Sorry WaPo.. More Soldiers Committed Suicide When Clinton Was in Office Than During the Bush Years
The Media Misinforms About Military Suicides
Far Left writer of The Washington Post, Dana Priest, takes a swipe at the military.
It's that time again for the media to misinform the public about military fatalities. This time it was The Washington Post's turn to publish the antiwar hit piece on the military.
Here is what you are told:
Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.Here are the actual statistics from 1980-2006...
Military Deaths Since 1980:
Click to Enlarge
And, here is what the WaPo won't tell you...
** The number of military suicides dropped during the Bush years compared to the Clinton years.
Through 2006 (from table above):
What do you suppose drove our soldiers to commit suicide when the Clintons were in office?
And, how will the media explain this?
And... US soldiers are also less likely to commit suicide than the general population.
Poynter Online reported back in August:
The 17/100,000 rate is right on track with what the rate is for all males in the United States...This isn't the first time the media misinformed on this serious issue.
When you consider that most serving in Iraq are young, you might find that the suicide rate among those serving in Iraq could be even less than their peers in the general population. The suicide rate for 20 to 24-year-old males in the United States is 20/100,000 [pdf].
Previously:
Since Clintons Left Office Fewer Soldiers Kill Themselves
MEDIA MISINFORMS: Fewer Soldiers Commit Suicide During Bush Years
MORE... "It's not only that you lie; You lie badly."
posted by Gateway Pundit at 1/31/2008 11:43:00 AM
8 Comments:
I saw this article in the Washington Post, and wondered about the context.
If you don't mind, I'll forward this link to the ombudsman.
Valerie
Maybe there should be some help and support for soldiers so they do not commit suicide - how about that.
What are they trying to imply anyhow - that under President Bush more soldiers are killing themselves because......because why? Because they are doing really bad things under Bush's command and can't go on living because he made them do it? Jerks, the whole lot of them. It is bad enough a person feels the need to take their own life, let alone to have some dumbasses try to pin it on the President.
Battle of Mogadishu, 1993: 0 hostile deaths per chart, filed under terrorist attack?
I completely agree this is another intentional slap at the military from the left, but don't you think the rate might have peaked because the military is much smaller now than it was under Clinton? Still "level" implies an absolute number as opposed to a rate.
Excellent reminder, G.P..
Look at the Reagan years. Why were so many soldier committing suicide then?
The Post story talks about *Army* suicides, not all military suicides. In fact, it includes a graphic which specifically contrasts the sharp rise in Army suicides against that of the Navy, Marines, and Air Force. Sorry, Gateway Pundit, but more SOLDIERS are committing suicide right now than in the past 27 years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/01/30/GR2008013003050.html?sid=ST2008013003145
You talk about lying, but why do you skew the graph to appear as if the average number of suicides during the Clinton years was double that of this Bush administration's average. Why didn't you start with zero at the bottom? Also why didn't you compare that with the average (238 vs. 190 during Clinton's) during Bush Sr.'s years or Reagan's years?
Any 4th grade math teacher would make you do your work over.
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