Cal Perry / CNN & Gar Smith . Environmentalists Against War – 2008-09-18 23:46:05
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/18/iraq.soldier.deaths/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Family of US Soldier in Dark about ‘Non-hostile’ Death
Cal Perry / CNN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (September 18, 2008) — Darryl Mathis waits in his Pensacola, Florida, home for the body of his 24-year-old son to return home from Iraq. Mathis, a military veteran himself, was seething with anger Thursday as he spoke about the death of Army Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson.
Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin, 26, are said to have been shot and killed by another U.S. soldier on Sunday at a base south of Baghdad.
Darryl and his wife, Maxine (Dawson’s stepmother), say the military has told them nothing about the incident: no details on his death, no information at all.
His voice shakes as he says he believes that the military has let him down.
“I’m very disappointed — very,” he said. “If I would get a straight answer, if they would actually tell me what’s going on, I would have something to work on; but right now, I have nothing to work on. Everything I’m getting, I’m getting from the media.”
His wife sobs as she says her stepson’s death was foreshadowed by a phone call he made to her from Iraq.
“He said that he was more shaky sometimes of the soldiers than of the enemy, because of the young guys over there.”
She said she asked him, “What in the world do you mean? You’re afraid of your own soldiers?”
” ‘These kids are trying to fight a war they know nothing about. … They’re jumpy. … They’re more scary than the enemy,’ ” she said he told her.
“And I said, ‘Oh, God,’ ” said Maxine Mathis.
On any given day, CNN receives dozens of detailed news releases from the U.S. military, including those announcing U.S. military casualties. In the cases of Dawson and Durbin, there was no mention of their names, and the releases were terse.
“A multi-national division center soldier died this morning of non-combat related causes,” the first release read. “The cause of death is under investigation.”
A second release came later in the day.
“A second multi-national division center soldier died this morning of non-combat related causes. The solider died of wounds September 14 at a coalition forces combat Army support hospital,” it read. “The incident is under investigation.”
Inquiries Thursday from CNN were met with a news release that a press officer said had been drafted Wednesday. However, the release had not been e-mailed to reporters Wednesday, as is customary.
After naming the two soldiers and giving their rank and unit, it reads, “A U.S. soldier is in custody in connection with the shooting deaths. He is being held in custody pending review by a military magistrate. The incident continues under investigation.” The release gives no other details.
The U.S. military is classifying the death of Sgt. Dawson as “non-hostile,” something Dawson’s father finds puzzling.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” he said. “I just can’t get it together with that. I had never heard that before. ‘Non-hostile’ in a war zone?”
Lt. Col. Paul Swiergosz is a public affairs officer for the area in Iraq where the incident took place. He says the “non-hostile” death classification was given “because the deaths were not the result of hostile enemy action.” But details on what happened remain scarce.
After asking, CNN received an e-mail press release from Gen. Tony Cucolo, commanding general of the Third Infantry Division that a press officer said had been drafted on Wednesday. The release, however, had not been e-mailed to reporters, as is customary.__”We do know one soldier, a fellow noncommissioned officer, allegedly opened fire and mortally wounded his squad leader and fellow team leader,” reads the statement.
A spokesman at Fort Stewart in Georgia said, “A soldier has been taken into custody. The incident is under investigation, and that is all I can say.”
The spokesman would not even confirm information in his commanding general’s press statement.
Maxine Mathis says she is stunned at how her stepson’s death has been handled by the military. She says the Army assigned someone to help the family with anything they needed once they found out Darris had been killed, but she and her husband don’t know how he died.
She said her husband asked the liaison officer whether it was true that Darris had been killed by another U.S. solider. She said the officer denied it, insisting he didn’t know anything else.
Darryl Mathis continues to express his disappointment in the lack of information from the military about his son, amid rumors his son’s body could be home by Saturday.
“I don’t even know where he’s at, at this time,” he said.
Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, said he thinks the way the military classifies deaths in Iraq is an attempt to keep the public combat numbers down.
“There is a clear and long-standing record, regarding the classification of causalities in Iraq to minimize combat losses. And we’re seeing people wounded and killed that would have well been considered casualties from hostile action in previous conflicts. It’s an attempt to conceal the actual cost of this war in terms of casualties,” Muller said.
“The Department of Defense has announced the death of every service member who has given their life in operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Col. Gary Keck. “We have been open and transparent on the numbers of casualties suffered in these operations.”
Mathis says his son wanted to come home to his wife and four young children and was in the process of applying for a transfer.
“Last I spoke to him was last week Monday. He called every Monday, and said he was checking his paperwork. He said he was going to call me back once he found out. That was the last I heard from him.”
Mathis’ wife cannot stop sobbing.
“We don’t know why, we don’t know why,” she says “All we know is that our son died a useless, needless death. That’s all we know.”
CNN’s Mike Mount and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
860 Non-hostile Deaths:
Women Twice as Likely to Die from NHD
Gar Smith / Environmentalists Against War•
(September 18, 2008) — From March 2003 to September 2008, Icasualties.org documents 860 “non-hostile” deaths (NHDs) among men and women soldiers serving in Iraq. There have been two major spikes in NHDs.
In May 2003 NHDs exceeded combat deaths by a factor of three, with 34 NHDs. The second peak occurred February 2005 when nearly 80 combat deaths were closely followed by more than 53 NDHs.
Since May of this year, declining rates of combat deaths in Iraq have generated a lot of publicity, much of it promoted by the Bush administration. But a look at NHDs shows a steady and troubling increase over the past four months the number of non-hostile deaths has, for the second time in the history of Operation Iraqi Freedom, matched and surpassed combat deaths with iCasualties.org registering 15 NHDs in its most recent posting.
Since the invasion and occupation of Iraq began in March 2003, 109 female soldiers have lost their lives — 2.43% of the 4,482 US lives lost. Of the female casualties, 46 were recorded as NHDs — 42% of the dead.
Total US deaths in Iraq according to DOD Sept. 18, 2008 was 4.162. Non-hostile deaths were reported as 785. Subtracting 785 from 4,162 gives us 3,377 combat deaths. Subtracting 109 female deaths leaves 676 male NHDs. According to these figures, 676 male NHDs compared to 3,377 male combat deaths, yields a ratio of 20%.
The evidence suggests that women soldiers are falling victim to “non-hostile deaths” at a rate that is more than double that of their male counterparts.42% higher — more than double — that of their male colleagues.
http://www.icasualties.org/oif/HostileNonHostile.aspx
• Preliminary calculations.
