| Casualties Of The Iraq War |
Article Index for Casualties Of |
Shopping Casualties |
Website Links For Casualties |
Information AboutCasualties Of The Iraq War |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CASUALTIES OF THE IRAQ WAR | |
| 2003 iraq conflict | |
| war casualties | |
| iraq | |
| george w. bush administration controversies | |
|
Casualties of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (beginning with the 2003 Invasion Of Iraq and continuing with the ensuing 2003 Occupation Of Iraq coalition presence as well as the activities of the various armed groups operating in the country) have come in many forms, and the accuracy of the information available on different types of casualties varies greatly. For troops in the U.S.-led Multinational Coalition , the Death Toll is carefully tracked and updated daily, and the names and photographs of those killed in action as well as in accidents have been published widely. Regarding the Iraqis, however, information on both military and civilian casualties is both less accurate and less reliable, and given the political significance of these figures and the varied agendas of all parties, no source can be considered free of bias. Estimates of casualty levels are available from reporters on the scene, from officials of involved organizations, and from groups that summarize information on incidents reported in the news media. The word " Casualties " in its most general sense includes the injured as well as the dead. Accounts of the number of coalition wounded vary widely, partly because it is not obvious what should be counted: should only those injuries serious enough to put a soldier out of commission be included? Do illnesses or injuries caused by accidents count, or should the focus be restricted to wounds caused by hostile engagement? Sources using different definitions may arrive at very different numbers, and sometimes the precise definition is not clearly specified. As for the Iraqis, where even the death toll has only been very roughly estimated, it appears that no one has attempted to count the wounded. OVERVIEW ADDITIONAL STATISTICS
CONTRACTOR CASUALTIES Their status as civilian is controversial. They are employees of U.S. government contractors and subcontractors, Private Military Contractors , U.S. Department Of Defense , etc.. The contractors come from many nations including Iraq and the USA. The April 30, 2007 quarterly report to Congress of the Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction states: :"Since Iraq reconstruction began, 916 death claims for civilian contractors working on U.S.-funded projects in Iraq have been filed. In the quarter ending March 31, 2007, the Department of Labor reported 146 new death claims. DoS reports that 16 U.S. civilians died in Iraq this quarter. Since the beginning of the U.S. reconstruction effort, 224 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq." .'' April 30, 2007. "Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction : April 2007 Report" . A February 23, 2007 Associated Press article reports that there are 120,000 contractors. It states that through the end of 2006 there have been 769 deaths and "3,367 injuries serious enough to require four or more days off the job." "Iraq Contractor Deaths Go Little Noticed" . By Michelle Roberts. '' The Guardian .'' Feb. 23, 2007. A January 28, 2007 '''s KBR is the largest military contractor operating in Iraq, with more than 50,000 employees and subcontractors working there, as well as in Kuwait and Afghanistan." The article reports from Labor Department information that more than 770 civilian contractors of U.S.-based companies in Iraq died between March 2003 and Dec. 31, 2006. 7,761 have been injured in Iraq. "How many of these civilian-contractor casualties were American citizens is unknown. Labor officials say they cannot provide a breakdown by nationality." The article also reports: :The Labor Department has these numbers because it tracks workers' compensation claims by injured workers or families of slain contractors under the federal Defense Base Act. "Using employee time lost is a kind of a weird way to track casualties," Singer noted. "But it's part of the bizarre nature of this industry and the way it's been used in Iraq." Still, the Labor Department figures don't tell the full story. An October 10, 2006 ,'' Oct. 10, 2006. reports, "Their number in Iraq is estimated at up to 100,000, from highly-trained former special forces soldiers to drivers, cooks, mechanics, plumbers, translators, electricians and laundry workers and other support personnel." An April 2, 2004 ''.'' April 2, 2004. reports: "Just how much the growing security burden in Iraq is costing US taxpayers is hard to gauge because few reconstruction contracts are made public and there is no official estimate of how many security specialists are active there. Analysts estimate that corporations have some 30,000 to 40,000 workers in Iraq" Concerning the number of security-related contractors an April 19, 2004 ''.'' April 19, 2004. states: "But more and more, they give the appearance of private, for-profit militias — by several estimates, a force of roughly 20,000 on top of an American military presence of 130,000. That