Body counts

This is a form of newspaper recycling I was previously unfamiliar with:

The Washington Post, Oct. 24:

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Enemy Body Counts Revived: U.S. Is Citing Tolls to Show Success in Iraq

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"The revival of body counts, a practice discredited during the Vietnam War, has apparently come without formal guidance from the Pentagon's leadership."

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The Washington Post, Sep. 19:

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U.S. Claims Success in Iraq Despite Onslaught: Body Counts Now Cited as Benchmarks

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After generally rejecting body counts as standards of success in the Iraq war, the U.S. military last week embraced them -- just as it did during the Vietnam War. As the carnage grew in Baghdad, U.S. officials produced charts showing the number of suspects killed or detained in offensives in the west.

Glad to know the Iraq as Vietnam meme is still alive and well. On a somewhat related note I was listening to the radio this morning and a caller mentioned that he had recently returned from Afghanistan and the DJ brought up the story of U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of dead Taliban insurgents. The soldier responded that, "You know, if you just listen to the media you would think that absolutely nothing good is going on over there" which he said isn't the case.