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May 29, 2007
SouthAmerica: On this Memorial Day weekend there was a lot of talk on television about the people who died on the American wars.
But when people talk about the current war in Iraq the figures are distorted when compared with the figures from the Vietnam War.
The New York Times had a front-page article on May 19, 2007 â âDeath Toll for Contractors Reaches New High in Iraq.â â As military steps up efforts, risks also rise for drivers, translators and others.
Then the article said regarding the current Iraq War: ââ¦That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews."
During the Vietnam War most of these people would have been part of the US forces. But today the US armed forces have outsourced part of the death toll and number of wounded people to a new group called contractors.
But for all practical purposes for us to have a better picture of the total death toll in Iraq plus the number of wounded American soldiers then we need to adjust the numbers to also include the numbers related to the contractors.
A better estimate of the Iraq War number of casualties and wounded is:
US Military Fatalities as of May 28, 2007 = 3,466 people
Contractors Fatalities as of May 19, 2007 = 917 people
Total Fatalities = 4,383 people.
US Military wounded as of May 28, 2007 = 25,242 people
Contractors wounded as of May 19, 2007 = 12,000 people
Total Wounded = 37,242 people
Source:
http://icasualties.org/oif/
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The New York Times article of May 19, 2007.
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