[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 19, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REVEALING ``DEMAGOGUERY-BY-NUMBERS''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 19, 2002

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member wishes to commend to his 
colleagues an editorial from the June 18, 2002, edition of the Omaha 
World Herald entitled ``Honest Accounting of Casualties.''
  While Americans certainly have the right to express their views on 
the current war on terrorism, they also have a responsibility to use 
accurate facts when conveying their positions.

                    Honest Accounting of Casualties

       The Los Angeles Times has performed an extensive study of 
     civilian casualties in Afghanistan and concluded that the 
     dead numbered between 1,067 and 1,201. Every such death is 
     uniquely regrettable, but that's significantly below numbers 
     offered by critics of the U.S. military action last year, 
     such as the 3,700 figure cited in one much-ballyhooed report 
     last winter.
       During the U.S. bombing campaign, at least one anti-war Web 
     site included a graph that showed the alleged number of 
     Afghan civilian dead climbing day by day to equal and then 
     surpass the 3,000-plus casualties of 9/11. Analyses by the 
     L.A. Times and other news organizations have now exposed that 
     claim as baseless.
       Even worse was the claim of 10,000 casualties put forward 
     by cartoonist/commentator Ted Rall in an April 17 opinion 
     column.
       Matt Welch, a Los Angeles-based commentator, is on the mark 
     when he says, ``This continues to be an interesting litmus 
     test for the anti-war movement's sense of peer review and 
     fidelity to facts.''
       The analysis by the Los Angeles Times underscores how the 
     U.S. military went to enormous lengths last year to minimize 
     harm to Afghan civilians. That fact illustrates the vast 
     moral difference that separated the American bomber pilots 
     from the al-Qaida hijackers of 9/11.
       A minority of Nebraskans and Americans continues to voice 
     sincere opposition to action by the U.S. military. Room 
     should be made for their dissenting voices. Some of their 
     colleagues in the anti-war camp, however, have discredited 
     themselves on the issue of civilian casualties. It is 
     appropriate that their demagoguery-by-numbers has been 
     revealed for the sham it was.

     

                          ____________________