news program to post the real numbers on Iraq every night at the bottom of the screen, you will be helping to perform a great service to the anti-war movement. When one considers ABC had a daily counter for the Iran hostage situation that helped take down Carter, why wouldn't they agree to post a US casualty counter now? RJ


  119. FearAndLoathing Says:

    Ever wonder that nobody ever dies in Landstuhl or in Walter Reed? Are our surgeons miracle workers that all medical evacuees survive? How is that possible? Or do they only count the ones that are dead on the ground?


  120. mighty aphrodite Says:

    #67 - "Mrs. A, why don’t you leave your kids with the folks and you and Mr. A. sign up to fight in Iraq; it might change your mind real quick about the necessity for war and the flip dismissal of its horrors." -comment by RJanes
    *****You need to get up to speed - do a little research - next.....


  121. mighty aphrodite Says:

    Please, progs/Dems and Greens, keep up the whining!! Pipe in Dean & Kucinitch regularly - I love watching the rats of the party jumping into the deep end and the rest of your benevolent members scrambling for cover. You are the "proud" party of "Retreat & Defeat" --- Goood night!!


  122. Progressaurus Rex Says:

    there are three people -- a term i almost hesitate to use in this case -- that should simply be ignored here: wwallace, mighty aphrodite, and i-right-i.

    seriously, they're not here to have a dialogue or to add to the debate with insightful commentary. they merely want to get under everyone's skin.

    there is no amount of reasoning, lambasting, insulting, encouraging, or vitriol that will change the shrivelled lumps of carbon they call their brains. anyone that would mindlessly repeat right-wing talking points without having anything to back them up with is simply here to get a rise out of angering the rest of us here who want to discuss the topic at hand.

    ignore them. don't waste your valuable time and energy on the worthless lumps of flesh. all they do is eagerly await another opportunity to prove their ignorance.


  123. kelley b. Says:

    Hey mighty aphrodite, how's things at Ketchum these days? Or is it Lincoln? Or Rendon?

    So many Bu$hCo PR firms to choose from. So little time. And about 900,000 people employed by Bu$hCo whose names remain a secret.

    Your tax dollars at work, for private contractors.


  124. The Oracle Says:

    About a year ago, I linked to a German newspaper article through Buzzflash in which someone at the Landstuhl AFB hospital in Germany told one of the people holding daily vigils for U.S. soldiers being medi-vacced from Iraq that over 28,000 U.S. soldiers had already been processed through the hospital at Landstuhl...by Fall 2004.

    When I saw that figure quoted, I thought, "how odd." Maybe it was typo? At that time just over 1,000 U.S. soldiers had been reported killed in action by the Pentagon, and only about 6 to 8 thousand U.S. soldiers were being listed as wounded.

    However, deep in my heart, I knew at that moment that the Bush administation was "fixing" the casualty figures downward to hide their negligent incompetence, just like they "fixed" the intelligence to start the Iraq War.

    If there were any Republicans with integrity in the current U.S. Congress (and who actually gave a damn about our U.S. soldiers), Rumsfeld and the Pentagon brass would be drug before congressional hearings to get to the truth of what Rumsfeld and they have been hiding from the American public.

    But since these pseudo-patriotic Republicans can't seem to fully fund the Veteran's Hospitals nor even make sure our soldiers in the Iraqi combat zone are fully up-armored, then the only recourse we have as patriotic U.S. citizens is to kick these bums out in 2006, and get someone else in Congress who will stop lying to us.


  125. Cyra Brown Says:

    I really enjoy reading Think Progress, especially the comments. But I have a very strong feeling about a couple of "posters" (poster children for birth control). I do not feel that wally & the beaver(plus ???)are really females. Their pointless musings, an endless stream of blah,blah,blahings, just don't have that "feminine" feel to them. Liberal Ladies, what do you think? Not that it matters a whit, but gender confusion, and an unwillingness to adress the issue, is very detrimental to the mind, as well as the body. As W & the B, clearly reflect by their need to attack others. It is just soooo sad. Ah well....


  126. vaporloc Says:

    Honestly I'm getting worried there is going to be a war in the US or at least that something bad is going to happen. These Conservative zombies post on every progressive website with their lockstep views. I know that is not indicative of an oncoming war but their lack of compassionate thought is a very dangerous thing historically.
    I read from many different site and allow myself the guilty pleasure of reading some conspiracy sites... I'm starting to wonder more and more about their viewpoints. The way I picture it as this.

    1. Terrorist attack (fake or real, your pick).
    2. Govenment enacts "state of emergency".
    3. Arrest all dissenters, a la "patriot act", all ready there are thousands on lists.
    4. Then arrest all people who protest the arrests (trouble makers).
    5. Use current "police State" to police "born again" dissenters or frustrated "do gooders".
    6. The leaders do what ever they want and we can't do a thing to stop them.

    Sounds insane I know, but that is a summary of what the extreme right has been saying for some time and scarily many of their predictions have come true. Just think about it. And, not that it really matters but for the record I am a war vet and I have seen War (so the right wing flamers can go screw off).


  127. tunnelman Says:

    Those four Christians probably didn't think the "last throes" of the insurgency could last so long!


  128. Earthling Says:

    Aphrodite - are two of your spawn known as "Prussian Blue", by any chance? I wouldn't be one bit surprised if that were so.


  129. RS Janes Says:

    "You need to get up to speed - do a little research - next….."

    So, then, Mrs. A, you're saying that you served in combat in Iraq or elsewhere? Researching 'Aphrodite' on Google I find a lot about a mythical Greek goddess, but nothing about a Bush Republican with four kids. Trying 'Mrs. Aphrodite,' I discovered a British play called 'The Big Life' that had a character called 'Mrs. Aphrodite.' Would that be you? A character in a play that emitted such lines as: "I’m in a box, playing a 60 year old Jamaican woman! I’m not bitter."

    Are you in an box, unembittered, playing a 60-year-old Jamaican woman?

    But, back to the point: have you ever served in combat? When you advocate war, do you have any idea what you're sentencing our kids to engage in?

    Let me put it another war, if Bush's daughters, as well as the kids of the other elitist Republicans in Washignton who support this war, were tooling around Iraq in unarmored Hummers and getting their body parts blown off, this war would be over today. If Bush, Cheney, Condi and the other chickenhawks who got us into this mess were walking point in Fallujah and getting shot at by snipers, it would have been over yesterday.


  130. Liam519 Says:

    I have heard that when a soldier is wounded, medivaced by chopper to be stabilized, then put on a C-141 or similar aircraft for transport to the main hospital in Germany,... that when the aircraft is in the air 20 seconds -- landing gear up-- and that soldier dies right then,.... that he is NOT counted as dieing IN iraq. Not KIA "IN COUNTRY". That he is counted as a military casualty, just as he'd been in a car wreck outside of Ft. Bragg or Ft. Jackson. Is this correct??? i have heard this is how the #s are counted and there are actually about 10 to 12,000 KIA and another 30 to 40,000 wounded as an actual count. Is this true??? As everything this white house has claimed has been a total pile of hogwash ie WMD/Saddam-Iraq =9-11 ect.. ,.... ??? Who actually know how the casualties are counted?? The same people who count the Ohio & Florida votes?


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