Iraq American Death Count: Public Largely Unaware

A new poll from the Pew Research Center finds a staggering drop in the public awareness about fatalities in Iraq:

Public awareness of the number of American military fatalities in Iraq has declined sharply since last August. Today, just 28% of adults are able to say that approximately 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war. As of March 10, the Department of Defense had confirmed the deaths of 3,974 U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

In August 2007, 54% correctly identified the fatality level at that time (about 3,500 deaths). In previous polls going back to the spring of 2004, about half of respondents could correctly estimate the number of U.S. fatalities around the time of the survey.

(Note: the number of U.S. deaths confirmed by the Department of Defense is 3,974. Thirteen U.S. deaths are pending confirmation, for a total of 3,987).

By contrast, 84% of Americans knew that Oprah Winfrey was supporting Sen. Barack Obama for President.

The study also finds that over the same period of time, the media coverage dropped to only 3% of news:

The drop in awareness comes as press attention to the war has waned. According to the News Content Index conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the percentage of news stories devoted to the war has sharply declined since last year, dropping from an average of 15% of the newshole in July to just 3% in February.

Click here to read the entire poll.

Comments

[HumeSkeptic]

I, for one, have not forgotten that cold day in New York City when we marched hand in hand to try and stop the then impending invasion of Iraq.

We begged Hillary then. We sent her letters, we emailed, we called her office. Thousands of us. We begged her to please not side with the NeoCons.

Hillary gave us the finger.

The results of that colossal mistake are there for all to see. Hundreds of thousand have died and millions are homeless in Iraq. And the carnage continues.

Recently, for the Kyl/Lieberman amendment, we begged Hillary again to please not side with the NeoCons. And she ignored us, again.

There is no way I can forgive Hillary for that.

Sure, Iraq war is Bush’s war. But Hillary supported him. She sided with the NeoCons.

[transendentilist]

What a load of manure. You begged Hillary???? Really? How did you know how she would vote???
Kyl-Lieberman was a NON-BINDING resolution, and far from a call to war. You Obamians have a real problem with the truth.

[HumeSkeptic]

Not amny know how many soldires have been killed and severely wounded. Also, I wonder how many know what we have done to Iraq, a country that never did us any harm, and how many Iraqis have been killed, and how many tortured, and how many rendered homeless, and how many children got their with their limbs blown off. And how many little girsl shot dead, as one was reported today.

The crimes committed and lives destroyed in this fraud called Iraq war keep piling up, but not nearly enough for Bush and Cheney, and for John McCain who would like tis to go on for a hundred years.

[kellygrrrl]

Thank You for moving this to the top story, Huff

Every American needs to KNOW

Every media outlet needs to keep this news at the forefront

[biwee]

As a military retiree, I can assure you that I am aware of these terrible numbers. But, on the list of dead and wounded, you will find no relative of Wolfowitz, or Perle, or Kristol, or Feith, or Abrams, or any of the chickenhawk Republican cowards who still support this unnecessary war of choice, like MORON McConnell of KY.

[sammy333]

Since the day the war started, CNN, Fox, NYT, Times and most of the MSM has made a strong concerted effort to suppress or severely underrepresent any information objectively depicting the enormous extent of human suffering and death resulting from the war. That helped to reelect the neoconservative conspirators in 2004 and continue the deadly policies until today.

[Zentomato]

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

[HamletsMill]

This NeoCon Momma's Boy Theorist Administration by their very existence mock the sacrifice of our fathers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPU4p7UQOtU

And now by their every breath they mock the sacrifice of our sons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fukNwvVyDo&NR=1

As the General in essence said to Lieutenant Hearn in "The Naked and the Dead":

"We will win. That is a certainty. We shall defeat them (Fascism). And then...we will become them."

God help us. God help what has become of our once mighty nation.

HamletsMill
1st Lieutenant
U.S. Army
1969-1971

[laocoon]

then why was 911 such a big deal?

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well I am, dammit, which is why I'm putting in for George's job. Vote for Bert, he wants to hold a recall formation on the Capitol steps.

[rh654]

With no Draft and most people not knowing anyone who is serving - after time the Iraq War will fade from peoples lives as other things come up and the news won't carry it if interest wanes.

