Sam Smith: Apology Re. Iraq Casualty Figures

We were deeply moved by a comment by Richard Cheney to John Edwards during the recent debate concerning the relative contributions made by members of the ''coalition.'' Cheney said that Edwards "won't count the sacrifice and the contribution of Iraqi allies. It's their country. They're in the fight. They're increasingly the ones out there putting their necks on the line to take back their country from the terrorists and the old regime elements that are still left. . . You suggested. . . somehow they shouldn't count, because you want to be able to say that the Americans are taking 90 percent of the sacrifice. You cannot succeed in this effort if you're not willing to recognize the enormous contribution the Iraqis are increasingly making to their own future."

We agree that not only has Edwards been deficient in this regard but so have we. We shall henceforth operate on the Cheney principle and count not just the casualties of America and its invading allies , but those of the Iraqi people, both military and civilian, as well. We trust other media will follow suit and that readers, out of respect towards the vice president, will urge them to do so.

The current count is as follows, using the lower estimates in case of conflicting calculations:

AMERICAN COALITION CASUALTIES

Deaths (military and civilian): 19,068

Wounded: 47,413

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