numbers

A recent article in Stars and Stripes (stripes.com) noted that the percentage of Americans who know what the number of American military deaths in Iraq is has fallen steadily for the last two years, now at about 28%. Let's address that, shall we?

The number of military casualties (also reported by stripes) is 3974 last I checked. I note military, because no one seems to report on civilian contractor casualties (1001, link). We also don't keep track and no one reports on Iraqi casualties either; the lowest estimate I have seen of late is more than 82,000 (iraqbodycount.org), and the highest is more than a million (link). The lower number seems more rigorous, because it is based on corroborated reporting of actual events. The higher numbers are based on statistical models. What else...oh, refugees. 2 million internally, another 2 million externally (link). And finally, the dollar cost: the U.S. is spending something like $275,000 a minute in Iraq (link), depending on the estimate you go with, and whether or not you count in future costs.

Pass it on.

[edit 18 mar 08: the listed number of contractor deaths is for all known contractors working for the US per the Dept of Labor, not just Americans.]