[extropy-chat] IRAQ: Weapons pipeline to Syria

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On Oct 31, 2004, at 8:38 PM, Stephen Van_Sickle wrote:
> I understand it is not unheard of for reports to be
> fudged a bit if there is some question because of this
> (one story I've heard involves a Saigon brothel...no
> doubt there is more than one name with a similar story
> on the Wall).


I think the US military actually keeps more detailed statistics, but 
most people use the aggregate statistics which causes a lot of 
confusion if the discussion gets technical.  KIA stats usually include 
very substantial in-theater non-combat deaths.

For example, most people have heard that there were a over 50k KIA in 
Viet Nam.  Per the US military statistics in the National Archives, the 
actual combat "got-shot-or-blowed-up" deaths are just over 40k, with 
another 10-12k in-theater KIA that had nothing to do with actual 
combat.  Other than diving into the National Archive statistics these 
deaths are very rarely separated out.  In the first Gulf War, 
non-combat in-theater deaths were something like >50% of the total KIA 
IIRC.


j. andrew rogers