But alas, I am willing to bet that neither Hillary or Obama will start drawing down troops in any significant way if one of them wins the Presidency. There is no way they are going to bet their Presidency on the outcome in Iraq after the troops leave and then the next 3 years.

[rmreddicks]

There are people in this thread who call these soldiers heroes. They are pawns in a Bush and his ilk game. One can more love them by loving them. Bush defames them.

[vippy]

Well, if it would only be 3,974 bodies but the number is wrong, very wrong! Those are only those who died on the battlefield. Those soldiers who died while getting transported or later died of the
wounds sustained during battle are not included in this number. There was a reason to do this as
not to upset the public. If the public would know the truth, this would not have gone over so lightly
as this does currently. So wake up people, demand to know the truth.

[springsm]

I commend HuffPo for getting the message from bloggers that these statistics and people who have died are more important than Ferraro's rant of Spitzer's disgrace. It is also more important than Obama vs HRC or HRC Vs Obama. We need to know these facts..we also need to remember the innocent Iraqui's...but these military personnel are coming home for the last time and we need to all be informed. Thank you Huffpo for changing your head story.

[Egghead]

Thank you for bringing us back to reality and a sense of proportion. This and the torture issue are probably the biggest moral issues facing America today.

[LaFeminazi]

Well one number nobody knows for sure.

How many innocent Iraqis paid for Bush's war crime.

I mean apart from the 4.5 million refugees that is.

[keyman12]

I spoke to a druggist who is a native of Syria at my grocery store who informed me that the Syrian Gov can do only so much for the Iraqi refugees in his country and that they are gradually sending most of them back to Iraq which is unfortunate but you cant blame the Syrians. They had nothing to do with the cause of the refugees plight and they dont have the resources to absorb that many ppl into their economy. How many Iraqi refugees has the US helped in any way? Like to take a guess?????

[RoseMerry]

Oh, my! HuffPo has moved this story to the top! Thank you! I have never been so proud of HuffPo. Never forget - we are lost our most precious treasure on the sands that gawdforsake desert for no good reason! I am in tears, again.

Thank you.

[hardrain77]

Don't act like you guys have been on the Iraq ball this whole time. Jesus, Geraldine Ferraro's mug has been on HuffPo so much in the last week, I almost thought it was 1984 again; oh wait, it is 1984--Orwell's 1984.

[emsique]

Excellent point.

Go to the Google news page and more often than not Iraq is not even mentioned in the top news stories. You have to request it, just like you had to look for stories concerning any candidate other than Obama and Clinton, when there were other candidates. The media got the ones they wanted and now the Democratic presidential campaign has degenerated into a tabloid like story with Hillary Clinton replacing Britney Spears as the next train wreck waiting to happen. Idiotic poll after idiotic poll with totally conflicting results and a margin of error of about 95% have taken the place of actual discussion of issues. I'm right now looking at a fucking ad here on Huffpost for some totally unscientific "poll" by some clowns calling themselves Pollingpoint.com asking who I will elect!!!!!!

Meanwhile, this war has sucked our country down a horrifying hole, with our brave people in the military spilling their blood and souls and we sit here with our heads up our asses pissing back and forth about why Eliot Spitzer fucked his future away, and why so and so is a mysogonist for calling Ferraro a racist, and will poor Britney ever be able to win the headlines back from Hillary?

Iraq should be the top story every minute of every day, including how many Americans have died, how many Iraqis have died, what happens to all the wounded, displaced, and ruined lives. What the hell are we still doing there? Why are we torturing people? Why are the rat bastards who started this still in the White House? How the hell are we going to pay for this fiasco? How are we going to repair the mess we have made of the world and our country? Why is Osama B. still at large?

Look at the Huffington Post! At this moment I count 4 stories about Spitzer (9 counting blogs), 3 stories on the Clinton soap opera/campaign (plus 4 more blogs), and 3 stories and 1 blog about Iraq. That's a ratio of 16 soap operas to 4 items on Iraq.

Huffington Post is a great source of news and comments, but just like the MSM it falls into the trap of paying too much attention to the tabloid stuff and not enough into what is important to our country and the world.