Military not keeping tally of Iraqis killed in attacks

[lebkuchen]

Even if they could gather such statistics, military officials say they probably wouldn’t release them.

Officials also said that trying to determine how much future resistance there might be in country isn’t worthwhile.

“Speaking as a soldier and a student of military history, it’s always dangerous to forecast the amount of punishment you can inflict on a population,” said another senior military leader at the briefing.

“Success here will be measured when the number of casualties, both American and Iraqi, declines.”

http://estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=16400

1. Where's the show of concern for the Iraqis on behalf of the "liberators?"
2. It isn´t worthwhile to determine future resistance against "liberating" troops?
3. How can success be measured in terms of the decline of Iraqi casualties if the US govt. isn't bothering to tally them?

[AnnabelLee]

1. At one of the war protests I attended

there was a woman who sang a song, accompanying herself on an acoustic guitar. Each refrain ended with "they don't count Iraqi babies the same way they count you & me", "they don't count the desert wildlife the same way they count you & me", etc. Very sad, & very true. :-(

[quilp]

2. Is our military still under civilian control?

If the "civilians" are Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Powell how "civilian" is that?

[terryg11]

4. seventy five percent civilian I think

isn't Powell the only one of the four to actually have served in the military?

Now if we are talking "defense contractors interests" as military then that's a different number, like 0% civilian

[wtmusic]

3. Tommy Franks - "We don't do body counts."

The admin doesn't measure success in terms of the decline in Iraqi casualties.

An Iraqi life is worth less than an American life, or so is the presumption...

of course, none of them would be able to just come out and say it.

[terryg11]

5. something to do with the inflated body counts of Vietnam?

did the practice of increasing the number of dead enemy over the actual number of dead enemy combatants put a bad taste in their mouth when it proved to not be beneficial to moral of the troops and people at home?

[BOSSHOG]

6. Christian Conservatives want Dead American Servicemembers

That is a badge of honor for them and republicans; the higher the number the better. Our kids are dying for a "grand cause" and they will be rewarded in the afterlife. If not, why are they not coming home in anything other than bodybags. As for dead iraqis, christian conservatives do not give a flying dog fuck about them so it really doesn't matter how many there are. This, ladies and gentlemen, is george bush's base.

And have you noticed how much "support" our troops are getting nowadays from the christian right? As if they every got any support to start with. Their attention has been diverted by anal sex and affirmative action.