by James Glaser
December 22, 2003

The Civil War General, William Tecumseh Sherman, wrote after the war, "War is at best barbarism.....It is only those who have never...heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation."

George Bush has surrounded himself with people that have never been to war and Sherman was right, because the Bush Administration is constantly calling out for more blood and vengeance. Even though there is no connection between Iraq and the September 11th attack, George Bush constantly uses both in the same sentence any chance he gets. Somehow Bush must make the price we are paying for his war, seem worth while. George Bush will never understand what that "price" really is.

For George, vengeance is the perfect excuse for the thousands and thousands of Iraqi and American lives that are being destroyed by his war. Washington will now do whatever it must to keep you and I in the dark about this human cost, yes, they will even lie.

On the Pentagons web page they list 457 troops killed in Iraq, 2,273 wounded and 364 soldiers as "non-hostile wounded." Last Friday the United Press International released numbers obtained from the Pentagon that tell a different story. Our Military, "has made 8,581 medical evacuations from Operation Iraqi Freedom for non hostile causes in addition to the 2,273 wounded--a total of 10,854, according to the new data."

Add on the 457 killed and we have 11,311 Americans taken out of the Iraq War Zone, either dead, injured, or sick. You must know by now, that number will never make any headline in an American paper.

Aseneth Blackwell, former National President of Gold Star Wives of America, a support group for those that lost a spouse from war, said "It is staggering." "It is a toll the country has not seen since Vietnam" Vietnam is the war that Ms Blackwell's husband was killed, that was in 1969.

According to Pentagon numbers, 8,581 medical evacuations have been made since march of this year for bone injuries, surgeries, brain problems, heart illness, mental problems, and other non-hostile causes, but the Pentagon's own report of Dec.17th on its Web site reports only 364 soldiers as non-hostile wounded.

Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner, said the Pentagon's definition for casualty is, "any person who is lost to the organization by having been declared dead, duty status whereabouts unknown, missing, ill, or injured.

So if all of these 8,581 people have been evacuated and they all fit into the definition of "Casualty," why aren't they listed? Do lower numbers sound better? You Bet!

As long as the Pentagon and the American media can hide the true cost of this war from the American people, as long as they can keep telling the President the numbers work, America will continue on with aggressive wars. The "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" program that the Bush Administration is playing with wounded Soldiers, Marines, and casualty numbers, is working as planned.

If you can't see the blood or hear the screams, there must not be any.