Casualties of the Iraq War
Estimates of the casualties from the Iraq War (beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the ensuing occupation and insurgency and civil war) have come in several forms, and those estimates of different types of Iraq War casualties vary greatly.
See also: Casualties of the Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)Estimating war-related deaths poses many challenges.[1][2] Experts distinguish between population-based studies, which extrapolate from random samples of the population, and body counts, which tally reported deaths and likely significantly underestimate casualties.[3] Population-based studies produce estimates of the number of Iraq War casualties ranging from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (per the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 1,033,000 excess deaths (per the 2007 Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey). Other survey-based studies covering different time-spans find 461,000 total deaths (over 60% of them violent) as of June 2011 (per PLOS Medicine 2013), and 655,000 total deaths (over 90% of them violent) as of June 2006 (per the 2006 Lancet study). Body counts counted at least 110,600 violent deaths as of April 2009 (Associated Press). The Iraq Body Count project documents 186,901 – 210,296 violent civilian deaths in their table. All estimates of Iraq War casualties are disputed.[4][5]
Iraqi invasion casualties[edit]
Franks reportedly estimated soon after the invasion that there had been 30,000 Iraqi casualties as of April 9, 2003.[82] That number comes from the transcript of an October 2003 interview of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with journalist Bob Woodward. But neither could remember the number clearly, nor whether it was just for deaths, or both deaths and wounded.
A May 28, 2003, Guardian article reported that "Extrapolating from the death-rates of between 3% and 10% found in the units around Baghdad, one reaches a toll of between 13,500 and 45,000 dead among troops and paramilitaries."[83]
An October 20, 2003, study by the Project on Defense Alternatives at Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, estimated that for March 19, 2003, to April 30, 2003, the "probable death of approximately 11,000 to 15,000 Iraqis, including approximately 3,200 to 4,300 civilian noncombatants."[84][85]
The Iraq Body Count project (IBC) documented a higher number of civilian deaths up to the end of the major combat phase (May 1, 2003). In a 2005 report,[86] using updated information, the IBC reported that 7,299 civilians are documented to have been killed, primarily by U.S. air and ground forces. There were 17,338 civilian injuries inflicted up to May 1, 2003. The IBC says its figures are probably underestimates because: "many deaths will probably go unreported or unrecorded by officials and media."[19]
Total insurgent deaths are hard to estimate.[125][126] In 2003, 597 insurgents were killed, according to the U.S. military.[127] From January 2004 through December 2009 (not including May 2004 and March 2009), 23,984 insurgents were estimated to have been killed based on reports from Coalition soldiers on the frontlines.[128] In the two missing months from the estimate, 652 were killed in May 2004,[9] and 45 were killed in March 2009.[129] In 2010, another 676 insurgents were killed.[130] In January and March through October 2011, 451 insurgents were killed.[131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139] Based on all of these estimates some 26,405 insurgents/militia were killed from 2003, up until late 2011.
However, this number could be low compared to reality as it only counts combat deaths against US-led forces; insurgents also frequently clashed between each other and those killed by noncombat causes are not counted. There have been contradictions between the figures released by the U.S. military and those released by the Iraqi government. For example, the U.S. military's number of insurgents killed in 2005, is 3,247, which is in contrast to the Iraqi government's figure of 1,734, however, fear of civilians fatalities, numbers were lowered.[140] In 2007, 4,544 militants were killed according to the Iraqi ministries,[141] while the U.S. military claimed 6,747 died. Also, in 2008, 2,028 insurgents were reported killed[142] and in 2009, with the exception of the month of June, 488 were killed according to the Iraqi Defence Ministry.[143] These numbers are also not in line with the U.S. military estimate of some 3,984 killed in 2008 and 2009.[144]
U.S. military- and Iraqi Defence Ministry-provided numbers, including suicide bombers
In addition as of August 22, 2009, approximately 1,719 suicide-bombers had also been reported killed.
Grand total – 21,221–26,405 insurgents dead
On September 28, 2006, an Al Qaeda leader claimed that 4,000 foreign insurgents had been killed in the war.[149]
On June 6, 2008, an Iraqi Army official revealed that about 6,000 Al Qaeda fighters were among the insurgents killed since the start of the war up until April 2008.[150]
The US military also reported on the number of suspected insurgents who were detained, arrested, or captured. From June 2003 through August 2007 the US military reported that 119,752 were detained, compared to 18,832 that had been killed.[151]
Contractor casualties[edit]
By July 2007, the Department of Labor recorded 933 deaths of contractors in Iraq.[152] By April 2007, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction stated that the number of civilian contractor deaths on US-funded projects in Iraq was 916.[61] In January 2007, the Houston Chronicle reported that the Pentagon did not track contractor deaths in Iraq.[153] In January 2017, an estimated 7,761 contractors had been injured in Iraq, but their nationality was not known.[153] By the end 2006, civilian contractors suffered "3,367 injuries serious enough to require four or more days off the job."[154] The Labor Department had these numbers because it tracked workers' compensation claims by injured workers or families of slain contractors under the federal Defense Base Act.[153]
Health outcomes[edit]
By November 2006, there were reports of a significant deterioration of the Iraq health care system as a result of the war.[155][35]
In 2007, an Iraqi Society of Psychiatrists and WHO study found that 70% of 10,000 primary school students in the Sha'ab section of north Baghdad are suffering from trauma-related symptoms.[156]
Subsequent articles in The Lancet and Al Jazeera have suggested that the number of cases of birth defects, cancer, miscarriages, illnesses and premature births may have increased dramatically after the first and second Iraq wars, due to the presences of depleted uranium and chemicals introduced during American attacks, especially around Fallujah, Basra and Southern Iraq.[96][157]