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Casualties of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and continuing with the ensuing occupation of Iraq coalition presence, as well as the activities of the various armed groups operating in the country) have come in many forms, and the accuracy of the information available on different types of Iraq War casualties varies greatly. In December 2007, the Iraqi government reported that there were 5 million orphans in Iraq - almost half of the country's children.[1][2]
The table below summarizes some of the Iraqi casualty figures.
| Source | Iraqi casualties | March 2003 to... |
|---|---|---|
| Iraq Family Health Survey | 151,000 violent deaths. | June 2006 |
| Lancet survey | 601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths. | June 2006 |
| Opinion Research Business survey | 1,033,000 violent deaths as a result of the conflict. | August 2007 |
| Associated Press | 110,600 violent deaths | April 2009 |
| Iraq Body Count | 94,902 – 103,549 violent civilian deaths as a result of the conflict. | December 2009 |
For troops in the U.S.-led multinational coalition, the death toll is carefully tracked and updated daily, and the names and photographs of those killed in action as well as in accidents have been published widely. Regarding the Iraqis, however, information on both military and civilian casualties is both less precise and less consistent. Estimates of casualty levels are available from reporters on the scene, from officials of involved organizations, and from groups that summarize information on incidents reported in the news media.
The word "casualties" in its most general sense includes the injured as well as the dead. Accounts of the number of coalition wounded vary widely, partly because it is not obvious what should be counted: should only those injuries serious enough to put a soldier out of commission be included? Do illnesses or injuries caused by accidents count, or should the focus be restricted to wounds caused by hostile engagement? Sources using different definitions may arrive at very different numbers, and sometimes the precise definition is not clearly specified. As for the Iraqis, where even the death toll has only been very roughly estimated, it appears that no one has attempted to count the wounded.
Summary of casualties of the Iraq War.
Possible estimates on the number of people killed in the invasion and occupation of Iraq vary widely,[3] and are highly disputed.[4] Estimates of casualties below include both the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the following Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present.
Iraqi Health Ministry |
The Health Ministry of the Iraqi government estimated 87,215 Iraqi violent deaths between January 1, 2005 and February 28, 2009. The number excludes thousands of people who are missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official notice. If included, those would raise the number of dead for that period by 10 to 20 percent according to the government official who provided the data to the Associated Press. The data was in the form of a list of yearly totals for death certificates issued for violent deaths by hospitals and morgues between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2009. The Health ministry does not have figures for the first two years of the war.[5] |
Associated Press |
The Associated Press stated that more than 110,600 Iraqis had been killed since the start of the war to April 2009. This number is per the Health Ministry tally of 87,215 covering January 1, 2005 to February 28, 2009 combined with counts of casualties for 2003-2004, and after February 29, 2009 from hospital sources and media reports.[5] For more info see farther down at Associated Press and Health Ministry. More information. |
Iraq Body Count |
The Iraq Body Count (IBC) figure of 94,902 – 103,549 civilian deaths reported in English-language media (including Arabic media translated into English) up to December, 2009 includes civilian deaths due to coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and increased criminal violence.[6] The IBC site states: "it should be noted that many deaths will probably go unreported or unrecorded by officials and media."[7] |
Iraq Family Health Survey |
Iraq Family Health Survey for the World Health Organization.[8][9] On January 9, 2008 the World Health Organization reported the results of the "Iraq Family Health Survey" published in the New England Journal of Medicine.[10] The study surveyed 9,345 households across Iraq and estimated 151,000 deaths due to violence (95% uncertainty range, 104,000 to 223,000) from March 2003 through June 2006. Employees of the Iraqi Health Ministry carried out the survey.[11][12][13] See also farther down: Iraqi Health Ministry/WHO survey |
Opinion Research Business (ORB) poll |
Opinion Research Business (ORB) poll conducted August 12-19, 2007 estimated 1,033,000 violent deaths due to the Iraq War. The range given was 946,000 to 1,120,000 deaths. A nationally representative sample of approximately 2000 Iraqi adults answered whether any members of their household (living under their roof) were killed due to the Iraq War. 22% of the respondents had lost one or more household members. ORB reported that "48% died from a gunshot wound, 20% from the impact of a car bomb, 9% from aerial bombardment, 6% as a result of an accident and 6% from another blast/ordnance."[14][15][16][17][18] |
United Nations |
The United Nations reported that 34,452 violent deaths occurred in 2006, based on data from morgues, hospitals, and municipal authorities across Iraq.[19] |
Lancet studies |
