Pentagon giving misleading info on number of insurgents killed in Iraq

The Department of Defense has for the first time revealed statistics on numbers of Iraq insurgents killed since the U.S. invasion. Previously the Bush Administration resisted such requests, the secretiveness of this White House reinforced by reluctance to highlight a very controversial approach from the Vietnam period. The about-face came in response to a request from USA Today.

On the surface, the data seem to provide evidence of progress. A total of 19,429 insurgents are reported killed, compared with 3,800 Americans and 300 others, largely British. In releasing the figures, the military stressed that 4,882 insurgents have been killed this year, a 25 percent increase over last year.

In the Vietnam War, body counts were often inflated to please the brass. Pentagon politics and public relations corrupted information. As that war became ever more frustrating and controversial, critics seized on this problem. The aftermath of the war included a bitter lawsuit between Vietnam commander Gen. William Westmoreland and CBS News, which he accused of a biased documentary on the bloody numbers game. In fairness to the Defense Department, in Iraq there has been sustained emphasis from senior commanders on the vital importance of accurate information.

But there is a more subtle and profound problem with the body-count approach. During Vietnam, U.S. Army iconoclasts such as Col. John Paul Vann argued that the McNamara measures were based on false premises. Given the enormous scale of American firepower, increasing body and weapons totals simply meant the enemy was growing in numbers. There were more targets to kill.

During McNamara’s tenure at the Pentagon, officers who questioned the approach were not only summarily rejected, their careers were in jeopardy. Vann, ultimately vindicated, became extremely influential and effective in Southeast Asia as a civilian official of the Agency for International Development, the U.S. foreign aid program. He still carried a weapon and supervised military operations. Literally unable to let go of Vietnam, Vann was killed in a helicopter crash late in the war.

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