by James Glaser
August 3, 2005

It is a real slap in the face when you realize that every day another eighteen Americans are killed and wounded in Iraq. I know it never seems that bad, but that is because Washington never tells us how many get wounded each day.

The war started on March 19, 2003, and since then, 1,806 American troops have been killed and 13,559 Americans have been wounded. In reality those numbers are way higher, but Washington refuses to even talk about those American mercenary troops, who are killed or wounded. With reports of over 25,000 American mercenaries working as security for American companies, and paid with American tax dollars, you would think we would have a right to hear those numbers too.

If you just look at the numbers we know about, every time an American is killed, about 7 or 8 Americans are wounded. So yesterday, when 7 Marines were reported killed, we can figure over fifty Americans were wounded someplace in Iraq. When seven Americans get killed in one day, we know that is a bloody day for both sides.

You can think about it another way. Every week we are having about 126 Americans killed and wounded. This is a day in and day out war, where Americans are getting injured every day.

I know the media has been down playing American deaths and everyone could see that those seven dead Marines were pushed out of the spotlight by the plane that made a crash landing in Canada. Sad to say, American deaths are old hat now, and most Americans are sick of hearing about deaths in Iraq.

Last month many Americans believed that things were getting better in the war, but if you add up the numbers, 54 Americans Soldiers and Marines were killed in combat. Washington didn't tell us how many were wounded, but that number was someplace between 400 and 500. That is how it has been going for the last 2 ½ years. Close to 500 wounded every month.

Washington keeps the number of Americans hurt down to only those killed, because if they would add in the wounded and the numbers from our mercenaries, Americans would freak right out, and demand that our troops come home now.

I know it is a bummer to think about, but everyone says they want to support the troops and knowing what those troops are going through, can make all of us understand why they need our support. Hiding the numbers helps the Bush administration, by making the sacrifice they are asking of our sons and daughters, not seem so high, but it is, and everyone should know what is what, and what is going on.