stars and stripes

Wounded Numbers
As of today, the official wounded count stands at 2230. As usual though,
gov't numbers are untrustworthy. From the Stars and Stripes:

"It is unmistakable that Iraq is still a war zone," Miller [R- NC visiting
Landstuhl in Gernmany] said. He said there is an average of 35 attacks a day
against soldiers and 95 percent of those soldiers survive their injuries, he
said. . . . The delegation made a stop at the military hospital in
Landstuhl, which has treated more than 7,000 injured and ill servicemembers
from the Iraq war. The congressmen met with several injured soldiers, one
whose arm had been amputated by a rocket-propelled grenade, and another who
was injured by a homemade bomb.

It is unclear how many of the 7,000 are soldiers with illness unrelated to
combat. Nonetheless, this number is significantly higher than anything
reported elsewhere. The fact that these numbers involve only soldiers flown
to Germany indicates that injuries are far from minor.

Finally, the Stars and Stripes again suggests that the official wounded
number is dramatically deflated. An increased flow of wounded into Germany
has created the need for a new staging area to care from them all:

The decision to build a new structure comes as the steady flow of patients
from Iraq continues, with Landstuhl Regional Medical Center receiving an
average of 44 patients a day.

A little bit of math shows that if this average goes back to, say May 1st,
then the total number of wounded/ill is actually 8,000. Perhaps a phone call
to CentCom will clear this up.

Thanks to CJ Watson for the leads.