Ignorance or Dishonesty? Casualties and the Liberal Media

On Wednesday, April 7, 2004, the Washington Post ran this headline:

U.S. Forces Take Heavy Losses As Violence Spreads Across Iraq
About a Dozen Marines Killed; Foreigners, Scores of Iraqis Die

To the fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, and children of the Marines who died, the losses are the heavy indeed. There is nothing so precious as the blood of our soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors, and civilians who willingly lay their lives on the line in service to their country. We can never replace them, and we must always remember them.

Nevertheless, I am angered at the sensationalist journalism that would lead the uninformed to believe our Army and Marine Corps are being bled white in Iraq.

This Washington Post headline, which is typical of many we have all seen in the media since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, distorts the truth by placing our losses out of context and out of proportion. The journalists who write such pieces thus distort and diminish the ultimate sacrifice our fellow citizens have made.

That said, I think it is high time we remember the ultimate sacrifice made by other Americans over the past 230 years:

· Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill), June 17, 1775: 450 American casualties (115 killed, 305 wounded, 30 missing) out of 2,000 engaged.

· Valley Forge, December 19, 1777 – June 19, 1778: 10,000-12,000 Continental Army troops marched into Valley Forge. Up to 3,000 of those died from disease and malnutrition over the next six months.

· The Alamo, March 6, 1836: 189 American and Texan casualties (all killed) out of 189 engaged.

· Mexico City (Chapultepec, the “Halls of Montezuma” in the Marine Hymn), September 8-14, 1847: 811 American casualties (138 killed, 673 wounded) out of 8,000 engaged.

· Antietam, September 17, 1862: 22,807 American casualties (3,654 killed, 17,292 wounded, 1,861 missing) out of 93,000 engaged. (12,401 U.S. casualties out of 50,000 engaged; 10,406 Confederate casualties out of 43,000 engaged).

· Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863: 43,700-45,600 total American casualties (5,755-7,655 killed, 27,330wounded, 10,615 missing) out of 175,000 engaged. (23,050 U.S. casualties out of 100,000 engaged; 20,650-22,550 Confederate casualties out of 75,000 engaged. On the third day of the battle, the 10,500 Confederate soldiers who took part in Pickett’s Charge suffered 6,467 casualties: 1,125 killed, 4,550wounded, 792 prisoners).

· Mt. Dajo, Jolo Island, Philippines, March 6, 1906: 94 American casualties (killed and wounded) out of 400 engaged. This was the first of two large actions against the Moros of the southern Philippines during conflicts that lasted from 1902-1913. Conflict with the Moros followed the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902 in which there were 7,052 American casualties (4,234 killed, 2,818 wounded) out of 126,000 engaged.

· Meuse-Argonne Offensive, France, September 26 November 11, 1918: 122,063 American casualties (26,277 killed, 95,786 wounded) out of 1,200,000 engaged. During the three weeks of heaviest fighting, American battle deaths averaged 1,000 per day.

· Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941: 3,566 American casualties (2,388 killed, 1,178 wounded)

· Invasion of Normandy (D-Day), June 6, 1944: 6,603 American casualties (1,465 killed, 3,184 wounded, 1,928 missing, 26 captured) out of 73,000 engaged. About 2,000 of those casualties were from the 1st and 29th Divisions at Omaha Beach. Another 2,499 (238 deaths) were from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

· Iwo Jima, February 19 – March 16, 1945: 26,038 American casualties (6,821 killed, 19,217 wounded) out of 70,000 engaged (the highest number of casualties ever inflicted on the U.S. Marine Corps).

· Defense of Pusan, Korea, June 25 – September 15, 1950: 19,165 American casualties (4,280 killed, 12,377 wounded, 401 captured, 2,107 missing) out of 84,478 engaged. The first 15 days of September brought higher casualties than any similar period during the Korean War. In contrast, American casualties during the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter (September 16-29, 1950) were 790 killed and 3,544 wounded (4,334 total).

· Khe Sanh, Vietnam, January 21 – April 14, 1968: 1,805 American casualties (205 killed, 1,600 wounded) out of 6,000 U.S. Marines engaged.

Some of the losses listed above truly were “heavy.” Some came in victory, some in defeat. Some were in noble causes, and some in causes that divided us. Even so, the willingness of the American soldier, Marine, airman, and sailor to sacrifice everything for the good of his or her country has never been in doubt. Perhaps one day the journalists and others like them will begin to recognize that. Perhaps also they will recognize that more Americans fell on a single day at Gettysburg than have fallen on every field of conflict from 9/11/2001 to this day.

The price has been high, and will go higher – but the price of quitting now will be beyond reckoning.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants.” – Thomas Jefferson, November 13, 1787

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” – Hebrews 12:4

Fallujah Delenda Est.