Who's counting?

A comment from reader Brian Churchill:

I am a retired US Air Force master sergeant who's been opposed to this war since last fall, because I didn't believe that Iraq presented a clear and present danger to the US, and that any military action needed to be approved by the UN Security Council as in the First Gulf War. I also told anyone who would listen in my circle of friends that, based on the history of the region, the occupation would be troubled.

Sadly, I was right. I've found "All That Arises" to be a strong voice for truth in a war that's being spun by cable news in the same way that William Randolph Hearst manipulated the public in the Spanish-American War in the search for profits and sales 105 years ago. I decided to forward my recent research on suspicious US military deaths in Iraq to you, as it may be of interest or assistance to the blog readership.

I've been doing research on the deaths that are being reported as non-combat or accidental, using the CNN database that's updated regularly at this CNN site. I found the number of traffic deaths to be quite high considering the circumstances, i.e., low traffic; large, sturdy vehicles; strictly enforced safety rules; wear of body armor, etc. Also, at least one new widow was reportedly contacted by her dead husband's comrades and told that he died from an attack that caused a crash, not a non-combat vehicle accident as the Army declared.

I also noted that there's a large number of poorly explained deaths--drownings, falls from buildings, troops just not waking up one morning, persons killed working on vehicles or hit by dump trucks, and the most ominous of all - non-hostile gunshot wounds. These can't be firing range or training accidents, because they're described differently. I've counted 47 deaths through Dec 1 classified as accidents that I, as a former military man, consider suspicious, i.e., it's really combat in the case of many traffic accidents. I suspect that many deaths were classified as accidents to try to keep the combat death toll down after May 1, as the Administration was hoping that the occupation would take hold within a few months at most and the numbers wouldn't be too high.

I've also counted 49 possible suicides in 7 months, while the military has grudgingly admitted to 14-17 so far. According to the World Almanac, there should be about 27 suicides a year in a group of 145,000 Americans of that age and gender makeup. Clearly the suicide rate is many times normal.

Considering that the military is insisting on unit rotation instead of individual rotation, as in Vietnam, since unit cohesion was deemed to be very important, it's clear that all is not well with the Army of One. I'd also add that many of the one-vehicle accidents, if they're not from hostile action, could be suicides as well, as state troopers will tell you that a certain percentage of one-vehicle rollovers or crashes are really suicides. Also, deaths by means other than self-inflicted gunshot wounds save face for relatives and friends, and eliminate complications with life insurance policies.

Thanks again for your articles, and keep up the good work.

Brian Churchill
USAF Retired (1976-1996)