Pentagon Says Some Servicemember Deaths Don’t Count By Jack Crosbie, Soldiers die in war. But ever since the death toll in Vietnam broke a generation’s appetite for war, the American public has been uniquely sensitive to casualty counts as a result of our military actions abroad. D4vd's DNA Allegedly Found on Trash Bag Linked to Teen Victim's Blood We venerate fallen servicemembers as heroes, no matter how just the conflict they died in was. But now, Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly trying to say that some deaths don’t count. On Thursday, the Pentagon’s official roll of servicemember deaths as a result of the Iran war suddenly changed, with four names dropping off the list, bringing the total number from 18 down to 14. TheNew York Timesreported that the change came as a result of a direct action, with the Trump administration declaring that four servicemembers who were killed last weekend at bases in Jordan and Iraq don’t count toward the tally of deaths in the Iran conflict, as they occurred after he had declared the conflict to be at a ceasefire in late April. This kind of paradoxical, absurdist logic is core to the administration’s messaging on the Iran war. We are at war, but not technically at war, because there is a cease fire. However, neither side has ceased firing; four American soldiers just died. However, because there was a cease fire, their deaths cannot be attributed to the Iran war, which is not technically an active conflict, despite the conflict being very active. A military spokesperson told the Times that the site would soon be fixed to reflect the true casualty numbers, blaming “temporary data disruptions” for the change —