Iraq: Death Toll + Protest Update

posted by ewing2001 on Tuesday October 21, @01:24PM

A Look at U.S. Daily Deaths in Iraq

Update: Use of Turkish Troops in Iraq in Doubt (10/22)
Update: Rumsfeld Memo: United States has no yardstick for measuring progress in its war on terrorism (10/22)
Update: Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins (10/21)

Guardian/AP -Wednesday October 22, 2003 1:01 AM

As of Tuesday, Oct. 21, 340 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.

The British military has reported 50 deaths; Denmark, one; and Ukraine, one.

On or since May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 202 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, according to the latest Defense Department figures.

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Since the start of military operations, 1,597 U.S. service members have been injured as a result of hostile action, according to U.S. Central Command. Non-hostile injured numbered 337.

The latest deaths reported by U.S. Central Command:

- A 377th Theater Support Command soldier was killed and one was injured in a maintenance accident on Tuesday at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.

The latest identifications reported by the U.S. Military:

- Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bruce E. Brown, 32, Coatopa, Ala.; killed in a vehicle accident on Sept. 4 near Qatar's al-Udeid base; assigned to the 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Robins Air Force Base, Ga.

-Army Staff Sgt. Paul J. Johnson, 29, Calumet, Mich.; killed Monday when he came under attack while on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq; assigned to 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C

Iraqis protest at U.S. troops

Dogs are considered unclean in Islamic culture.

Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins

WP -Tuesday, October 21, 2003; Page A23

Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets.

To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases.

In March, on the eve of the Iraq war, a directive arrived from the Pentagon at U.S. military bases. "There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein [Germany] airbase or Dover [Del.] base, to include interim stops," the Defense Department said, referring to the major ports for the returning remains.

Killed in Action

Newsweek -Oct. 17

"...there are no images of flag-draped coffins in this war to remind people of the human price being paid. That’s because the media are prohibited from filming or photographing soldiers’ remains being sent home. Most fallen soldiers’ bodies get sent back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where they are identified and prepared for burial. During the Vietnam War, photographers and film crews were often at Dover taking pictures of the “dignified transfer of remains.” But for more than a decade, the Department of Defense has cut off that access.

“It’s out of respect for the families,” explains Dover’s Lt. Olivia Nelson. Even though none of the bodies are identified, letting the media in would not show the proper reverence for the dead. Plus, she explains, Dover is just a way station. The transfer is not ceremonial—even though an honor guard carries the body and a flag is draped over the container. Nelson argues that if the media were to show the offloading of remains it would create pressure on the families to be there when the body arrives rather than await delivery in the privacy of their homes.

But, of course, such images would create pressure on the administration, too. “Restricting access to Dover is part of a piece,” says veteran war correspondent George Wilson, who did two tours in Vietnam. “It’s designed to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. That’s not limited to this administration, but it has accelerated.”

Rumsfeld Ponders War Progress in Memo -Report

Reuters -Wed October 22, 2003 02:50 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has no yardstick for measuring progress in its war on terrorism and is in for a long stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote in a memo last week to senior staff officials, USA Today reported on Wednesday.

Sharply diverging from upbeat public comments, Rumsfeld writes that it is not possible to transform the Pentagon quickly enough to effectively fight the anti-terror war and that a new institution might be necessary to do that, the newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, the Oct. 16 memo suggests that significant work remains to be done, raises a number of probing questions and offers few detailed proposals.

"Are we winning or losing the Global War on Terrorism?" Rumsfeld asks in the memo as quoted by the newspaper.

He cites "mixed results" against al Qaeda, "reasonable progress tracking down top Iraqis" and "somewhat slower progress" in apprehending Taliban leaders, the report said.

Use of Turkish Troops in Iraq in Doubt

Guardian -Wednesday October 22, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - The prospect of thousands of Turkish troops entering Iraq to relieve strain on American forces appears to have dimmed, although Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says he remains hopeful that Turkey will find a way to follow through on its offer to help.

When the Turkish Parliament approved the troop deployment on Oct. 7, American officials welcomed it. They saw Turkey's participation not only as a way to broaden the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq but also to repair diplomatic damage from Ankara's earlier refusal to let American troops invade Iraq from Turkish soil.

Turkish officials have indicated in recent days that the proposed deployment of perhaps 10,000 troops could unravel if Iraqis continue to oppose it.

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