The Lancet study's figure of 654,965 excess deaths through the end of June 2006 is based on household survey data. The estimate is for all excess violent and nonviolent deaths. That also includes those due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc.. 601,027 deaths (range of 426,369 to 793,663 using a 95% confidence interval) were estimated to be due to violence. 31% of those were attributed to the Coalition, 24% to others, 46% unknown. The causes of violent deaths were gunshot (56%), car bomb (13%), other explosion/ordnance (14%), air strike (13%), accident (2%), unknown (2%). A copy of a death certificate was available for a high proportion of the reported deaths (92 per cent of those households asked to produce one).[20][21][22] Iraq's Health Minister] |
Ali al-Shemari (earlier Iraqi Health Minister) |
Concerning war-related deaths (civilian and non-civilian), and deaths from criminal gangs, Iraq's Health Minister Ali al-Shemari said that since the March 2003 invasion between 100,000-150,000 Iraqis had been killed.[23] "Al-Shemari said on Thursday [Nov. 9, 2006] that he based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues and hospitals – though such a calculation would come out closer to 130,000 in total."[24] For more info see farther down at Iraq Health Minister estimate in November 2006. |
Iraqi Security Forces (aligned with Coalition) |
From June, 2003, through April 23, 2009, there have been 9,010 Iraqi military and police killed according to the "Iraq Index" of the Brookings Institution.[25] However, according to the List of Iraqi security forces fatality reports in Iraq 11,520 Iraqi military and police have been killed. It should be noted that this list includes would-be police and army recruits, which the "Iraq Index" does not, however, no more than several hundred recruits have died. |
Media and aid workers |
136 journalists and 51 media support workers were killed on duty according to the numbers listed on source pages on February 24, 2009.[26][27][28] 94 aid workers have been killed according to a November 21, 2007 Reuters article.[29][30] |
U.S. armed forces |
4,379 dead as of February 23, 2010.[32] As of February 23, 2010 there were 31,693 wounded in action.[32] Of these 9,477 required medical air transport. There were 36,106 non-hostile-related medical air transports (9,452 for non-hostile injuries, and 26,654 for diseases or other medical reasons). [33][34][35][36] |
Coalition deaths by hostile fire |
As of February 24, 2009 hostile-fire deaths accounted for 3,662 of the 4,568 total coalition military deaths.[37] |
Armed forces of other coalition countries |
See Multinational force in Iraq. As of February 24, 2009 there were 318 deaths from the armed forces of other Coalition nations. 179 UK deaths and 139 deaths from other nations. Breakdown: Australia 2. Azerbaijan 1. Bulgaria 13. Czech Republic 1. Denmark 7. El Salvador 5. Estonia 2. Fiji 1. Georgia 5. Hungary 1. Italy 33. Kazakhstan 1. Latvia 3. Netherlands 2. Poland 23. Portugal 1. Romania 3. Slovakia 4. South Korea 1. Spain 11. Thailand 2. Ukraine 18. [33][34][38] |
Contractors |
Contractors. At least 1,315 deaths between March 2003 and January 2009 according to the List of private contractor deaths in Iraq. 245 of those are from the USA.[39][40][41][42][43] Contractors are "Americans, Iraqis and workers from more than three dozen other countries."[44] 10,569 wounded or injured.[39] Contractors "cook meals, do laundry, repair infrastructure, translate documents, analyze intelligence, guard prisoners, protect military convoys, deliver water in the heavily fortified Green Zone and stand sentry at buildings - often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."[45] A July 2007 Los Angeles Times article reported 182,000 employees of U.S.-government-funded contractors and subcontractors (118,000 Iraqi, 43,000 other, 21,000 U.S.).[40][46] |
According to Ali Hali, chairman of the Iraqi LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) group, a London-based human-rights group, at least 680 gays and lesbians have died in Iraq since 2004, a number are also reported missing.[citation needed] However a reliable number of the victims is not known due to the failure of authorities to investigate such crimes and the stigma preventing families from reporting the deaths or incidents. It's alleged that fanatic fundamentalist groups have started a secret war against gays beside coalition forces in Iraq. Allegations that uniformed Iraqi police officers have carried out lethal attacks on homosexual and transgender Iraqis, Islamist death squads and the Mahdi army are reportedly hunting down gay Iraqis and summarily executing them. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed that gay Iraqis have been targeted for kidnapping and murder because of their sexual orientation.[citation needed] There are also claims that lesbians are suffering rapes by men trying to 'cure' their homosexuality. Also there is reports of effeminate men (homosexual or heterosexual) being abused and bashed at security checkpoints. Under Saddam Hussein, gay life in Iraq existed relatively peacefully in a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" sort of vein. Since the US invasion and the rise of sharia law, gays have been routinely rounded up, raped and murdered. Most gay men in Iraq now live hidden and transsexuals once noticeable in Baghdad have vanished. Iraqi officials generally refuse to even discuss the situation or acknowledge homosexuality.[47]
Their status as civilian is controversial. They are employees of U.S. government contractors and subcontractors, private military contractors, U.S. Department of Defense, etc.. The contractors come from many nations including Iraq and the USA.