article also reports: "Sorting out lines of authority and communication can be complex. Many security guards are hired as 'independent contractors' by companies that, in turn, are sub-contractors of larger security companies, which are themselves subcontractors of a prime contractor, which may have been hired by a United States agency." An April 13, 2004 '' and Patrick Cockburn. '' The Star .'' April 13, 2004. reports: "At least 18 000 mercenaries, many of them tasked to protect US troops and personnel, are now believed to be in Iraq." The article reported: "At least 80 foreign mercenaries - security guards recruited from the United States, Europe and South Africa and working for American companies - have been killed in the past eight days in Iraq." The article noted that this was more than the roughly 70 coalition troops who were killed in the same period. IRAQI INVASION CASUALTIES Before the Iraq War, in March 2002 in Afghanistan at a news conference at .'' March 23, 2002. General Tommy Franks reportedly estimated soon after the invasion that there had been 30,000 Iraqi casualties as of April 9 , 2003 . "Secretary of Defense Interview with Bob Woodward - 23 Oct, 2003" . United States Department of Defense: News Transcript. April 19, 2004. That number comes from the transcript of an October 2003 interview of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by Bob Woodward. They were discussing a number reported by the Washington Post. But neither could remember the number clearly, nor whether it was just for deaths, or both deaths and wounded. An October 20, 2003 study "New Study Finds: 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War; 30 Percent are Non-combatants" . Project on Defense Alternatives. Press release. Oct. 20, 2003. "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict" . Project on Defense Alternatives Research Monograph #8. Carl Conetta. October 20, 2003. by the Project on Defense Alternatives at Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), stated that for March 19, 2003 to April 30, 2003, "Based on the analysis that follows we estimate that the 2003 Iraq war produced between 7,600 and 10,800 Iraqi combatant fatalities." The study also stated: "Our analysis of the evidence leads to the conclusion that between 10,800 and 15,100 Iraqis were killed in the war. Of these, between 3,200 and 4,300 were noncombatants -- that is: civilians who did not take up arms." The study explained that to arrive at these numbers, they had adjusted the underlying incident reports from the field by reducing each count by anywhere from 20% to 60%, based on their own reliability assessments, in order to "control for casualty inflation -- a prevalent form of bias." The study author Carl Conetta reported: "All told, more than 40,000 Iraqis were killed or injured," The Iraq Body Count Project documented a higher number of civilian deaths up to the end of the major combat phase (May 1, 2003). In a 2005 report using updated info the (IBC) reported that 7,299 civilians are documented to have been killed, primarily by US air and ground forces. There were 17,338 civilian injuries inflicted up to May 1, 2003. The IBC says their figures are likely underestimates because: "It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media." Iraq Body Count project . "Quick-FAQ" link on sidebar (source of quote on undercounting by media). A May 28, 2003 ''. May 28, 2003. IRAQI HEALTHCARE DETERIORATION A November 11, 2006 '','' November 11, 2006. :The {Link without Title} nation's health has deteriorated to a level not seen since the 1950s, said Joseph Chamie, former director of the U.N. Population Division and an Iraq specialist. "They were at the forefront", he said, referring to healthcare just before the 1991 Persian Gulf War . "Now they're looking more and more like a country in Sub-Saharan Africa ." MOST IRAQI CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS Seventy percent of children are suffering from trauma-related symptoms according to a study of 10,000 primary school students in the Shaab section of north Baghdad, conducted by the Iraqi Society of Psychiatrists and the World Health Organization. "We're now finding an elevation of mental health disorders in children -- emotional, conduct, peer, attention deficit," according to Iraqi psychiatrist Hashimi. "A number are even resulting in suicide." "Protestors plead for peace. Civilian toll: Iraqis exhibit more mental health problems" . By James Palmer. '' San Francisco Chronicle .'' March 19, 2007. TOTAL IRAQI CASUALTIES Estimates of the total number of Iraqi war-related deaths are highly disputed. National Public Radio has a bar chart with various estimates. Various estimates From Feb. 25 to March 5, 2007 D3 Systems conducted a poll for BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6451841.stm "Iraq poll 2007: In graphics" . '' BBC News .'' March 19, 2007. ABC News/USA Today/BBC/ARD Poll "More than 2,000 people were questioned in more than 450 neighbourhoods and villages across all 18 provinces of Iraq between 25 February and 5 March 2007. The margin of error is + or – 2.5%." "Iraq Poll 2007" . D3 Systems poll (Feb. 25 to March 5, 2007) for BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today. Question 