News BBC obtains Iraq casualty figures

[Ivan Seeking]

Conflct-related civilian deaths in Iraq. July 2004 to January 2005
3,274 civilians killed in total
2,041 by coalition and Iraqi security forces
1,233 by insurgents
12,657 civilians wounded in total
8,542 by coalition and Iraqi security forces
4,115 by insurgents [continued]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4217413.stm

 

[BobG]

The bookkeeping may not be totally accurate by category. The BBC has backed off those numbers in light of comments from the Iraqi Ministry of Health. The numbers include Iraqi casualties regardless of whether civilian, Iraqi security forces, or Iraqi insurgents.

It's still not a good situation.

Using numbers that are verifiable, the US military suffered about 3.25 deaths per day and 12.5 wounded per day during the 'combat' phase of operations. During the 'peacekeeping' phase, deaths per day have declined 4%, while wounded per day has doubled to about 25 per day.

The total number of casualties per day probably reflect the relative intensity of the two operations. Wounds suffered at the front of an invasion with the nearest fixed medical site a few hundred miles behind are more likely to result in death than the wounds suffered now, with fixed medical facilities relatively nearby.

Not high numbers when compared to other wars throughout history, but it does show that instead of making progress, things have actually gotten worse the last several months. The casualty rates have increased since turnover of power to the Iraqi interim government in June. That means we still haven't turned the corner in Iraq.

 

[wasteofo2]

Not high numbers when compared to other wars throughout history, but it does show that instead of making progress, things have actually gotten worse the last several months.

You can't really compare Iraq to most wars, since most historical wars have been between the militaries of two countries, where both sides have means of killing each other that are fairly comparable.

 

[Gokul43201]

I recall reading somewhere that the magic number is 12%. A war becomes impossible to support when total casualties exceed 12% of the number that served in the war.

In Vietnam over 300,000 of the nearly 3 milllon that served were killed/wounded.

In Iraq, the current number of casualties is around 15,000 ?

 

[polyb]

There is a war?

When did congress declare WAR?