A July 4, 2007 Los Angeles Times article reports:
"More than 180,000 civilians - including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis - are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times. ...
"The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis - all employed in Iraq by U.S. tax dollars, according to the most recent government data."[46]
A July 3, 2007 Reuters article reports:
"The department said it had recorded 990 deaths - 917 in Iraq and 73 in Afghanistan - by the end of March. Since then, according to incident logs tallied by Reuters in Baghdad and Kabul, at least 16 contractors have died in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. ...
"The Labor Department's statistics put the number of wounded in Iraq between March 1, 2003 and March 31, 2007 as 10,569. The corresponding figure for Afghanistan, from September 2001 to March 2007, is 2,428. ...
"Joseph McDermott, the Assistant Inspector General for Iraq, quoted Labor Department statistics as saying that of 900-plus contractors killed by the end of April, 224 were U.S. citizens."[39]
From a New York Times article published May 19, 2007:
"At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq.[44]
The April 30, 2007 quarterly report to Congress of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction states:
A February 23, 2007 Associated Press article reports that there are 120,000 contractors. It states that through the end of 2006 there have been 769 deaths and "3,367 injuries serious enough to require four or more days off the job."[55]
A January 28, 2007 Houston Chronicle article[56] reports that the Pentagon estimates around 100,000 contractors are currently in Iraq, and that the Pentagon does not track contractor deaths. The article reports: "Halliburton's KBR is the largest military contractor operating in Iraq, with more than 50,000 employees and subcontractors working there, as well as in Kuwait and Afghanistan."
The article reports from Labor Department information that more than 770 civilian contractors of U.S.-based companies in Iraq died between March 2003 and Dec. 31, 2006. 7,761 have been injured in Iraq. "How many of these civilian-contractor casualties were American citizens is unknown. Labor officials say they cannot provide a breakdown by nationality."
The article also reports:
An October 10, 2006 Reuters article[57] reports, "Their number in Iraq is estimated at up to 100,000, from highly-trained former special forces soldiers to drivers, cooks, mechanics, plumbers, translators, electricians and laundry workers and other support personnel."
An April 2, 2004 Boston Globe article[58] reports: "Just how much the growing security burden in Iraq is costing US taxpayers is hard to gauge because few reconstruction contracts are made public and there is no official estimate of how many security specialists are active there. Analysts estimate that corporations have some 30,000 to 40,000 workers in Iraq"
Concerning the number of security-related contractors an April 19, 2004 New York Times article[59] states: "But more and more, they give the appearance of private, for-profit militias — by several estimates, a force of roughly 20,000 on top of an American military presence of 130,000.
That article also reports: "Sorting out lines of authority and communication can be complex. Many security guards are hired as 'independent contractors' by companies that, in turn, are sub-contractors of larger security companies, which are themselves subcontractors of a prime contractor, which may have been hired by a United States agency."
An April 13, 2004 Robert Fisk article[60] reports: "At least 18 000 mercenaries, many of them tasked to protect US troops and personnel, are now believed to be in Iraq."
The article reported: "At least 80 foreign mercenaries - security guards recruited from the United States, Europe and South Africa and working for American companies - have been killed in the past eight days in Iraq." The article noted that this was more than the roughly 70 coalition troops who were killed in the same period.
