Today's news... Check this out

[Bongo]

I was watching the channel 5 news about 10 minutes ago (9pm on Monday 5th February) and it is reported that....

"The 100th British soldier dies in Iraq."

That was the 'precise' quote made by channel 5 news. They never qualified the further statement which they make on their web page...

http://news.five.tv/uk_news.asp?id=1250164 ..."please scroll down"

The soldier's death means 131 UK service personnel have now died in Iraq since the start of hostilities, with 100 of those dying in action.

... either this is an absolute bolls-up ? ... or indeed an attempt to 'massage' the figures to keep the opinion of the public believeing that not many are actually dying. You know what I think.

Ps. the only reason I clicked onto this is because the anti-war movement in Glasgow held a vigil at a bridge in the city to commemorate the 100th UK soldiers death..... "about 8 months ago" or there abouts?

It really just makes you wonder what the figures really are? And indeed the figures for Iraqi civilian deaths... ie how many Iraqi's died from bombs rather than natural causes during the duration of the war to date?

[Mark Gobell]

All news channel have been saying he was the 100th death, all day long.

My guess is that they are slyly qualifying it with the "in action" caveat.

[stav]

i noticed it to and pointed it out to my fiance, it stood out even more as i personally knew the 101st soldier to die it was all over our local news.
how do 31 soldiers die in iraq not in action?
if all 131 died in iraq would that mean that 31 died there before the official start to war?
what counts as dieing in a foreign country during army work not in action?
i know its a side issue and not much point to a loved one who has losed a loved one, but if you are killed not in action is the payout less?

[flamesong]

It's a not very well kept secret that the US ships its mortally wounded to Germany to die so that they don't count as official statistics.

Maybe there is some figure massaging going on here - perhaps the latest casualty was the 100th to die actually in Iraq and not on the plane home.

[conspiracy analyst]

are made up why shouldn't war casualties be totally fictional?

Unemployment is officially around 1 million yet only 75% of 29 odd million actually work and not all full time.

Inflation is officially 3-4% yet house price inflation has been in the tens if not hundreds of % over a 10 year period.

Council tax increases at or near the rate of inlfation we are constantly told yet my one has gone up over 100% in a ten year period.

According to the veterans association in the USA 150,000 soldiers are claiming some type of benefit for injuries related to the war.

According to Stiglitz ex-Nobel prize winner the cost of the Iraq war is in the trillions yet Bush's budgets for it are in the hundreds of billions.

[Mark Gobell]

Of course the figures are being massaged. We know that 131 British soldiers have died in the war in Iraq.

Military deaths are categorised in different ways, Killed in Action, Died of Wounds, Accidents, Friendly Fire etc., so I'm guessing that's how they can put out the 100th KIA without actualling telling lies.

Misleading us all is, of course, par for the course and perfectly acceptable, even on those rare occasions that we notice.