Deaths

Yesterday, speaking at a campaign event in Florida, Vice President Joe Biden said, "I ask every day, what's the exact number of the fallen angels -- not generally, not an estimate, the exact number -- because for every one of those women or men, it has transformed a family, a family we owe. And thus far, as of today, there are 6,437 fallen heroes, 49,871 visibly wounded, and tens of thousands of invisible wounds -- posttraumatic stress, traumatic brain injury -- thousands, thousands, critically wounded, who will need extensive care the rest of their lives."

But Biden understated the number of fallen heroes, according to the Defense Department.

As of September 27, 2012, at 10 a.m., the Defense Department reported 6,471 deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 

As of that time, the Defense Department recorded 4,409 U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 66 U.S. military deaths in Operation New Dawn, and 1,996 U.S. military deaths in Operation Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan only.

The Associated Press reported this morning that the death toll from the war in Afghanistan had risen to 2,000 U.S. military deaths.