Before the Iraq War, in March 2002 in Afghanistan at a news conference at Bagram Air Base, U.S. General Tommy Franks had famously said, "we don't do body counts."[61][62]
General Tommy Franks reportedly estimated soon after the invasion that there had been 30,000 Iraqi casualties as of April 9, 2003.[63] That number comes from the transcript of an October 2003 interview of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by Bob Woodward. They were discussing a number reported by the Washington Post. But neither could remember the number clearly, nor whether it was just for deaths, or both deaths and wounded.
An October 20, 2003 study[64][65] by the Project on Defense Alternatives at Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), stated that for March 19, 2003 to April 30, 2003, "Based on the analysis that follows we estimate that the 2003 Iraq war produced between 7,600 and 10,800 Iraqi combatant fatalities."
The study also stated: "Our analysis of the evidence leads to the conclusion that between 10,800 and 15,100 Iraqis were killed in the war. Of these, between 3,200 and 4,300 were noncombatants -- that is: civilians who did not take up arms."
The study explained that to arrive at these numbers, they had adjusted the underlying incident reports from the field by reducing each count by anywhere from 20% to 60%, based on their own reliability assessments, in order to "control for casualty inflation -- a prevalent form of bias."
The study author Carl Conetta reported: "All told, more than 40,000 Iraqis were killed or injured,"
The Iraq Body Count project documented a higher number of civilian deaths up to the end of the major combat phase (May 1, 2003). In a 2005 report[66] using updated info the (IBC) reported that 7,299 civilians are documented to have been killed, primarily by US air and ground forces. There were 17,338 civilian injuries inflicted up to May 1, 2003. The IBC says their figures are probably underestimates because: "it should be noted that many deaths will probably go unreported or unrecorded by officials and media."[7]
A May 28, 2003 Guardian article reported "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.[67]
A November 11, 2006 Los Angeles Times article[68] reports:
A November 9, 2006 International Herald Tribune article reported what Iraq's Health Minister, Ali al-Shemari, said about the issue:
Seventy percent of children are suffering from trauma-related symptoms according to a study of 10,000 primary school students in the Shaab section of north Baghdad, conducted by the Iraqi Society of Psychiatrists and the World Health Organization. "We're now finding an elevation of mental health disorders in children -- emotional, conduct, peer, attention deficit," according to Iraqi psychiatrist Hashimi. "A number are even resulting in suicide."[69]
Estimates of the total number of Iraqi war-related deaths are highly disputed. National Public Radio has a bar chart with various estimates.[3] Project Censored has named the "corporate media blackout" of the number of Iraqi deaths caused by US occupation (which it estimates at over one million) as the number one censored story for 2009.[4] In December 2007, the Iraqi government reported that there were 5 million orphans in Iraq - almost half of the country's children.[1]
In December 2005 President Bush said there were 30,000 Iraqi dead. White House spokesman Scott McClellan later said it was "not an official government estimate", and was based on media reports.[70][71]
The United Nations reported that 34,452 violent civilian deaths occurred in 2006, based on data from morgues, hospitals, and municipal authorities across Iraq.[19]
For 2006 a January 2, 2007 Associated Press article reports: "The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defence and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers had been killed in the violence that raged across the country last year. The Associated Press figure, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths."[72] The Australian reports in a January 2, 2007 article: "A figure of 3700 civilian deaths in October [2006], the latest tally given by the UN based on data from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, was branded exaggerated by the Iraqi Government."[73] Iraqi government estimates include "people killed in bombings and shootings but not deaths classed as 'criminal'." Also, they "include no deaths among the many civilians wounded in attacks who may die later from wounds. Nor do they include many people kidnapped whose fate remains unknown."[73]
A June 25, 2006 Los Angeles Times article, "War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000",[74] reported that their estimate of violent deaths consisted "mostly of civilians" but probably also included security forces and insurgents. It added that, "Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths in the chaotic first year after the invasion, when there was no functioning Iraqi government, and continued spotty reporting nationwide since." Here is how the Times got their number: "The Baghdad morgue received 30,204 bodies from 2003 through mid-2006, while the Health Ministry said it had documented 18,933 deaths from 'military clashes' and 'terrorist attacks' from April 5, 2004, to June 1, 2006. Together, the toll reaches 49,137. However, samples obtained from local health departments in other provinces show an undercount that brings the total well beyond 50,000. The figure also does not include deaths outside Baghdad in the first year of the invasion."
