Iraq Is Not Bleeding US Dry

Bleeding Dry
Originally uploaded by Sydney Weasel

By Andrew Bolt
The Congressional Research Service counts the US soldiers who have died on active duty since 1980:

1980 2,392
1981 2,380
1982 2,319
1983 2,465
1984 1,999
1985 2,252
1986 1,984
1987 1,983
1988 1,819
1989 1,636
1990 1,507
1991 1,787
1992 1,293
1993 1,213
1994 1,075
1995 1,040
1996 974
1997 817
1998 827
1999 796
2000 758
2001 891
2002 999
2003 1,228
2004 1,874
2005 1,942
2006 1,858

Each of these deaths is tragic, but here’s something odd - or odd if you let yourself be spooked by apocalyptic reporting on Iraq.

The fighting in Iraq has in fact not caused the number of US dead to rise to historically high levels even when compared to years of “peace”.

Note further that half the US military deaths from 2003 did not occur in Iraq at all. To be blunt: Too many soldiers - and civilians - are undoubtedly dying in Iraq, but this is not a particularly bloody war for the US military.

This report also puts the lie to a long-popular claim of the Left - that America’s white politicians make black soldiers do the dying.

Of the 3480 American soldiers to die on duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2693 were white.