This past November was the worst of any November for U.S. deaths since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001. In fact, the number of American soldiers killed in November 2010 equaled the U.S. death toll of all the Novembers from 2003 through 2009 (53). Before last month, the worst November was 2009’s, when 18 were killed. Prior to that, the average November death toll from 2001-2008 was five.

 

The deaths of these Americans have been practically ignored by the U.S. media except in the towns of the victims. And, more and more, the war victims are coming from small towns that are far away from the headquarters of national television networks and newspapers. For example, as Tom Engelhardt has pointed out, the six U.S. trainers who were killed by an Afghan policemen in a single incident, hailed from “Athens (Ohio, pop. 21,909), Beaver Dam (Wisconsin, pop. 15,169), Mexico (Maine, pop. 2,959), Quartz Hill (California, pop. 9,890), Senoia (Georgia, pop. 3,720), Tell City (Indiana, pop. 7,845).”

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Body Bags and Body Counts (by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com)

Fatalities by Year and Month (iCasualties.org)