US Soldiers Continue to Die in Iraq
I’ve updated my Iraq-Vietnam comparison graphs with the number of US dead for July, 2004. The number was up from the previous month, with 54 US fatalities.
Again, I’m getting these figures from the advanced search tool at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund site, and from Lunaville’s page on Iraq coalition casualties. The figures are for the number of US dead per month, without regard to whether the deaths were combat-related.
The first graph shows the first seventeen months of each war. (Click on any image for a larger version.)
Next, the same chart, with the Vietnam numbers extended out to cover the first four years of the war:
Finally, the chart that gives the US death toll for the entire Vietnam war:
Disclaimer: I’m aware that we have more troops in-theater in Iraq than we had during the corresponding parts of the Vietnam War graph. Vietnam didn’t get numbers of US troops comparable to the number currently in Iraq until shortly after Johnson won the 1964 election, some three-and-a-half years after the starting point of the Vietnam graphs above.
These graphs are not intended to say anything about the relative lethality of the two conflicts. Nor am I trying to make a case that the Iraq war is somehow equivalent to, or worse than, the Vietnam war. I was just curious how the “death profile” of the two wars compared, and these graphs let me see that. You are free to draw your own conclusions.
You can view more discussion of these charts on the following pages, if you’re interested. The graphs are all the same; I just update them in place when the new numbers become available.
September 3rd, 2004 at 2:16 pm
[…] s in Record US deaths in April US War Dead in Iraq for May US Iraq Deaths Down in June US Soldiers Continue to Die in Iraq Posted by […]
November 1st, 2004 at 4:10 pm
[…] s in Record US deaths in April US War Dead in Iraq for May US Iraq Deaths Down in June US Soldiers Continue to Die in Iraq Eighteen Months In Another MonthR […]
August 2nd, 2004 at 11:11 am
When you first started this side by side tracking, I thought you might have started the comparison too early in reference to the early Vietnam casualty rates, but I’m begining to think it is a pretty fair comparison.
August 15th, 2004 at 1:25 pm
The monthly Vietnam/Iraq casualty comparison is something that I’ve also been
wondering about and meaning to look into. Two suggestions come to mind: similar plots for wounded would be interesting, and, despite the disclaimer above, normalizing the graphs by total deployed troop strength would provide another way to look at the numbers.
Nice work, thank you.
September 25th, 2004 at 11:14 am
Thank you so much for doing this. I had the idea today to do something similar.
I think it would be a good idea to normalize by troop strength OR pick up a point later in the Vietnam War when the troop strength was the same. I’m curious to see what it would look like.
November 17th, 2004 at 1:48 am
vous allez payéz chèr……
November 17th, 2004 at 1:48 am
vous allez payéz chèr……
November 17th, 2004 at 1:48 am
vous allez payéz chèr……
November 17th, 2004 at 1:49 am
vous allez payée cher
January 9th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
Jan 7,2005…
Referring to the campaign to stabilize Iraq, Mr. Bush said: “I know it’s hard, but it’s hard for a reason. And the reason it’s hard is because there are a handful of folks who fear freedom.”
What an ass we have for president. He alone should be able to clear Iraq of a handful of folks.
January 10th, 2005 at 2:47 pm
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Commentary: An Urgent Call to Republicans
Hey, Republicans! If you voted for this war, go fight in it.
By Donald Trader
I’d like to put out an urgent call to Republicans to make sure their sons and daughters volunteer for active military service. Uncle Sam needs you. National Guard and Army Reserve recruitment is falling short by some 50%, and it’s getting tougher and tougher for the Marines, the Army and the other services to get the kind of recruit they want. Wait a minute – the Marines and the Army ought to be flooded with volunteers!
I know that George Bush ran as a war president, and his main declaration was that he would stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan, and wherever he felt military intervention was required. He held one crowded and cheering rally after another on this theme all across the United States, including Tennessee. I saw all those good people on TV waving their American flags and doing high fives. I read many letters in this very newspaper supporting the war, including some from students of fighting age.
Some 59,000,000 Americans voted for George Bush and the Republicans. That includes the majority of the people in Tennessee. So why are we short of recruits to fight in Iraq? We ought to be inundated with enthusiastic volunteers. Tomorrow morning, I’d like to see 59,000,000 SUV’s pulling up in front of Marine Corps and Army enlistment offices. I see Tax Cut Hummers full of happy families, including healthy looking young people, whizzing by U.S. recruitment offices, and I wonder what the problem is: brake failure every time you get close to signing up to fight in a war you supported for a President you elected?
Now if you’re a young Republican who hates taxes and supports the war in Iraq, you can’t get away any longer with a ridiculous yellow ribbon on the back of your car. You’re going to have to pay for the war, and you’re going to have to fight in it. Who did you think was going to do that, if not you? Democrats?
I’ll volunteer to drive busloads of young Republican volunteers to their first military basic training session after they enlist. And there should be a huge number of volunteers; I don’t think Republicans are cowardly blowhards like most Democrats. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, I’m going to tell my Congressman Lincoln Davis that we need a military draft in this country. The reason is simple: we need to hold people accountable for what they do, and it’s time for Republicans to go face combat and support their Commander in Chief. You voted for it. Now go get in it.
January 15th, 2005 at 12:31 pm
We were supposed to be saving the world from WMD (none found) and we were told we’d be welcomed as saviors from Saddam (didn’t happen). What, then, has NOT been a lie from the Bush government?
Why is the resistance growing in popular support among both Shiite and Sunni Muslims everywhere? Because of the stupid policies of George W. Bush, that’s why. Can anyone think of a way to make more enemies? Short of attacking additional innocent countries, we can’t.