35 asked: "Have you or an immediate family member - by which I mean someone living in this household – been physically harmed by the violence that is occurring in the country at this time?" 17% said yes, 83% said no. The United Nations reported that 34,452 violent civilian deaths occurred in 2006, based on data from morgues, hospitals, and municipal authorities across Iraq. "Iraqi Death Toll Exceeded 34,000 in '06, U.N. Says" . By Sabrina Tavernise. '' New York Times .'' Jan. 17, 2007. For 2006 a January 2, 2007 .'' Jan. 2, 2007. Iraqi government estimates include "people killed in bombings and shootings but not deaths classed as 'criminal'." Also, they "include no deaths among the many civilians wounded in attacks who may die later from wounds. Nor do they include many people kidnapped whose fate remains unknown." A June 25, 2006 '' Los Angeles Times '' article, "War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000",3 reported that their estimate of violent deaths consisted "mostly of civilians" but probably also included security forces and insurgents. It added that, "Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths in the chaotic first year after the invasion, when there was no functioning Iraqi government, and continued spotty reporting nationwide since." Here is how the Times got their number: "The Baghdad morgue received 30,204 bodies from 2003 through mid-2006, while the Health Ministry said it had documented 18,933 deaths from 'military clashes' and 'terrorist attacks' from April 5, 2004, to June 1, 2006. Together, the toll reaches 49,137. However, samples obtained from local health departments in other provinces show an undercount that brings the total well beyond 50,000. The figure also does not include deaths outside Baghdad in the first year of the invasion." Another study was commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), called the Iraq Living Conditions Survey (ILCS), which sampled almost 22,000 households across all Iraqi provinces. It estimated 24,000 war-related violent deaths by May 2004 (with a 95 percent confidence interval from 18,000 to 29,000). This study also did not attempt to measure what portion of its estimate was made up of civilians. It would include Iraqi military killed during the invasion, as well as "insurgents" or other fighters thereafter.4 For more info see the section in Lancet Surveys Of Mortality Before And After The 2003 Invasion Of Iraq that compares the Lancet and UNDP ILCS studies. Iraq Health Minister estimate in November 2006 In November 2006 .'' Steven R. Hurst. Nov. 10, 2006. From a November 9, 2006 '' International Herald Tribune '' article:
From the November 11, 2006 '' Taipei Times '' article:
2006 Excess Mortality Study See Also: Lancet surveys of mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq The .'' Oct. 19, 2006. Although the British Government initially tried to dispute the accuracy of the Lancet survey, the . 26 March 2007.. The Lancet survey figure is the only statistically accurate casualty figure which is intended to show the total excess deaths (rather than lower limits, provided by surveys of only those deaths reported to authorities or media agencies). An October 12, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article "Critics say 600,000 Iraqi dead doesn't tally. But pollsters defend methods used in Johns Hopkins study" . By Anna Badkhen. '' San Francisco Chronicle .'' Oct. 12, 2006. reported: "Asked at the news conference what he thinks the number is now, Bush said: 'I stand by the figure a lot of innocent people have lost their life.' At a separate Pentagon briefing, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said that the [Lancet] figure 'seems way, way beyond any number that I have seen. I've not seen a number higher than 50,000. And so I don't give it that much credibility at all'." 2004 Excess Mortality Study See Also: Lancet surveys of mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq The October 2004 Lancet Study . By Les Roberts, Riyadh Lafta, Richard Garfield, Jamal Khudhairi, and Gilbert Burnham. '' The Lancet '', October 29, 2004. (hosted by zmag.org). done by public health experts from Johns Hopkins University and published on 29 October 2004 in the Lancet medical journal, estimated that 100,000 "excess" Iraqi deaths from all causes had occurred since the US invasion began. The study did not attempt to measure how many of these were civilian, but the study's authors have said they believe that the "vast majority" were noncombatants, based on 7% of the casualties being women and 46% being children under the age of 15 (including Falluja data). To arrive at these excess death figures, a survey was taken from 988 Iraqi households in 33 clusters throughout Iraq, in which the residents were asked how many people lived there and how many births and deaths there had been since the war began. They then compared the death rate with the average from the 15 months before the war. Iraqis were found to be 1.5 times more likely to die from all causes after the invasion (rising from 0.5% to 0.79% per year) than in the 15 months preceding the war, producing an estimate of 98,000 excess deaths. This figure excluded data from one cluster in Falluja, which was deemed too much of an outlier for inclusion in the national estimate. If including data from Falluja, which showed a higher rate of violent deaths than the other 32 clusters combined, the increased death rate would be raised from 1.5 to 2.5 fold, violent deaths would be 58 times more likely with most of them due to air-strikes by coalition forces, and an additional 200,000 fatalities would be estimated.5 The study contains the following Summary: :Background: In March, 2003, military forces, mainly from the USA and the UK, invaded Iraq. We did a survey to compare mortality during the period of 14.6 months before the invasion with the 17.8 months after it. :Methods: A cluster sample survey was undertaken throughout Iraq during September, 2004. 