posted on November 11, 2003 04:46:55 PM new
When you stick your neck out as often as I do, every once in a while you'll get your head chopped off.
I wouldn't say this week's "clarification" of last week's column rises to the level of a head-in-the-basket case, but I'd be happier if I didn't have to write it.
Last week's column did something I would have thought impossible: It falsely maligned the Bush administration.
An administration starring a serial liar and a supporting cast of persistent prevaricators, obdurate obfuscates and downright double-talkers is hard to bum rap, but somehow I managed to do it.
I suggested something that apparently isn't true: that our government is misleading us about the number of deaths of our troops in Iraq.
The rationale for my argument was that we rarely hear of a wounded soldier dying. When the severely injured never -- or rarely -- die, one might become suspicious.
I suggested sarcastically that our military doctors must be miracle workers because they seem to save every wounded soldier's life.
I could have done without the sarcasm. The apparent truth is that the lives of nearly all the wounded in Iraq are indeed saved.
In essence, both say that the died-of-wounds rate in Iraq has dropped to a fraction of 1 percent. In other words, of all wounded GIs who live long enough to get to a surgeon (and that's most of them), fewer than one in 100 die of their wounds.
That's absolutely amazing, and is the best news I've heard yet coming out of that war.
What accounts for that amazing success? A variety of factors, such as better medicines -- in particular, quick blood-clotting drugs. In the past, too many GIs bled to death, either because the medics couldn't reach them or, if they could, they couldn't stop the bleeding. Now they can.
And now there are mobile surgical teams scattered throughout the battle areas, so the wounded get to well-equipped operating rooms in a hurry.
For far much greater detail, I recommend the article in The New York Times.
So, I apparently was wrong last week. Our government appears not to be covering up combat deaths.
However, in my own defense, and in the defense of all the e-mailers who agreed with me last week, the Bush administrations' secretiveness, and its history of deliberate misrepresentations, certainly tempts one to suspect the worst of those fellows.
Banning the press from Dover (Del.) Air Force Base, where GI bodies are returned from overseas, is the kind of unnecessary secrecy that's bound to make one wonder what they're hiding from us.
IN OTHER NEWS, "Our Man in Iraq," Sgt. Mike, wrote a couple of weeks ago that the one place in Iraq where a soldier might be safe was inside a tank. Too much armor to pierce.
But now that has changed. "The Hajji wanted a tank," he wrote last week. For months now, the resistance has been targeting them. Tanks are (or were) the only thing we had that they just couldnıt mess with. Now it seems theyıve got it right."
Also from Sgt. Mike: "Iım really tired of memorial services. Had three already this month, and Ramadan just started. Hajji gets more active in the winter."
And: "Iım not sure you know this, but as service members we are not allowed to even make jokes about the commander-in-chief. Most of us arenıt talking -- even in private -- about the future. No one is speculating about corruption or even stupidity on high. I think most of us are intentionally remaining as ignorant of current events (outside of our immediate surroundings) as we possibly can.
"Unfortunately, this is impossible for me. If I were to sit down and discuss this with my peers or subordinates, I could be charged with sedition and treason."
Sgt. Mike has been in the Army 17 years. This isn't his first war. When his current term of enlistment is up, he isnıt going to re-up, even though he's just a few years away from a pension.
Harley Sorensen is a longtime journalist. His column appears Mondays. E-mail him at [email protected].
posted on November 11, 2003 07:05:36 PM newLast week's column did something I would have thought impossible: It falsely maligned the Bush administration.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It takes a BIG person to admit they were wrong. It's good to see some still have a sense of fairness and can admit when they are wrong. That's great, imo.
posted on November 11, 2003 10:24:44 PM new
It is great when someone admits their mistakes, and it's particularly good to read about the percentage of wounded who survive...
Just curious, how come you didn't bold this part?:
However, in my own defense, and in the defense of all the e-mailers who agreed with me last week, the Bush administrations' secretiveness, and its history of deliberate misrepresentations, certainly tempts one to suspect the worst of those fellows.
Banning the press from Dover (Del.) Air Force Base, where GI bodies are returned from overseas, is the kind of unnecessary secrecy that's bound to make one wonder what they're hiding from us.
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In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
posted on November 12, 2003 08:08:19 AM new
Because I knew you would Prof. No really, I figured that was his way of trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his readers
As far a banning the Press from Dover AFB, they don't need to make a public spectacle of the matter.
"Another plague upon the land, as devastating as the locusts God loosed on the Egyptians, is "Political Correctness.'" --Charlton Heston
posted on November 12, 2003 12:01:27 PM newAs far as banning the Press from Dover AFB, they don't need to make a public spectacle of the matter. And that was put in place in 1991 out of respect for the families of those soldiers coming home, who didn't wish to have the media present during that emotional time.
