The hidden toll of the war is much higher

That is true - as long as you still have a pulse when they put you in the helicopter it does not count as a battlefield injury.

Another consideration - thanks to improved protective wear and vastly improved first aid and medical treatment, many soldiers who would have died in previous wars are merely maimed and ruined for life.  And thanks to the use of the depleted uranium used as weapons. the true toll in death and illness will take decades to unfold.

This war has drug on now longer than the great World Wars and the Civil War - with only Viet Nam lasting longer.  Like Viet Nam, no victory is in sight, the casualties have not dropped and the country has been divided.

I personally find nothing encouraging about a chart that shows ANY lives lost in a war that never needed fighting.

DQ