I see the "I got the news today" diaries, and each day they sadden me. So I decided to get everything together in one place, to see the costs of George Bush's idiocy in Iraq. It definitely gives pause. Whether you are for or against- or were for or against- the war, it's staggering to think of the amount of death and destruction this has caused.
So far, since the beginning of the war, 1,085 coaltion soldiers have died. Of those, 955 were Americans. 65 were Britons and 65 have come from other coalition nations.
From the opening invasion to the May 1, 2003 aircraft carrier fiasco, 172 coalition forces died. 139 were Americans, 33 were Britons, and none were from other coaltion nations.
From the carrier fiasco to the handover of sovereignty to Iraq's interim government on June 28, 2004, 800 coalition forces died. 715 were Americans, 27 were Britons, and 58 came from other coalition nations.
Since the handover, a month and a half ago, 113 coalition forces have died. 101 were Americans, 5 were Britons, and 7 came from other coalition forces.
Most recently, on August 19th, two Polish privates died in a vehicle accident and two American Marines were killed by hostile fire.
The least deadly month for coalition forces was February 2004. 20 Americans, 1 Briton, and 2 others were killed, for a total of 23, or 0.79 deaths per day.
The deadliest month, outside of the initial war, was April. 135 Americans and 5 others were killed, for a total of 140 or 4.67 deaths per day.
For the entire period, the coalition has suffered an average of 2.09 deaths per day. During the initial war, forces averaged 4 deaths per day, and since the handover, the average has been 2.13 deaths per day.
815 soldiers have died from hostile fire, and 270 have died from non-hostile causes such as illness, vehicle accidents, and at least a dozen suicides, euphemistically termed "non-combat weapons discharge." Of American deaths, 715 have been hostile-fire related and 240 have not been.
according to iraqbodycount.net, between 11,619 and 13,603 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the war began. This is in a nation of 25 million. Extrapolating these figures to the United States would leave nearly 200,000 people dead.
This destructive "intervention" in Iraq was not about WMD. Nor was it about freedom and democracy for Iraq. Nor was it REALLY about oil- God knows if it was it's failed miserably (of course it HAS failed miserably) since oil is probably as I type hitting $50 a barrel. It was about what American military intervention is always about- power and dominance. We want a democracy in Iraq only so far as it suits American strategic, economic, and corporate interests. Chile, Algeria, and Nicaragua can all attest to the fact that the United States doesn't care about democracy- CIA-backed coups and military forces deposed or otherwise harrassed democratically elected governments in all these places. We've gone and done all this simply because we're the boss, and we can do what we want. And that's sickening.
As for the numbers, I just wanted to lay it all out in one place.