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The Numbers Game

The Braden Files has an interesting look at mortality in war.Especially the much-trumpeted 2,000 killed in Iraq. Comparisons
Decorated Vietnam veteran Jack Ruffer has compiled statistics on the death rates in American wars from the Revolutionary War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. His results show that the present conflict is the least costly of all American wars in terms of lives lost. Here is his letter:

Those of us who fought in Vietnam put up with the same kind of misinformation now being directed at our people in uniform in Iraq. Something just didn't ring true in what I was hearing from the main stream media, so I did some research. It didn't take long at all and I'm amazed that the main stream media couldn't have found the same information if they were inclined to report the truth. But, of course, they are not. Attached is the result of what I learned after only minutes of research on reliable web sites (The National Archives and The Vietnam Memorial Web Site). Iraq has resulted in the lowest annual rate of casualties in our history and the MSM and their Democrat colleagues are still telling us this is the worst event in our history. This is not about Iraq; it's about the Democrats trying to regain their power and take over the House, the Senate and the Executive Branch again and it is all based upon a lie. Read the statistics and tell me know what you think.

Jack

Action	Duration	Number killed	KIA Avg. Rate per Year
Revolutionary War	8 years	25,324	3,166
Civil War	4 years	562,130	140,533
WWI	1.58 years	116,708	78,866
WWII	3.75 years	408,306	108,882
Marine deaths on Iwo Jima	25 days	6,891	100,608
Korea	3.08 years	54,246	17,612
Vietnam	7 years*	58,249	8,321
Desert Storm	42 days	363	2,135
Iraqi Freedom**	2.667 years	2,096	786

* Does not include advisor years 1957-1964 which would have lowered the annual rate substantially
** Operation Iraqi Freedom began 19 March 2003

Posted by DaveH at December 3, 2005 11:00 PM