By Bruce B. Brugmann
As a former infantryman (hell, advanced infantryman, during the Cold War of l958-60), I can tell you that my heart breaks every time I read the daily statistics of the fallen and the dead in Iraq, military and civilian.
Young men just like the four young men listed as dying yesterday: usually young men, some young women, usually young, privates and sergeants and specialists and second lieutenants, not many older officers, from the little towns and rural communities around the country.
And I know, once Bush’s surge strategy starts putting more young men into the neighborhoods and the crossfire of a bitter sectarian civil war, that the statistics of the dead and wounded is likely to rise dramatically and keep rising dramatically. And so the question remains: how many more will die because of Bush’s mistakes?
We will regularly run a snapshot of the war casualties from the best sources that we can find. This is today’s compilation by Paula Connelly of the Guardian staff. B3
Casualties in Iraq
U.S. Military:
4: Killed 1/17/07Names:
Anderson, Ian C., 22, Sgt., Army; Prairie Village, Kan.; First Cavalry Division.
Cooper, John E., 29, Sgt., Army; Ewing, Ky.; First Cavalry Division.
Daily, Mark J., 23, Second Lt., Army; Irvine, Calif.; First Cavalry Division.
Grimm, Matthew T., 21, Specialist, Army; Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.; First Cavalry Division.Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html
3,037: Killed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq 3/20/03
Source: http://www.sunmt.org/intro.html
For a complete list of U.S. Military killed in the War in Iraq go to: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/2007.01.html
Iraqi Civilians :
98,000: Killed since 3/03Source: www.thelancet.com
53,954 – 59,571 : Killed since 1/03
Source : http://www.iraqbodycount.net
Iraq Military :
30,000 : Killed since 2003
Source : http://www.infoshout.comJournalists :
146 : Killed since 3/03Source : http://www.ifex.org
Refugees :
1.6 million : Iraqis displaced internally
1.8 million: Iraqis displaced to neighboring statesMany refugees were displaced prior to 2003, but an increasing number are fleeing now, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ estimates.
Source: http://www.unhcr.org/iraq.html