How Many Deaths, Really?

"... and what about American military deaths? When will someone do a study on the actual number of those? If the Bush administration is lying so vehemently about the number of dead Iraqis, one can only imagein the extent of lying about dead Americans..."

This is a quote from an Iraqi blogger on the Riverbend blog Bagdad Burning (riverbendblog.blogspot.com) and is part of what was written after the Lancet estimated the staggering number of Iraqi deaths.

And, as it turns out, she is right. The number of US deaths reported at around 3000 is quite misleading, if in fact, not true. Apparently these numbers only include deaths on the battlefield. So, if a soldier is transported off the battlefield and dies later, his death is not included in this count. If all these deaths were counted, the number is much higher. How much higher? Another 1000? Another 10,000?

The fact is, we don't know, and if this administration is using such a restricted definition of "deaths", then they are really, and blatantly, misleading the nation.