The Numbers Behind Casualty Rates

James Taranto points out that 20% percent of Iraq War casualties are due to non-combat causes. Accidents, sickness, suicide, and the occasional love triangle murder. You wouldn’t get that insight reading the NYT:

The Department of Defense has identified 3,825 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans on Tuesday: CAMACHO, Anamarie Sannicolas, 20, Seaman, Navy; Panama City, Fla.; Naval Support Activity. GRESHAM, Genesia Mattril, 19, Seaman, Navy; Lithonia, Ga.; Naval Support Activity.

Here is what Taranto fills in:

Anamarie Sannicolas Camacho, 20, and her colleague Genesia Mattril Gresham, 19, were shot dead at the Naval Support Activity Base, Juffair, at around 5am on October 22. Their alleged killer, fellow serviceman Clarence Jackson, 20, is still clinging to life after apparently shooting himself in the head immediately after the murders. He is now at the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, US, after being transferred to the US from a specialist hospital in Germany. . . .

Taranto had to find this info courtesy of the Gulf Daily News, a Bahraini paper.

I subscribe to the Defense Departments press releases and consequently get all casualty notices. I don’t read all of DoD’s press releases but I read every casualty notice. A significant number of deaths are non-combat related. It is sad, but these non-combat deaths are similiar to the types of items you read in the obituary for those who die prematurely. The NYT, however, isn't careful to differentiate. The next time they see a casualty report from a training accident at Fort Hood, don't be surprised to see NYT editors call for a troop withdrawal from Texas.

H/T Instapundit

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Oct 30, 2007