33 clusters of 30 households each were interviewed about household composition, births, and deaths since January, 2002. In those households reporting deaths, the date, cause, and circumstances of violent deaths were recorded. We assessed the relative risk of death associated with the 2003 invasion and occupation by comparing mortality in the 17.8 months after the invasion with the 14.6-month period preceding it. :Findings: The risk of death was estimated to be 2.5-fold (95% CI 1.6-4.2) higher after the invasion when compared with the preinvasion period. Two-thirds of all violent deaths were reported in one cluster in the city of Falluja. If we exclude the Falluja data, the risk of death is 1.5-fold (1.1-2.3) higher after the invasion. We estimate that 98,000 more deaths than expected (8000-194,000) happened after the invasion outside of Falluja and far more if the outlier Falluja cluster is included. The major causes of death before the invasion were myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, and other chronic disorders whereas after the invasion violence was the primary cause of death. Violent deaths were widespread, reported in 15 of 33 clusters, and were mainly attributed to coalition forces. Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were men. The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher (95% CI 8.1-419) than in the period before the war. :Interpretation: Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most violent deaths. We have shown that collection of public-health information is possible even during periods of extreme violence. Our results need further verification and should lead to changes to reduce noncombatant deaths from air strikes. See Lancet Study for more details of the methodology and subsequent controversy about the study. IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES Iraqi civilians have suffered the bulk of fatalities in this conflict. Estimates of Iraqi civilian casualties are highly disputed. It is difficult for most estimates of Iraqi casualties to separate civilian from combatant casualties. The highest casualty estimates are found in the Lancet Surveys Of Mortality Before And After The 2003 Invasion Of Iraq . Other estimates are discussed below, and elsewhere in this article. See also the section on total Iraqi casualties. An independent UK/US group, the Iraq Body Count Project (IBC), compiles ''reported'' Iraqi civilian deaths resulting from the invasion and occupation, including those caused directly by coalition military action, those caused directly by the Iraqi Insurgency , and those resulting from excess crime (the Iraqi Body Count project claims that the Occupying Authority is responsible to prevent these deaths under international law). It shows a minimum of 70,604 and a maximum of 77,121 as of 24 August , 2007 . In its "Quick-FAQ" "Iraq Body Count" . Click "Quick-FAQ" sidebar link to see popup Quick-FAQ. the IBC states: "It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media. That is the sad nature of war." For the week ending Dec. 31, 2006 the IBC reports: "A Week in Iraq - Iraq Body Count" . Week ending Dec. 31, 2006. "It was a truly violent year, as around 24,000 civilians lost their lives in Iraq. This was a massive rise in violence: 14,000 had been killed in 2005, 10,500 in 2004 and just under 12,000 in 2003 (7,000 of them killed during the actual war, while only 5,000 killed during the ‘peace’ that followed in May 2003). In December 2006 alone around 2,800 civilians were reported killed. This week there were over 560 civilian deaths reported." From the above quote here are the IBC yearly death totals:
The IBC released a report detailing the deaths it recorded between March 2003 and March 2005 . Iraq Body Count Project . Report covers from March 20, 2003 to March 19, 2005, based on data available by June 14, 2005. in which it recorded 24,865 civilian deaths. The report says the US and its allies were responsible for the largest share (37%) of the 24,865 deaths. The remaining deaths were attributed to anti-occupations forces (9%), crime (36%) and unknown agents (11%). It also lists the primary sources used by the media: mortuaries, medics, Iraqi officials, eyewitnesses, police, relatives, US-Coalition, journalists, NGOs, friends/Associates, other. Another study by an Iraqi political party, the "People's Kifah, or Struggle Against Hegemony," reported the findings of a survey it conducted between March and June