\n<\/p>\n
The U.S. toll<\/span> of the Iran war continues to climb as the military stumbles toward a breakdown<\/a> and the Trump administration struggles to find an exit ramp.<\/p>\n Another U.S. soldier died this month, according to newly released Pentagon statistics that classify the death as \u201cnon-hostile.\u201d A female soldier was on a military flight headed to Saudi Arabia when she suffered an undisclosed \u201cmedical incident,\u201d a defense official told The Intercept. Another 66 U.S. personnel have also been wounded in action just this month, according to that official. This has pushed the official count of war casualties above 850. Almost half the total \u2014 419 wounded or dead \u2014 have occurred since Iran stepped up attacks in early July.<\/p>\n The Pentagon\u2019s official\u00a0total\u00a0of dead and wounded personnel, as\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0over\u00a0almost six months<\/a>\u00a0of reporting by The Intercept<\/a>,\u00a0has been a\u00a0gross\u00a0undercount<\/a>, stemming from what one U.S. official previously called a \u201ccasualty cover-up<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the beginning of the Trump administration\u2019s war with Iran, the War Department has posted the official count of military casualties on the website of the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, which\u00a0tracks<\/a>\u00a0\u201cdeceased, wounded, ill or injured\u201d service members for\u00a0Congress and the White House. Casualties were initially tallied under Operation Epic Fury. Since July 7, they are now\u00a0counted separately<\/a>\u00a0on a webpage with a generic title: \u201cOverseas Operations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prior reporting<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0The Intercept<\/a>\u00a0found DCAS is\u00a0missing<\/a>\u00a0hundreds of wounded or dead personnel from the Iran war. The Pentagon\u2019s list of the names of the dead is, for example, missing Maj. Sorffly Davius, a signals and communication officer with the New York Army National Guard who was assigned to the headquarters of the 42nd Infantry Division and reportedly died while on duty in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 6. Davius\u2019s death was widely acknowledged even as it was excluded from the official count. Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,\u00a0for example,\u00a0recognized<\/a>\u00a0Davius\u00a0while \u201chonoring our fallen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Three U.S. contractors based in the region have also died during the conflict, according to an official who spoke with the Washington Post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n For months, The Intercept has found anomalies with the counts offered on the DCAS website. On April 21, for example, the number of\u00a0wounded-in-action troops declined by 15<\/a>\u00a0without public acknowledgment by the War Department. Despite repeated questions for months, the Pentagon has not commented on the disparities in its casualty count.<\/p>\n A U.S. government official previously told The Intercept that scores of casualties added to DCAS last month was \u201can accounting trick\u201d designed to dampen depressing statistics. That official accused the Pentagon of \u201cslow-walking\u201d the total for weeks. \u201cThey wanted the heat on them to slow down after the really devastating attacks,\u201d that source told The Intercept, referencing attacks on U.S. bases<\/a> in July that exposed the vulnerability of U.S. troops<\/a> to Iranian attacks. Official statistics now show that the Pentagon admits that 352 personnel were wounded or killed in July and none died or were injured in August.<\/p>\n