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DoD TAKING HEAT ON CASUALTY NUMBERS -- Senators
and vets' groups say government officials are
obscuring the actual number of wounded
in the Iraq and Afghanistan.
Background with backlinks here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJAN07/nf013107-3.htm
Story here...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/
articles/2007/02/07/snowe_asks_pentagon_to_
include_non_combat_injuries_in_reporting/
Story below:
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Snowe asks Pentagon to include non-combat
injuries in reporting
By Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON --Sens. Olympia Snowe and Barack Obama and veterans groups
say government officials are obscuring the actual number of wounded in
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by leaving out of some public documents
troops who suffer non-combat injuries.
From the Pentagon Web site to press materials handed out at the opening
of an amputee center in Texas last week, the number of wounded in the
wars often circulated publicly is around 23,000.
That number only accounts for those wounded in combat. When troops from
those wars who were wounded in other ways are counted, the number more
than doubles, to about 53,000.
That latter number is not heavily circulated by the Pentagon. Recently,
a Defense Department official publicly criticized a researcher who used
it and pressured another government agency to change a public document
to report the smaller number.
"This is a clear pattern by VA and DOD to conceal the escalating human
and financial costs of the two wars from Congress, the press and the
public," said Paul Sullivan, veterans advocacy director with Veterans
for America.
Snowe, R-Maine, and Obama, D-Ill., have introduced legislation to
require the Veterans Affairs Department and the Defense Department to
"start keeping honest figures on our troops and the potential future
costs of the war."
"The Defense Department and the VA have a responsibility to work
together to accurately assess the health care needs of our nation's
returning veterans," Snowe said.
Non-battle wounds can range from injuries in vehicle accidents to
illnesses. Some are sports injuries that need care outside the war zone.
Many of the wounded return to duty.
"It doesn't make a difference whether you were hit by enemy fire, or
injured because your vehicle crashed, or got sick because of serving in
a war zone," added Obama. "The effects on the soldiers and their
families are the same. And the impact in terms of the current fighting
force and future demands on the VA are also the same."
Some non-battle wounds can be just as disabling as those inflicted in
combat. Dave Autry, deputy national director of communications for
Disabled American Veterans, told the story of a soldier riding in the
back of a truck when it went off a bridge and into an Iraqi canal.
This soldier, who suffered crushed legs and an injured spine, is not
among those listed in the Pentagon's more widely circulated tally, Autry
said.
The Pentagon updates its casualty totals for the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars daily at
http://www.defenselink.mil.
Clicking on "press resources" or "casualties" on the home page leads to
a chart that lists the dead and wounded from combat totals but not
totals for the non-battle wounded.
A separate, harder-to-find Pentagon Web site that listed casualties by
type for each war had all the wounded. Last week, the number of
non-combat wounded was dropped from the chart, produced by the
department's Statistical Information and Analysis Division.
Since November, the VA had been reporting about 50,000 wounded from the
wars on a Web site fact sheet for media. It changed that number last
month to about 21,000 after hearing from the Pentagon, VA spokesman Matt
Burns said.
Burns said only combat wounded are supposed to be in the tally.
President Bush's proposed budget increased funding for veterans' medical
care from $29.3 billion to $34.2 billion. It anticipated VA providing
medical care to nearly 263,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in 2008.
All Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are guaranteed two years of health
care at VA when they return from the war. Those with injuries connected
to their service get health care treatment beyond the two years.
Also, all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans injured while serving in the
wars are eligible for monthly disability payments, regardless of whether
they were injured in combat. The amount of the payments is based on the
level of disability.
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On the Net:
Veterans Affairs war statistics:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.asp
Defense Department full casualty reports:
http://siadapp.dior.whs.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm
Deployment Health Support Directorate report:
http://www.legion.org/ppt/kilpatrick.ppt
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Larry Scott --
