Military Casualities

This is the body of an email sent to me by my daughter Stephanie who proudly serves with the U.S. Navy:

It is now the official Election Year nationally; I have been getting these reports sent to me. This one was particularly interesting ( I have included a link to the original report). Whatever your politics, however you lean, however you feel about the War on Terrorism, this report should open some eyes.

Military losses: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

These are some rather eye-opening facts.
Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through today, we have lost over 3,000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents.
As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:
1980 ......... 2,392 (CarterYear)
1981 ......... 2,380 (Reagan Year)
1984 ..........1,999 (Reagan Year)
1988 ......... 1,819 (Reagan Year)
1989 ......... 1,636 (George HW Year)
1990 ......... 1,508 (George HW Year)
1991 ......... 1,787 (George HW Year)
1992 ......... 1,293 (George HW Year)
1993 .......... 1,213 (Clinton Year)
1994 .......... 1,075 (Clinton Year)
1995............2,465 (Clinton Year)
1996 .......... 2,318 (Clinton Year)
1997 ........... 817 (Clinton Year)
1998 ...........2,252 (Clinton Year)
1999 ...........1,984 (ClintonYear)
2000 ...........1,983 (Clinton Year)

1993-2000. 14,000 deaths Clinton years

2001........... 890 (George W Year)
2002 .......... 1,007 (George W Year)
2003 ...........1,410 (George W Year)
2004 .......... 1,887 (George W Year)
2005 ............ 919 (George W Year)
2006............. 920 (George W Year)

2001-2006....7,033 deaths George W years

If you are confused when you look at these figures, so was I.
Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton's presidency; when America wasn't even involved in a war?
And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities!

The latest census shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race:
European descent.(white)..69.12%
Hispanic ...........................12.5%
Black.................................12.3%
Asian.................................03.7%
Native American...............01.0%
Other ................................02.6%

Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom:
European descent (white)...74.31%
Hispanic ............................10.74%
Black .................................09.67%
Asian..................................01.81%
Native American ...............01.09%
Other..................................00.33%
These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf>