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Wars' Death Tolls Now Match 9/11
Published: September 23. 2006 3:00AM
Nation/World
U.S. military deaths match 9/11 losses
Toll in Iraq, Afghanistan hits 2,973
September 23, 2006
BY CALVIN WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.
U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan now match those of the most devastating terrorist attack in U.S. history, the trigger for what came next.
Add casualties from chasing terrorism suspects elsewhere in the world and the total has passed the Sept. 11, 2001, figure.
The latest milestone for a country at war came Friday without commemoration.
It came without the precision of knowing who was the 2,973rd service member to die in conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The terrorist attacks killed 2,973 people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Not for the first time, war that was started to answer death has resulted in at least as much death for the country first attacked, quite apart from the higher numbers of enemy and civilians killed, too.
Historians note that this grim accounting is not how the success or failure of warfare is measured, and that the reasons for conflict are broader than what served as the spark.
The body count from World War II was far higher for Allied troops than for the crushed Axis.
Americans lost more men in each of a succession of Pacific battles than the 2,390 people who died at Pearl Harbor in the attack that led the United States to declare war on Japan. The United States lost 405,399 in the theaters of World War II.
Despite a death toll that pales next to that of the great wars, one casualty milestone after another has been observed and reflected upon this time, especially in Iraq.
There was the benchmark of seeing more U.S. troops die in the occupation than in the invasion. And there were the watersheds of 1,000 dead, 2,000, 2,500.
Now this.
"There's never a good war, but if the war's going well and the overall mission remains powerful, these numbers are not what people are focusing on," said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Boston University.
Almost 10 times more Americans have died in Iraq than in Afghanistan, where U.S. casualties have been light by historical standards.
Earlier Friday before the latest two deaths, the U.S. toll stood at 2,693 in the Iraq war and 278 in and around Afghanistan, a total of 2,971. It is unclear where those deaths occurred.
The Pentagon reports 56 military deaths and one civilian Defense Department death from Operation Enduring Freedom, the antiterrorism effort distinct from Iraq.
Altogether, 3,028 people have died abroad since Sept. 11, 2001.
Nation/World
U.S. military deaths match 9/11 losses
Toll in Iraq, Afghanistan hits 2,973
September 23, 2006
BY CALVIN WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.
U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan now match those of the most devastating terrorist attack in U.S. history, the trigger for what came next.
Add casualties from chasing terrorism suspects elsewhere in the world and the total has passed the Sept. 11, 2001, figure.
The latest milestone for a country at war came Friday without commemoration.
It came without the precision of knowing who was the 2,973rd service member to die in conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The terrorist attacks killed 2,973 people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Not for the first time, war that was started to answer death has resulted in at least as much death for the country first attacked, quite apart from the higher numbers of enemy and civilians killed, too.
Historians note that this grim accounting is not how the success or failure of warfare is measured, and that the reasons for conflict are broader than what served as the spark.
The body count from World War II was far higher for Allied troops than for the crushed Axis.
Americans lost more men in each of a succession of Pacific battles than the 2,390 people who died at Pearl Harbor in the attack that led the United States to declare war on Japan. The United States lost 405,399 in the theaters of World War II.
Despite a death toll that pales next to that of the great wars, one casualty milestone after another has been observed and reflected upon this time, especially in Iraq.
There was the benchmark of seeing more U.S. troops die in the occupation than in the invasion. And there were the watersheds of 1,000 dead, 2,000, 2,500.
Now this.
"There's never a good war, but if the war's going well and the overall mission remains powerful, these numbers are not what people are focusing on," said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Boston University.
Almost 10 times more Americans have died in Iraq than in Afghanistan, where U.S. casualties have been light by historical standards.
Earlier Friday before the latest two deaths, the U.S. toll stood at 2,693 in the Iraq war and 278 in and around Afghanistan, a total of 2,971. It is unclear where those deaths occurred.
The Pentagon reports 56 military deaths and one civilian Defense Department death from Operation Enduring Freedom, the antiterrorism effort distinct from Iraq.
Altogether, 3,028 people have died abroad since Sept. 11, 2001.
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