of 2003 throughout the non-Kurdish areas of Iraq. They tallied 36,533 civilians killed in those areas by June 2003. Information on this study was first published on the website of retired Wall Street Journal reporter Jude Wanniski in August of 2003.6 While detailed town-by-town totals are given by the PK spokesperson, details of methodology are very thin and raw data is not in the public domain. A still less detailed report on this study appeared some months later in Al Jazeerah.7 The Al Jazeera report claims the study covered up to October 2003, but this can not be accurate, as the exact same figures were already published on the Wanniski website in August of 2003. Note that both groups above (IBC and PK) define the word ''civilian'' to exclude the various paramilitary forces operating in Iraq as well as the official military forces that existed under Saddam Hussein 's regime. As for the major combat phase of the war from March–April 2003, Abu Dhabi TV reported on April 8 , 2003 that Iraqi sources had claimed that 1,252 civilians had been killed and 5,103 had been wounded. The Iraq Body Count Project , incorporating subsequent reports, has reported that by the end of the major combat phase up to April 30 , 2003 , 7,299 civilians had been killed, primarily by US air and ground forces. IRAQI REFUGEES CRISIS See Also: Refugees of Iraq As of ,'' November 3, 2006. As of 2007 more Iraqis have lost their homes and become refugees than the population of any other country. Over 3.9 million people, close to 16% of the Iraqi population, have become uprooted. Of these, around 2 million have fled Iraq and flooded other countries, and 1.9 million are estimated to be refugees inside Iraq. "Billboarding the Iraq disaster" . By Anthony Arnove. '' Asia Times .'' March 20, 2007. Roughly 40 percent of Iraq's Middle Class is believed to have fled, the U.N. said. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return. All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted by Militias , Insurgents and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of 2006, according to Human Rights Watch , and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been killed and 250 kidnapped since the 2003 U.S. invasion. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/16/MNG2MNJBIS1.DTL A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the ,'' June 2, 2007 IRAQI INSURGENT CASUALTIES There is a representative list of insurgents and militia members killed in the . According to the list at least 12,700 insurgents have been killed during the war. Insurgent deaths, like civilian deaths, are hard to count or estimate. See: http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050726-121818-8711r.htm. "Civilian, insurgent deaths hard to tally" . '' Seattle Post-Intelligencer ,'' Sept. 8, 2004. See also the examples of undercounting shown in the next section. An Al Qaeda leader claimed that 4000 foreign insurgents have been killed in the war. See this Sept. 28, 2006 Associated Press article: "Al Qaeda Leader: Over 4,000 Foreign Insurgents Killed in Iraq" . Associated Press. Sept. 28, 2006. The Lancet surveys did not ask whether the dead were combatants or not. UNDERCOUNTING Most studies estimating the casualties due to the war in Iraq acknowledge various reasons why the estimates and counts may be low. On November 10, 2006 The '' Washington Post '' reported: "Accurate figures on the number of people who have died in the Iraq conflict have long been the subject of debate. Police and hospitals often give widely conflicting figures of those killed in major bombings. In addition, death figures are reported through multiple channels by government agencies that function with varying efficiency." The October 2006 ''Lancet'' Study states: "Aside from Bosnia, we can find no conflict situation where passive surveillance by the IBC recorded more than 20% of the deaths measured by population-based methods in the ''Lancet'' studies . In several outbreaks, disease and death recorded by facility-based methods underestimated events by a factor of ten or more when compared with population-based estimates. Between 1960 and 1990, newspaper accounts of political deaths in Guatemala correctly reported over 50% of deaths in years of low violence but less than 5% in years of highest violence." The report describes no other specific examples except for this study of Guatemala. The Lancet reference used is to Patrick Ball, Paul Kobrak, and Herbert F. Spirer and their 1999 book, ''State Violence in Guatemala, 1960-1996: A Quantitative Reflection''. ''State Violence in Guatemala, 1960-1996: A Quantitative Reflection''. . 