Another study was commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), called the Iraq Living Conditions Survey (ILCS), which sampled almost 22,000 households across all Iraqi provinces. It estimated 24,000 war-related violent deaths by May 2004 (with a 95 percent confidence interval from 18,000 to 29,000). This study also did not attempt to measure what portion of its estimate was made up of civilians. It would include Iraqi military killed during the invasion, as well as "insurgents" or other fighters thereafter.[75] This study has been criticized for various reasons. For more info see the section in Lancet surveys of Iraq War casualties that compares the Lancet and UNDP ILCS studies.
Associated Press reported that the Health Ministry of the Iraqi government had recorded 87,215 violent deaths of Iraqi citizens since the beginning of 2005. The data was in the form of a list of yearly totals for death certificates issued for violent deaths by hospitals and morgues between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2009. The number excludes thousands of people who are missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official notice. If included, those would raise the number of dead for that period by 10 to 20 percent according to the government official who provided the data to the Associated Press.[5]
The Associated Press used this data to estimate that more than 110,600 Iraqis had been killed since the start of the war to April 2009. This number is derived by combining the Health Ministry tally of 87,215 with counts of casualties for 2003-2004, and after March 1, 2009 from hospital sources and media reports, citing Iraq Body Count as its main source for this data. The AP article stated that it had "reviewed the Iraq Body Count analysis and confirmed its conclusions by sifting the data and consulting experts. The AP also interviewed experts involved with previous studies, prominent Iraq analysts and provincial and medical officials to determine that the new tally was credible."
AP also reported: "Experts said the count constitutes an important baseline, albeit an incomplete one. Richard Brennan, who has done mortality research in Congo and Kosovo, said it is likely a 'gross underestimate' because many deaths go unrecorded in war zones. The Iraqi Body Count numbers are likely even more incomplete, given that many killings occurred in incidents journalists were unaware of or in inaccessible areas. Mass graves have been turning up as improved security allows patrols in formerly off-limits areas, but how many remain will never be known."[5]
Here follows additional info beyond that found in the "Iraq Family Health Survey" part of the Overview section higher up. See also: Iraq Family Health Survey#400,000 excess deaths?
Les Roberts, co-author of the Lancet study, said Friday, January 10, 2008:
"The NEJM article found a doubling of mortality after the invasion, we found a 2.4-fold increase. Thus, we roughly agree on the number of excess deaths. The big difference is that we found almost all the increase from violence, they found one-third of the increase from violence. ..."
"It is likely that people would be unwilling to admit violent deaths to the study workers who were government employees. ..."
"Finally, their data suggests one-sixth of deaths over the occupation through June 2006 were from violence. Our data suggests a majority of deaths were from violence. The morgue and graveyard data I have seen is more in keeping with our results." [76]
A September 14, 2007 estimate by ORB (Opinion Research Business), an independent British polling agency, suggests that the total Iraqi violent death toll due to the Iraq War since the US-led invasion is in excess of 1.2 million (1,220,580). Although higher than the 2006 Lancet estimate through June 2006, these results, which were based on a survey of 1499 adults in Iraq from August 12-19, 2007, are more or less consistent with the figures that were published in the Lancet study.[15][16][17][18]
On 28 January 2008, ORB published an update based on additional work carried out in rural areas of Iraq. Some 600 additional interviews were undertaken and as a result of this the death estimate was revised to 1,033,000 with a given range of 946,000 to 1,120,000.[14][77]
Participants of the ORB survey were asked the following question:
"How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (ie as a result of violence rather than a natural death such as old age)? Please note that I mean those who were actually living under your roof."
The revised results[77] were
| Number of deaths in household |
Percent of responders |
|---|---|
| None | 72% |
| One | 14% |
| Two | 3% |
| Three | 1% |
| Four or more | "more than zero but less than 0.5%" |
| Don't know | 2% |
| No answer | 8% |
From Feb. 25 to March 5, 2007 D3 Systems [5] conducted a poll for BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today.[78][79][80][81][82][83]
ABC News reported: "One in six says someone in their own household has been harmed. ... 53 percent of Iraqis say a close friend or immediate family member has been hurt in the current violence. That ranges from three in 10 in the Kurdish provinces to, in Baghdad, nearly eight in 10."[79]
The methodology was described thus: "This poll for ABC News, USA Today, the BBC and ARD was conducted Feb. 25-March 5, 2007, through in-person interviews with a random national sample of 2,212 Iraqi adults, including oversamples in Anbar province, Basra city, Kirkuk and the Sadr City section of Baghdad. The results have a 2.5-point error margin. Field work by D3 Systems of Vienna, Va., and KA Research Ltd. of Istanbul."[79][81][84]
There was a field staff of 150 Iraqis in all. That included 103 interviewers, interviewing selected respondents at 458 locales across the country.[81] "This poll asked about nine kinds of violence (car bombs, snipers or crossfire, kidnappings, fighting among opposing groups or abuse of civilians by various armed forces)."[81]
Question 35 asked:
"Have you or an immediate family member - by which I mean someone living in this household – been physically harmed by the violence that is occurring in the country at this time?"
