Ok, this pisses me off. I totally respect what Michael White has done over the years as far as counting the deaths in this war. But to depend on a hobbyist to keep this record as to whom has died is not right, and his list is not complete. This should be a function of the US government and every death should be counted in my opinion.
I say every death, because the icasualties.org list is missing a ton of contractor deaths, and especially in Afghanistan. It counts US deaths, and Coalition deaths, but it is lacking in contractor deaths. Especially this year. I have listed several deaths that were sourced in the media on this blog, and there has been no mention at icasualties about it. This supports the idea that depending on just one lone hobbyist to count these deaths does not work.
We are basically counting on the poor guy to keep up, and for him to fund his own little show. Meanwhile the entire world links to his website for their stories and studies, and holds his website as the top source for casualties. Even governments link to iCasualties.org, and it pisses me off that this is what we have for accountability. Contractor deaths count for something, as do all deaths in this war, and there must be a better effort to do this.
My suggestion is for the US government to take it upon themselves and start a casualty count website of their own. It should be an organization that strives to be current, complete, and staffed with the appropriate amount of people and funds to keep it running properly. This crew’s job is to count every single death coming out of the war. I say count the civilian deaths too and there should be no question what so ever as to how much blood has been spilled. But for the sake of this conversation, at the very least, contractor deaths should be counted.
I also believe that this contractor death count should include expats, third country nationals, and local nationals. Local nationals are never counted, yet they died in that convoy operation supporting our war effort and the least we can do is recognize their sacrifice. Why do we ignore the sacrifices of an Afghan or Iraqi contractor?
The other thing that gets me is that I know why we are not counted. Politically speaking, the less numbers of deaths on ‘the list’, the better.
As for the compensation factor for those deaths, if no one knows about the death, then a company can say that it never existed, and thus not pay any compensation. Now of course contractors are smart enough to know, that if the company does not have a life insurance policy for them, or that they know that DBA is not afforded to them (for local nationals, etc.), then obviously the family of that dead contractor will receive nothing. That is the contractors choice when they sign the contract. I would like to think that we could compensate the families of these men in some way, but that is the way things are at this point. Private industry in those countries is not forced to provide this kind of compensation or insurance, and many industries in the global economy operate with this kind of dynamic.
But at the least, a contractor’s death(expat, third country national, local national) should be counted and we should not be depending on some hobbyist who might be able to put up a contractor’s death on his website, if he catches it or decides to put the effort into it. I commend Mike for doing as much as he has, but if there was ever anything that should be a function of government, this is it.
Another idea is for the government to issue a grant to this guy. Help him do the job that government should be doing anyways. Hell, contract him out and put him on the payroll to do what he is already doing. Or if the IPOA or similar association wanted to do something cool, they could kick some money into Mike’s fund, just so he gets the hint to count ‘contractors’. Also, if folks wanted to individually give iCasualties.org a hint to count our dead, just send Mike an email with a link to the media source that lists the death. What I will try to do in the future, is list Mike’s email under each death I find, and I will ask the readership to send the link of contractors deaths to him to make sure these deaths are counted. I am sure if he gets a couple emails from several guys that he will add it. If you find stuff that has not been posted here, feel free to send it to him first. –Matt
Emails for Michael White and icasuatlies.org here:
michaelw@icasualties.org
michaelw@speedfactory.net
or try this one.
icasualties@bellsouth.net
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As a hobby, he counts the war dead
By Moni Basu, CNN
Stone Mountain, Georgia (CNN) — Fall leaves blanket Michael White’s deck at his suburban Atlanta, Georgia, home. In the cluttered attic study, the software engineer slouches over his Hewlett-Packard laptop.
A full-length floor lamp stands on top of his desk — the overhead light went out a while back. Next to him is his 1960s Stratocaster, a reminder of the rock-star career that never blossomed.
Jillian, his Vivaldi-loving, violin-playing 10-year-old, has gone off to school. Wife Ashley is at work. The house is quiet except for the occasional mew from Izzy, the atypically friendly Tonkinese cat.
And yet, from the humdrum of this ordinary subdivision home comes an arresting daily statement.
For six years, White has faithfully produced a number that is critical to shaping the legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: the death toll.
Every day, White, 51, updates a Web site he launched in 2003, icasualties.org, to keep count of the dead: American troops, coalition troops, contractors and Iraqi civilians. He eventually began documenting deaths in Afghanistan as well.
He knew the wars would carry on, but he did not anticipate casualties continuing at this pace. October proved to be the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the beginning of that conflict in 2001.