Good Morning America, 2,000 Deaths and the War in Vietnam

ABC's Good Morning America led this morning's program with a report on the 2,000th death in the War in Iraq. Charlie Gibson (who I find to be the most biased newsman on TV) made a slip introducing the piece which he said was about the "war in Vietnam".

Some people cannot see the war in Iraq without looking through the prism of the war in Vietnam and with his slip this morning - Charlie Gibson showed without a doubt that he is one of them.

Of course the draft was still in effect during the Vietnam war while all the soldiers fighting in Iraq are volunteers. In Iraq there have been on average 62.5 US military deaths per month (since March 2003) while in Vietnam on average 647 soldiers died per month (58,209 deaths over 90 months). For some more perspective - in 2004 there were a total 1,887 deaths in the US Military - less than half happened in Iraq (905). And if you are fixated on the number 2,000 - consider that between the years of 1980 and 1990 there were on average 2,067 military deaths each year but I don't recall the number 2,000 meaning anything to anyone back then.

Don't expect Charlie Gibson to give you information like this - in his mind we're still fighting the Vietnam war.

Sources: Military deaths in in Iraq - US Military casualties (1980-2004) PDF

EDIT: Corrected math (had number of wounded in Vietnam posted instead of deaths)