1999 book by Patrick Ball, Paul Kobrak, and Herbert F. Spirer. From the introduction: :"The CIIDH database consists of cases culled from direct testimonies and documentary and press sources." They report in chapter 7: "Chapter 7: Reporting the Violence" . From 1999 book. By Patrick Ball, Paul Kobrak, and Herbert F. Spirer. :"Figure 7.1 shows that in the CIIDH database, most of the information for human rights violations prior to 1977 comes from press sources. ... Approximately 10,890 cases were coded from the newspapers. Sixty-three percent of the press cases were taken from Prensa Libre, 10 percent from El Gráfico, 8 percent from La Hora and El Impacto respectively, and 6 percent from El Imparcial. The remaining 5 percent is made up by eight other newspapers." But they reported that in later, more violent years: :"When the level of violence increased dramatically in the late 1970s and early 1980s, numbers of reported violations in the press stayed very low. In 1981, one of the worst years of state violence, the numbers fall towards zero. The press reported almost none of the rural violence." There is a list "List of figures" . From 1999 book. By Patrick Ball, Paul Kobrak, and Herbert F. Spirer. of figures, tables, and charts in the book that can be used to calculate what percentage of the deaths were reported by the 13 Guatemalan newspapers for each year when compared to testimonies of witnesses compiled by popular organizations. A July 28, 2004 article by ''. '' The Independent .'' July 28, 2004. reports that "some families bury their dead without notifying the authorities." Stephen Soldz, who runs the website "Iraq Occupation and Resistance Report" , wrote in a February 5, 2006 article:Stephen Soldz. "When Promoting Truth Obscures the Truth: More on Iraqi Body Count and Iraqi Deaths" . '' ZNet ,'' February 5, 2006. "Of course, in conditions of active rebellion, the safer areas accessible to Western reporters are likely to be those under US/Coalition control, where deaths are, in turn, likely to be due to insurgent attacks. Areas of insurgent control, which are likely to be subject to US and Iraqi government attack, for example most of Anbar province, are simply off-limits to these reporters. Thus, the realities of reporting imply that reporters will be witness to a larger fraction of deaths due to insurgents and a lesser proportion of deaths due to US and Iraqi government forces." A June 25, 2006 ''.'' June 25, 2006. reports: "Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths. ... The Angeles Times attempted to reach a comprehensive figure by obtaining statistics from the Baghdad morgue and the Health Ministry and checking those numbers against a sampling of local health departments for possible undercounts." An October 19, 2006 ''.'' Oct. 19, 2006. reports: "The deaths reported by officials and published in the news media represent only a fraction of the thousands of mutilated bodies winding up in Baghdad's overcrowded morgue each month. ... Bodies are increasingly being dumped in and around Baghdad in fields staked out by individual Shiite militias and Sunni insurgent groups. Iraqi security forces often refuse to go to the dumping grounds, leaving the precise number of bodies in those sites unknown. Civilian deaths, unlike those of American troops, often go unrecorded." ''.'' Jan. 2, 2007. that Iraqi government casualty estimates include "people killed in bombings and shootings but not deaths classed as 'criminal'." Also, they "include no deaths among the many civilians wounded in attacks who may die later from wounds. Nor do they include many people kidnapped whose fate remains unknown." In a November 7, 2004 press releaseIraq Body Count. November 7, 2004 press release. "IBC response to the Lancet study estimating '100,000' Iraqi deaths" . concerning the October 2004 Lancet study the Iraq Body Count Project (IBC) states: "We have always been quite explicit that our own total is certain to be an underestimate of the true position, because of gaps in reporting or recording". One of the sources used by the media are morgues. Only the central Baghdad area morgue has released figures consistently. While that is the largest morgue in Iraq and in the most consistently violent area, the absence of comprehensive morgue figures elsewhere leads to undercounting. IBC makes it clear that, due to these issues, its count will almost certainly be below the full toll in its 'Quick FAQ' on its homepage. Quote from an IBC note:http://www.iraqbodycount.net/details/x350_note.php "The Iraq Body Count (IBC) estimate for x350, like that for x334, was made possible by examination of the detailed data supplied to the Associated Press (AP) by the morgues surveyed in AP's 23rd May 2004 survey of Iraqi morgues." That May 23, 2004 . May 23, 2004. Article is here also. points out the lack of morgue data from many areas of Iraq. Also, it states: "The [Baghdad] figure does not include most people killed in big terrorist bombings, Hassan said. The cause of death in such cases is obvious so bodies are usually not taken to the morgue, but given directly to victims' families. Also, the bodies of killed fighters from groups like the al-Mahdi Army are rarely taken to morgues." Systematic underreporting by U.S. An April 2005 article by ''.'' April 20, 2005. reports: :"A week before she was killed by a suicide bomber, humanitarian worker Marla Ruzicka forced military commanders to admit they did keep records of Iraqi civilians killed by US forces. ... in an essay Ms Ruzicka wrote a week before her death on Saturday and published yesterday, the 28-year-old revealed that a Brigadier General told her it was 'standard operating procedure' for US troops to file a report when they shoot a non-combatant. She obtained figures for the number of civilians killed in Baghdad between 28 February and 5 