Libya Gaffe: US Death Toll Estimate Won’t Be Accurate ‘Until’ Ground Troops Arrive

Jason Ditz, April 27, 2011

Ambassador Gene Cretz’s estimate for a death toll in Libya today was 30,000 which, if I’m remembering correctly, is about as much as the US was willing to cop to for the entire Iraq War until the WikiLeaks documents showed that to be a deliberate (and dramatic) undercount.

The real story wasn’t so much the surprisingly high death count, however, but Cretz’s admission that the toll was likely inaccurate, and his subsequent admission that an accurate figure wasn’t possible “until we really get more hands-on experience on the ground.”

Note he didn’t say “if” US troops end up on the ground, he says “until,” suggesting it is carved in stone that it will happen at some future date. Something the administration has repeatedly been insisting won’t happen.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates even went so far as to rule this out “as long as I’m in this job,” an assurance that is far less meaningful with officials saying he will be gone by the end of June.



6 Responses to “Libya Gaffe: US Death Toll Estimate Won’t Be Accurate ‘Until’ Ground Troops Arrive”

  1. Realist
    April 27th, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    You're an idiot.

  2. klyde
    April 28th, 2011 at 2:09 am

    You're not really surprised are you?

  3. Patrick
    April 28th, 2011 at 5:24 am

    wow guys add up the toll and get one with it. PLEASE???

  4. Harry Martens
    April 28th, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    Please check Ellen Brown for BIS centrality:

    http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD14Ak02.html

    Libya all about oil, or central banking? By Ellen Brown

    Several writers have noted the odd fact that the Libyan rebels took time out from their rebellion in March to create their own central bank – this before they even had a government.

  5. Wahyusamputra
    April 28th, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Please check Ellen Brown at http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD14Ak02…
    Libya all about oil, or central banking? By Ellen Brown, for centrality of Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

    Several writers have noted the odd fact that the Libyan rebels took time out from their rebellion in March to create their own central bank – this before they even had a government.

  6. Gekke
    April 29th, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    I very much doubt you will see US forces on the ground in Libya. This war is really being used as a mandate to create and/or ratify a Unified European Strike Force, hence the multitude of european powers offering there services for this cause, without any national parlimentary debate.