Below is a version of the “More military members died under Clinton than under Bush” disinformation email that is proliferating across the Internet. I received it March 8, 2008. My comments are in bold. RH

 

These are some rather eye-opening facts: Since the start of the war
on terror in Iraq and Afganistan, [sic] the sacrifice has been enormous. In
the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through now,
we have lost over 3,000 military personnel to enemy action and
accidents.

First clue this has factual problems: It refers to 3,000 deaths, yet the toll reached 4,000 less than two weeks later, on March 24, 2008. At a minimum, it’s out-of-date. 

As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces
is, consider the following statistics:

The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in
the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:

1980 ......... 2,392
1981 ......... 2,380
1984 ........ 1,999
1988 ........ 1,819
1989 ........ 1,636
1990 ......... 1,508
1991 ..........1,787
1992 ........1,293 ----------------------------- Clinton took office in January, 1993, not ‘92
1993 ........ 1,213
1994 .......... 1,075
1995 .........2,465   Actual number per Congressional Research Service is 1,040
1996 ......... 2,318 CRS: 974        8 Clintonyears @13,417 deaths
1997 .......... 817                           Actual deaths under Clinton: 7,500
1998 ......... 2,252 CRS: 827
1999 .......... 1,984 ------------------------------ CRS: 796; Clinton in office through 2000
2000 ........ 1,983  CRS: 758
2001 .......... 890
2002 ........ 1,007 7 BUSH years @ 9,016 deaths Bush 2001-2006 = 6 years
2003 ........ 1,410                                      Actual deaths under Bush, 2001-2006: 8,989
2004 .......... 1,887  
2005 ......... 919        No clear source for the 2005 – 2006 numbers; if they are OIF, they cannot be extracted from the CRS report.

2006.......... 920 ---------   


If you are confused when you look at these figures....

Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in
the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during
Mr. Clinton 's presidency (when America wasn't even involved in a
war)? And, I was even more confused when I read that in 1980, during
the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize) Jimmy Carter, there were
2,392 US military fatalities!

There were also more than 500,000 more service members on active duty in 1980 than there are today — including the Guard and Reserve people on active duty.

These figures indicate that many of our Media & Politicians will pick
and choose. They present only those 'facts' which support their
agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to
twist the truth. Where do so many of them get their marching-orders
for their agenda?

Our Mainstream Print and TV media, and many Politicians like to
slant, that these brave men and women who are losing their lives in
Iraq are mostly minorities! Wrong AGAIN--- just one more media lie!
Wrong, anonymous emailer. The Associated Press has been tracking deaths since the beginning, including the numbers of minorities, using Department of Defense data, and those figures have repeatedly been updated and published. See below.

 

The latest census of Americans shows the following distribution of
American citizens, by Race:

European descent (White).................... 69.12%
Hispanic .................................... 12.5%
Black........................................ 12.3%
Asian ........................................ 3.7%
Native American ...............................1.0%
Other .........................................2.6%

Now... here are the fatalities by Race over the past three years in
Iraqi Freedom:

These aren’t actually listed as percentages on the CRS site, but if you calculate percentages from the raw numbers in the most recent version, they are roughly correct.

European descent (white) ................... 74.31%
Hispanic ................................... 10.74%
Black ....................................... 9.67%
Asian ....................................... 1.81%
Native American ............................. 1.09%
Other ....................................... .33%

AP numbers on March 2, 2008:

• Percentages by ethnic group: White: 75 percent; Hispanic or Latino: 11 percent; Black or African American: 9 percent; Asian: 2 percent; multiple races, pending, or unknown: 1 percent; American Indian or Alaska Native: 1 percent; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 1 percent


These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and
they may be confirmed by anyone at:

http://www.fas.org /sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf (Please look at this
report site if you have the chance.)

Please do! Check the figures for yourself and see how this email is incorrect!

Now ask yourself these two questions:

1. 'Why does the mainstream Print and TV Media never provide
statistics like these?'

Because they are grossly inaccurate?

2. 'Why do the mainstream media hate the web as much as they do?'