Editorial: Be open about injuries

Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

The Pentagon this week reported that for the first two months of its current fiscal year (October and November), the monetary cost of the war in Iraq totaled $20 billion.

As for the human cost in Iraq, the Pentagon's daily reports include the latest combat- and noncombat-related deaths among U.S. forces - a toll that now exceeds 3,110.

The financial costs and the toll in lives among the U.S. forces in Afghanistan are also tracked and released by the Pentagon.

This is as it should be, no matter how grim the numbers. But for both wars, the Pentagon is much less clear when it comes to the number of troops being hurt.

In its press releases and on its Web site, the Pentagon openly acknowledges that about 23,000 troops have been wounded.

That figure, however, does not include all of the troops who have been injured in ways not relating to combat, such as a vehicle accident. It takes someone with advanced research skills to discover that statistic. If noncombat injuries were included, the Associated Press reported this week, the number would be around 53,000, not 23,000.

One researcher who found the true number and reported it was publicly criticized by the Defense Department. Also, AP reported, the department pressured another government agency to list the smaller number on a public document.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, have introduced legislation that would force the Pentagon to plainly include all noncombat injuries in its official casualty reports.

As noncombat injuries - often incurred while supporting the overall mission of the troops - can be just as serious or even more so than injuries sustained in battle, this is only right. No part of the human cost of the wars should be hidden.