Surprise, Surprise (not really)

These are some rather eye-opening facts.

Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through today, we have lost over 3,000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents.

As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:

1980 ……..2,392

1981 ……..2,380

1984 ……..1,999

1988 ……..1,819

1989 ……..1,636

1990 ……. 1,508

1991 ……..1,787

1992 ……..1,293

1993 ……..1,213

1994 ……..1,075

1995 ……..2,465

1996 ……..2,318

Clinton years @14,000 deaths

1997 ……….817

1998 ……..2,252

1999 ……..1,984

2000 ……..1,983

2001 ……… 890

2002 ……..1,007

2003 ……..1,410

2004 ……..1,887

2005 ……….919

2006………. 920

Bush years (2001-2006): 7,033 deaths

If you are confused when you look at these figures, so was I.

Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton’s presidency; when America wasn’t even involved in a war? And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities!

These figures indicate that many members of our Media and our Politicians will pick and choose. They present only those “facts” which support their agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth? Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda?

(These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf )

