Bill Moyers Journal = Iraq Conflict in Numbers = Resources for Veterans

[L. Coyote]

May 30, 2008

Iraq Conflict in Numbers
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05302008/profile4.html

Since the conflict in Iraq began in 2003, there have been battles over numbers. These disagreements range not only over how much money the was has cost — and may eventually cost — but over casualty numbers for coalition members and Iraqis. Counting the Iraqi citizens who were killed, injured or even displaced by the conflict faces some logistical challenges due to the lack of standardized reporting entities on the ground. But there is also and ongoing debate over just how the Department of Defense enumerates those injured in the conflict. Critics contend that many in-theater deaths and injuries go uncounted in the official totals — ruled accidents.

Of course, numbers are not just numbers in the coverage of a controversial war. As the NEW YORK TIMES public editor noted in the wake of a controversy over contradictory casualty figures reported by his own paper, the reality in Iraq depends on who's counting. And the numbers are used to support or criticize administration initiatives like the recent troop surge.

A media battle erupted in 2008 between the authors of a study in the British medical journal, THE LANCET, and THE NATIONAL JOURNAL. The LANCET STUDY contends that some 600,000 post-invasion Iraqi deaths are due to violence. The NATIONAL JOURNAL labeled the study "Data Bomb," questioning both the methodology and the Iraqi researchers who performed the data collection. .....

PHIL DONAHUE AND ELLEN SPIRO
Bill Moyers interviews former talk show host Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro on the true cost of war and their documentary, BODY OF WAR, depicting the moving story of one veteran dealing with the aftermath of war.

Phil Donahue
Co-Director/ Executive Producer, BODY OF WAR

If you're going to send young men and women to fight for this nation, tell the truth. That's one of the biggest reasons for the First Amendment. And we haven't been. And so I thought I will tell the story, the real story of the harm in harm's way.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05302008/profile3.html
May 30, 2008

Questions about the services received by veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan burst onto the national stage in 2007 with public hearings over the treatment of patients at the Army's Walter Reed facility. The investigations by press and Congress resulted in the resignation of several officials — and renewed attention to the plight of veterans around the country. As the war entered its fifth year in late March 2008, CNN ran a special story about military sexual trauma among women veterans. NPR investigated veterans disability paperwork. And, the ARMY TIMES' anniversary coverage included "Vets still struggle with medical systems."

[L. Coyote]

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