Where Are the Daily Headlines Counting Military Deaths Under Obama?

COMMENTARY | According to the New York Times headline on May 26, "Nine NATO Soldiers" died in Afghanistan. Eight of them were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in the southern part of the country, making this the deadliest attack so far this year. What the Times failed to mention anywhere in the article was that seven of those killed were Americans, according to the Associated Press.

Since the Thursday attack, Pfc. John C. Johnson, 28, of Phoenix, Ariz., was killed Friday in Kandahar Province when his unit came under attack by small arms fire. On Saturday, Spc. Adam S. Hamilton, 22, of Kent, Ohio, was killed by another IED in Haji Ruf, Afghanistan.

Since its incipience Oct. 7, 2009, 1,503 American troops have died for their country over the course of the Afghanistan war. A total of 933 of those American lives have been lost since President Barack Obama was inaugurated Jan. 20, 2009. Compared to the 655 U.S. deaths during the entire eight years of the Bush administration, the total of American fatalities in just over two years of Obama's tenure equals 62 percent of the total, according to the Lakeland Times.

Comparatively speaking, an average of 6.8 deaths occurred per month during the Bush administration. The monthly average during Obama's presidency is 30.9 -- more than four times higher than under Bush.

Additionally, according to a July 19, 2010, article written by Kristina Wong of ABC News, the Department of Labor reported that 521 contractors had been killed since the war began. The majority of those deaths, 332 of them, came under Obama's first year in office. That is an increase of 175 percent.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have also risen drastically under Obama, with 72 deaths occurring in the first three months of 2010. That's 43 more deaths than during the same period in 2009.

So where are the daily headlines? During the Bush administration, the mainstream media seemed to take great satisfaction in presenting the daily death toll of American troops. CBS News reported the "grim milestone" of 500 American deaths in Iraq in 2004. The New York Times reported the same "milestone" in 2008 for Afghanistan. Yet since Obama has assumed the presidential office there has been a virtual casualty count vacuum. Additionally, reports of liberal protesters numbering in the thousands have all but vanished from the headlines.

Just one week after the announcement of his plans to escalate the war in Afghanistan, Obama stood before a packed Oslo City Hall audience in Norway to give his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace prize. During his 35-minute December lecture in 2009, President Obama defended the United States-led conflict in Afghanistan and his decision to send an additional 30,000 troops, emphasizing the role that war can play in helping to achieve peace through what he called a necessary war, a "just war." Ironically, the president who criticized Bush for not listening to his commanders in Iraq refused to approve the 40,000 troops his commander in Afghanistan believed was necessary for a successful surge.

If the war in Afghanistan is so "necessary" and "just," why is Obama so reticent about claiming responsibility for the number of deaths his decisions have brought about and why are his friends in the mainstream media so afraid to report them? Secondly, why are those on the left, who were bold in their protests to bring about the end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, so quiet about the rising death tolls of American soldiers and so ambivalent about Obama's decision to enter the United States in a third war?

At least the president took time out of his busy travel schedule to participate in the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier this year. I suppose with the news of having seven more American deaths announced after his six-day European tour and finally managing to carve out a moment to visit the storm-ravaged citizens of Missouri it might have been perceived as a bit gauche for Obama to have spent this Memorial Day weekend vacationing with his family friends and honoring another British entertainer like Paul McCartney. Interestingly, the president's decision to hit the links afterward was reported as "disrespectful and hardly presidential" only by the British press, including the Telegraph.

Sources:

Rod Norland, "NATO Soldiers Die in Afghanistan", New York Times

"7 Americans Killed in Explosion in Afghanistan" FOX News

Edwin Mora, "As America Observes Memorial Day, U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan Top 1,500" CNS News

Peter Andrew, "Military Casualties Under President Obama", American Conservative.org

Richard Moore, "Under Obama, American deaths in Afghanistan soar", The Lakeland Times

Spencer Ackerman, "NATO-Caused Civilian Casualties Increasing in Afghanistan" The Washington Independent

Joel Roberts, "Grim Milestone in Iraq", CBS News

Kirk Semple and Andre W. Lehren, "500: Deadly U.S. Milestone in Afghan war", New York Times

Tan Vin, "Thousands rally to protest Iraq war", The Seattle Times

Rick Moran, "Obama 'furious' with McChrystal - for telling the truth", American Thinker

Major Garret/AP, "Obama to Outline Plan to Send 30,000 Troops to Afghanistan Over Six Months" FOX News

"Barack Obama stands at attention during the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington County " TownHall.com

"Stressed Out or Tone Deaf? Obama Chicago Vacation Raises Eyebrows", FOX News

Doug Powers, "AP: Obama to Skip Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington on Monday", Michelle Malkin.com

Nile Gardener, "Barack Obama's decision to play golf on Memorial Day was disrespectful and hardly presidential", The Telegraph