Another Month’s Progress
I’ve updated my Iraq-Vietnam comparison graphs with the number of US dead for September. The number was up again from the previous month, with 80 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 19 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 show the relative lethality of the two conflicts on a per-soldier basis. 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.
- US deaths in Vietnam and Iraq by month
- Iraq war deaths
- November: The cruelest month
- 41 US Iraq war dead in December
- Post-Saddam death toll up slightly
- February death toll down for us, up for them
- Thirteen months 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
November 1st, 2004 at 4:11 pm
[…] May US Iraq Deaths Down in June US Soldiers Continue to Die in Iraq Eighteen Months In Another Month’s Progress Posted by jbc at 9:08 am […]
October 24th, 2004 at 1:39 am
I read in previous posts at the beginning of this year some Fox-watching right-wingers’ attacks on these charts. Prewar efforts by the Cheney administration to censor those who believed that the Iraq war was unnecessary (true), expensive (true), and deadly (obviously) justify the comparison that you make in the graphs. (The shrieking, hysterical “patriotism” by President Cheney was appalling, and resulted in a lack of incisive reporting and debate. Witness what happened to Eric Shinseki.) Quite simply, Li’l Bushie and his thugs are still trying to fool Americans into believing that this war was necessary, cheap, and painless. As long as people buy into that fraud, the death toll will increase.
Regarding the many smug remarks that were made by the right-wing critics about lives saved by removing Saddam Hussein, perhaps those remarks would be more persuasive if their makers would first recite how many of their own children are serving in Iraq …
January 9th, 2005 at 9:09 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 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.