Article created by The Century Foundation
America’s enterprise in Iraq crossed a somber landmark when the 2,000th American
soldier died this week. Most of the major papers focused on this story, and
the New York Times printed photographs of 1,000 soldiers who have given
their lives. But the figure of 2,000 is an arbitrary one, and clouds our understanding
of the war’s impact. There are other numbers that give a fuller accounting
of the costs of this war.
- Fifteen thousand, for example: the
number of America’s wounded. While body armor and improved medical technology
has raised the survival rate from 75 percent in Vietnam to 87 percent today,
almost half of these injuries (7,159 of 15,220) are serious. Ten percent of
the wounded will go home with spinal injuries. Another ten percent have experienced
head injuries, and many will suffer brain damage. Amputation rates, at 6 percent,
are double the historic norm. “You live,” says
Lt. Col. Craig Silverton, an orthopedic surgeon, “but you have these
devastating injuries.” “Somebody’s got to pay the price,” says
Col.
Joseph Brennan, a head and neck surgeon, “And these kids are paying
the price.”In March, a photo
essay by Johnny Dwyer published in the New York Times Magazine
described what the word “casualty” encompasses: “deep flesh
wounds, burst eardrums, shattered teeth, perforated organs, flash burns to
the eyes, severed limbs.” The
images are even more powerful; they strip away the anesthetized images
we have of ‘survivors.’ These soldiers may survive, but their dreams—of
playing sports again, going to college, walking on the beach—will not.
Other soldiers, not tallied in these casualty figures, will suffer from psychological
trauma for the rest of their days. - Three hundred and fifteen billion dollars is the price of health-care
for the wounded, according
to Linda Bilmes, a public finance professor at Harvard University. Blimes
extrapolated from data on disability claims from the Gulf War to calculate
this figure; if it is even close to the mark it will burden the Veteran Affairs
department for decades. - Four thousand is the estimated number of families that have had a
spouse or parent killed or seriously wounded. Many of these families are working
class and have lost a primary breadwinner. Soldiers in National Guard and
reserve units, who did not anticipate a lengthy and dangerous deployment when
they signed up, now
account for one-third of all dead and wounded. - Thirty thousand is the frequently-cited number
of Iraqis who have died directly from the war. But when you factor in
indirect results of the war—increased infant mortality, damage to infrastructure,
the rise in criminality, and other changes from pre-war Iraq—the number
skyrockets. A team led by Les Roberts of the Johns Hopkins School of Public
Health, published
a study one year ago in The Lancet that showed that the United
States-led invasion had resulted in 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths during
the first 18 months. When you factor in injuries (in the hundreds of thousands)
and economic disruption it becomes clear that the Iraqis are bearing staggering
costs.
There is evidence that Americans are coming to terms with the war’s consequences.
An October NBC News/Wall Street
Journal Poll shows a majority of Americans believe that the war was not
worth it (by a 51 to 40 margin.) A Pew
Center poll found that when asked “Do you think the U.S. should keep
military troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized, or do you think
the U.S. should bring its troops home as soon as possible?” a plurality
for the first time favored withdrawal. Though the 48 to 47 percent margin is
statistically insignificant, it marks a major shift from October of last year,
when Americans supported keeping troops in Iraq by a 57–36 margin. A Harris
Poll published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday suggests that
only 19 percent believe the situation for U.S. troops is improving while 44
percent think it’s getting worse.
In 1971, John
Kerry asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “how do you ask
a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” With all the attention
focused on a single number this week, it’s worth remembering that a man can
give his life without appearing in the fatality figures.