April {Link without Title} , and discovered that 29 had been killed in firefights involving US forces and insurgents. This was four times the number of Iraqi police killed." The December 2006 report of the . Dec. 7, 2006. A December 7, 2006 McClatchy Newspapers article reports that the ISG found that U.S. officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence on one day in July 2006, yet "a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light more than 1,100 acts of violence." The article further reports: :"The finding confirmed a Sept. 8 McClatchy Newspapers report that U.S. officials excluded scores of people killed in car bombings and mortar attacks from tabulations measuring the results of a drive to reduce violence in Baghdad. By excluding that data, U.S. officials were able to boast that deaths from sectarian violence in the Iraqi capital had declined by more than 52 percent between July and August, McClatchy newspapers reported." From the ISG report itself: "A murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the source of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the database. A roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count." Casualties caused by criminal and political violence In May 2004 the Associated Press completed a survey of the morgues in Baghdad and surrounding provinces. The survey tallied violent deaths from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, through April 30, 2004. From the AP article: :In Baghdad, a city of about 5.6 million, 4,279 people were recorded killed in the 12 months through April 30 {Link without Title} , according to figures provided by Kais Hassan, director of statistics at Baghdad's Medicolegal Institute, which administers the city's morgues. "Before the war, there was a strong government, strong security. There were a lot of police on the streets and there were no illegal weapons," he said during an AP reporter's visit to the morgue. "Now there are few controls. There is crime, revenge killings, so much violence." The figure does not include most people killed in big terrorist bombings, Hassan said. The cause of death in such cases is obvious so bodies are usually not taken to the morgue, but given directly to victims' families. Also, the bodies of killed fighters from groups like the al-Mahdi Army are rarely taken to morgues. Accidental trauma deaths from car accidents, falls, etc. are not included in the numbers. The article reports that the numbers translate to 76 killings per 100,000 people in Baghdad, compared to 39 in crime-ridden Bogotá , Colombia , 7.5 in New York City , and 2.4 in neighboring Jordan. The article states that there were 3.0 killings per 100,000 people in Baghdad in 2002 (the year before the war). Morgues surveyed in other parts of Iraq also reported large increases in the number of homicides. Karbala, south of Baghdad, increased from an average of one homicide per month in 2002 to an average of 55 per month in the year following the invasion; in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, where there were no homicides in 2002, the rate had grown to an average of 17 per month; in the northern province of Kirkuk, the rate had increased from 3 per month in 2002 to 34 per month in the survey period. NON-IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES Many non-combatants from both coalition and non-coalition countries have also been killed or wounded, including Journalist s and international Aid Personnel and foreign civilians. See the main overview chart at the top for numbers and more info. COALITION MILITARY CASUALTIES , return to Dover AFB . The Pentagon has been reluctant to release photos of caskets but was forced due to the Freedom Of Information Act .]] For the latest casualty numbers see the overview chart at the top of the page. See also the icasualties.org site: http://www.icasualties.org Since the official handover of power to the Iraq Interim Government on June 28 , 2004 , coalition soldiers have continued to come under attack in towns across Iraq. . of American troops killed in the Iraq War. British Casualty Monitor has a fortnightly updated graphical analysis of British casualties. "British Casualty Monitor: Tracking the war in Iraq" The combined total of coalition and contractor casualties in the conflict is now over ten times that of the 1990-1991 Gulf War . In the Gulf War, coalition forces suffered around 378 deaths, and among the Iraqi military, tens of thousands were killed, along with thousands of civilians. Troops fallen ill, injured, or wounded See the overview chart at the top of the page for recent numbers. On August 29, 2006 the ''.'' August 29, 2006. "Because of new body armor and advances in military medicine, for example, the ratio of combat-zone deaths to those wounded has dropped from 24 percent in Vietnam to 13 percent in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, the numbers of those killed as a percentage of overall casualties is lower." Many U.S. veterans of the Iraq War have reported a range of serious health issues, including tumors, daily blood in urine and stool, sexual dysfunction, migraines, frequent muscle spasms, and other symptoms similar to the debilitating symptoms of " Gulf War