Here are the results[81] in percentages:
| Groups | Yes | No | No opinion |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | 17 | 83 | 0 |
| Sunni | 21 | 79 | 0 |
| Shiite | 17 | 83 | 0 |
| Kurdish | 7 | 93 | 0 |
17% of respondents reported that at least one member of the household had been "physically harmed by the violence that is occurring in the country at this time." The survey did not ask whether multiple household members had been harmed.
In early November 2006 Iraq's Health Minister Ali al-Shemari said that he estimated between 100,000 and 150,000 people had been killed since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion.[23][24][85][86] The Taipei Times reported on his methodology: "Al-Shemari said on Thursday [Nov. 9, 2006] that he based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues and hospitals -- though such a calculation would come out closer to 130,000 in total."[24] The Washington Post reported: "As al-Shemari issued the startling new estimate, the head of the Baghdad central morgue said Thursday he was receiving as many as 60 violent death victims each day at his facility alone. Dr. Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaidi said those deaths did not include victims of violence whose bodies were taken to the city's many hospital morgues or those who were removed from attack scenes by relatives and quickly buried according to Muslim custom."[86]
From a November 9, 2006 International Herald Tribune article[23]:
"Each day we lost 100 persons, that means per month 3,000, per year it's 36,000, plus or minus 10 percent," al-Shemari said. "So by three years, 120,000, half year 20,000, that means 140,000, plus or minus 10 percent," he said, explaining how he came to the figures. "This includes all Iraqis killed — police, ordinary people, children," he said, adding that people who were kidnapped and later found dead were also included in his estimate. He said the figures were compiled by counting bodies brought to "forensic institutes" or hospitals.
From the November 11, 2006 Taipei Times article[24]:
An official with the ministry also confirmed the figure yesterday [Nov. 10, 2006], but later said that the estimated deaths ranged between 100,000 and 150,000. "The minister was misquoted. He said between 100,000-150,000 people were killed in three-and-a-half years," the official said.
The October 2006 Lancet study[20][21] estimated total excess deaths up to July 2006. Total deaths (civilian and non-civilian) include all additional deaths due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc.. The survey estimated 654,965 excess deaths related to the war. The 2006 study involved surveys between May 20 and July 10, 2006. More households were surveyed than during the 2004 study, allowing for a 95% confidence interval of 392,979 to 942,636 excess Iraqi deaths. The result was disputed by President Bush based both on the number of deaths and the methodology.[87]
Although the British Government initially tried to dispute the accuracy of the Lancet survey, the UK Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser later said the survey's methods were "close to best practice" and the study design was "robust"[88]. An October 12, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article[89] reported: "Asked at the news conference what he thinks the number is now, Bush said: 'I stand by the figure a lot of innocent people have lost their life.' At a separate Pentagon briefing, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said that the [Lancet] figure 'seems way, way beyond any number that I have seen. I've not seen a number higher than 50,000. And so I don't give it that much credibility at all'."
The October 2004 Lancet study[90] done by public health experts from Johns Hopkins University and published on 29 October 2004 in the Lancet medical journal, estimated that 100,000 "excess" Iraqi deaths from all causes had occurred since the US invasion began. The study did not attempt to measure how many of these were civilian, but the study's authors have said they believe that the "vast majority" were noncombatants, based on 7% of the casualties being women and 46% being children under the age of 15 (including Falluja data). To arrive at these excess death figures, a survey was taken from 988 Iraqi households in 33 clusters throughout Iraq, in which the residents were asked how many people lived there and how many births and deaths there had been since the war began. They then compared the death rate with the average from the 15 months before the war. Iraqis were found to be 1.5 times more likely to die from all causes after the invasion (rising from 0.5% to 0.79% per year) than in the 15 months preceding the war, producing an estimate of 98,000 excess deaths. This figure excluded data from one cluster in Falluja, which was deemed too much of an outlier for inclusion in the national estimate. If it included data from Falluja, which showed a higher rate of violent deaths than the other 32 clusters combined, the increased death rate would be raised from 1.5 to 2.5 fold, violent deaths would be 58 times more likely with most of them due to air-strikes by coalition forces, and an additional 200,000 fatalities would be estimated.[91]
The study contains the following Summary:
See Lancet study for more details of the methodology and subsequent controversy about the study.
