Iraq: Return of the Body Count

Body count isn't best way to rate war result

The Department of Defense has for the first time revealed statistics on the numbers of Iraqi insurgents killed since the U.S. invasion. Previously, the Bush administration resisted such requests, the secretiveness of this White House reinforced by a 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 seems 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....

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.

The rest of the story: San Jose Mercury News