Syndrome " reported by many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, which some believe is related to the United States' use of radioactive Depleted Uranium .8 A study "Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care" . By Charles W. Hoge, M.D., Carl A. Castro, Ph.D., Stephen C. Messer, Ph.D., Dennis McGurk, Ph.D., Dave I. Cotting, Ph.D., and Robert L. Koffman, M.D., M.P.H.. '' The New England Journal Of Medicine .'' July 1, 2004. of U.S. veterans published in July 2004 in the '' The New England Journal Of Medicine '' on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that 5 to 9.4% (depending on the strictness of the PTSD definition used) suffered from PTSD before deployment. After deployment 6.2 to 19.9% suffered from PTSD. For the broad definition of PTSD that represents an increase of 10.5% (19.9 - 9.4% = 10.5%). That is 10,500 additional cases of PTSD for every 100,000 U.S. troops after they have served in Iraq. ePluribus Media, an independent citizen journalism collective, is tracking and cataloging press-reported possible, probable, or confirmed incidents of post-deployment or combat-zone cases in its PTSD Timeline. ''ePluribus Media.'' PTSD Timeline . Database of reported OEF/OIF cases. Information on injuries suffered by troops of other coalition countries is less readily available, but a statement in Hansard indicated that 2,703 UK soldiers had been medically evacuated from Iraq for wounds or injuries as of October 4 , 2004 and that 155 UK troops were wounded in combat in the initial invasion.9 ''Nightline'' controversy Ted Koppel , host of ABC 's '' Nightline '', devoted his entire show on April 30 , 2004 , to reading the names of 721 of the 737 U.S. troops who had died thus far. He did not mention deaths in Afghanistan . (The show hadn't been able to confirm the remaining 16 names.) Claiming that this would constitute a political statement, the Sinclair Broadcast Group took the action of barring the seven ABC-affiliated stations it controls from airing the show. The decision to censor the broadcast drew criticism from both sides, including members of the armed forces, opponents of the war, MoveOn.org , and most notably Republican Senator John McCain , who denounced the move as "unpatriotic" and "a gross disservice to the public" Dec. 25, 2006. U.S. military death total surpasses 9/11 death toll. Many newspapers reported that on Christmas day, December 25, 2006 the total number of U.S. military deaths from the Iraq War equaled and surpassed the 2973 total deaths on . '' Newsday .'' Dec. 27, 2006. reported: :"A Christmas Day explosion pushed the number of American troops killed in Iraq above the Sept. 11, 2001, death toll. ... The bomb explosion Monday, which killed two soldiers south of Baghdad, raised the number of troops killed to 2,974 since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, according to a count by The Associated Press. Terrorists hijacked jetliners on Sept. 11, 2001, and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing 2,973 people." Amputees As of January 18 , 2007 , there were at least 500 American amputees due to the Iraq War. According to a '' Time Magazine '' article, the 500th victim was a 24-year-old corporal, who lost both legs in a roadside bomb explosion on January 12 , 2007 . He was cared for at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany , and then was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center . The article reports: "The 500 major amputations — toes and fingers aren't counted — represent 2.2% of the 22,700 U.S. troops wounded in action. But the number rises to 5% in the category of soldiers whose wounds prevent them returning to duty." A Grim Milestone: 500 Amputees ; Time (magazine) ; Thursday, January 18 , 2007 Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) A Feb. 2007 article "Dead Men Walking. What sort of future do brain-injured Iraq veterans face?" . By Michael Mason. '' Discover .'' Feb. 22, 2007. by ''Discover'' magazine, titled "Dead Men Walking. What sort of future do brain-injured Iraq veterans face?", reports: "One expert from the VA estimates the number of undiagnosed TBIs at over 7,500. Nearly 2,000 brain-injured soldiers have already received some level of care, ..." Mental Illness A March 12, 2007 ''Time'' magazine article "Casualty of War: Mental Health" . By Claudia Wallis. '' Time Magazine .'' March 12, 2007. reports on a study published in the '' Archives Of Internal Medicine .'' About one third of the 103,788 veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seen at Veterans Affairs facilities between September 30, 2001 and September 30, 2005 were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder, such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. More than half of those diagnosed, 56%, were suffering from more than one disorder. The most common combination was Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression . REFERENCES SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS AND REFERENCES (Additional links not found in the 2 reference sections higher up.) ;U.S. military casualties only
;Coalition (including U.S. and contractors) casualties only
;Iraqi casualties only
;General and miscellaneous
|
|
|