September marked the highest monthly level of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq in nearly two years. According to a recent Washington Post article, 776 troops were wounded in Iraq last month — the fourth highest monthly total since the United States first invaded the country in March 2003.
Facts like this continue to support the stance that the Bush administration has not properly managed this war and still have yet to establish an appropriate plan to succeed and pull troops out of the country.
While the media often reports the number of soldiers killed, the focus rarely falls on the number wounded. But military experts say this is a more accurate gauge of how intense the fighting is in Iraq.
Technological advances in medical care and battlefield armor have saved lives of service members who would have died under the same circumstances in past wars; the number of service members killed doesn't offer a pragmatic look into the reality of life for a soldier in Iraq.
Another key to the fierceness of battle is the ratio of wounded to killed among U.S. soldiers. Although politicians are weary of making the obvious comparison between the two wars, the ratio in Iraq is more than double what it was in Vietnam — 8-to-1 for Iraq compared with 3-to-1 in Vietnam.
Sadly, American casualties are to be expected when we're involved in a country engaged in civil war, but the response from Washington has been inadequate at best.
In March, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Iraqi forces, not U.S. troops, would prevent civil war within the country. Obviously, and not too surprisingly, that unrealistic stratagem didn't happen. And now that it didn't, where's the plan addressing the country's internal war?
Those on the ground also see the country as chaotic and uncontrollable. Time magazine published a stunning piece Friday that offers a remarkable window into Iraq. The frustration and monotonous fight is best illustrated by this anonymous Marine's letter.
The Marine wrote, "There's not much I can write about because practically everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or is depressing to the point that I'd rather just forget abut it, never mind write about it. … This place just consumes you. … It starts all over again four hours later. It's not really like Ground Hog Day, it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno."
The government and country are indebted to their military personnel and should respect the troops not only in funding the war adequately, but also by creating a real plan to help stabilize the country — a plan that includes something other than partisan rhetoric.
The amount of men and women wounded in Iraq shows just how dangerous and desperate the situation is. Those stationed in that country deserve more from their leaders than the White House's usual national security stump speech.
