Should The U.S. Military Return To Counting Bodies?

The body of suspected Taliban fighter lies in a pickup truck after being killed in an ambush on the outskirts of Ghazni in March. MOHAMMAD YAQUBI / AFP / Getty

From Time Magazine:

Tallying the enemy's dead as a metric of battlefield progress was discredited for a generation in the U.S. military after the Vietnam debacle, but the "body count" appears to have been revived by the Army in Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the 101st Airborne Division has been publicizing each enemy death — for a total of nearly 2,000 — over the past 14 months. That news has already renewed the debate over the wisdom of relying on such numbers. "This isn't going to do anything to convince the American public that we're winning," says Lawrence Korb, a Pentagon personnel chief during the Reagan Administration. "It should be stopped because at best it gives a false impression of what's happening and at worst it can rally the other side."

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My Comment: It is hard to compare the Vietnam war to what is happening in Afghanistan. All wars are different .... and in this case .... there are many differences between the two conflicts. If publicizing the body count will be effective in discouraging some teenagers in joining the Taliban .... I am all for it. Today's Taliban propaganda shows glorious battles and fantastic victories .... we all know that this is not real. But for many in the mountains of Afghanistan/Pakistan .... they believe otherwise.