Iraqi civilians have suffered the bulk of fatalities in this conflict. Estimates of Iraqi civilian casualties are highly disputed.[92][93] It is difficult for most estimates of Iraqi casualties to separate civilian from combatant casualties. Various estimates are discussed below, and elsewhere in this article. See also the section on total Iraqi casualties. In December 2007, the Iraqi government reported that there were 5 million orphans in Iraq - almost half of the country's children.[1][2]
For the major combat phase of the war from March–April 2003, Abu Dhabi TV reported on April 8, 2003 that Iraqi sources had claimed that 1,252 civilians had been killed and 5,103 had been wounded. The Iraq Body Count project, incorporating subsequent reports, has reported that by the end of the major combat phase up to April 30, 2003, 7,299 civilians had been killed, primarily by US air and ground forces.[66]
A study by an Iraqi political party, the "People's Kifah, or Struggle Against Hegemony," (PK) reported the findings of a survey it conducted between March and June 2003 throughout the non-Kurdish areas of Iraq. They tallied 36,533 civilians killed in those areas by June 2003. Information on this study was first published on the website of retired Wall Street Journal reporter Jude Wanniski in August 2003.[94] While detailed town-by-town totals are given by the PK spokesperson, details of methodology are very thin and raw data is not in the public domain. A still less detailed report on this study appeared some months later in Al Jazeerah.[95] The Al Jazeera report claims the study covered up to October 2003, but this can not be accurate, as the exact same figures were already published on the Wanniski website in August 2003.
Note that both the IBC below and PK above define the word civilian to exclude the various paramilitary forces operating in Iraq as well as the official military forces that existed under Saddam Hussein's regime.
An independent UK/US group, the Iraq Body Count project (IBC), compiles reported Iraqi civilian deaths resulting from the invasion and occupation, including those caused directly by coalition military action, those caused directly by the Iraqi insurgency, and those resulting from excess crime (the Iraqi Body Count project asserts that the Occupying Authority is responsible to prevent these deaths under international law). It shows a minimum of 92,489 and a maximum of 100,971 as of 10 June 2009.[6]
This total represents civilian deaths that have been reported by media organizations, NGO-based reports, and official records.[7] The IBC has been criticized by some who believe it counts only a small percentage of the number of actual deaths because it only includes deaths reported by respected media agencies.[18][96] IBC Director John Sloboda has stated, "We've always said our work is an undercount, you can't possibly expect that a media-based analysis will get all the deaths."[97] However, the IBC rejects many of these criticisms as exaggerated or misinformed.[98]
Here are the yearly IBC civilian death totals[6] (as of 10 June 2009):
| Year | Dates | Civilian deaths |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003 | 12,049 |
| 2 | 2004 | 10,751 |
| 3 | 2005 | 14,832 |
| 4 | 2006 | 27,652 |
| 5 | 2007 | 24,522 |
| 6 | 2008 | 9,214 |
| 7 | 2009 | 1,951 |
Concerning the yearly totals IBC states: "All figures are taken from the “maximum” confirmed deaths in the IBC database. However, IBC’s rates and counts will rise over the coming months, as data is still being added to the IBC database for 2006 and other periods covered here."[99]
The IBC released a report detailing the deaths it recorded between March 2003 and March 2005[66] in which it recorded 24,865 civilian deaths. The report says the US and its allies were responsible for the largest share (37%) of the 24,865 deaths. The remaining deaths were attributed to anti-occupations forces (9%), crime (36%) and unknown agents (11%). It also lists the primary sources used by the media: mortuaries, medics, Iraqi officials, eyewitnesses, police, relatives, US-Coalition, journalists, NGOs, friends/Associates, other.
As of November 4, 2006, the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.[54]
As of 2007 more Iraqis have lost their homes and become refugees than the population of any other country. Over 3.9 million people, close to 16% of the Iraqi population, have become uprooted. Of these, around 2 million have fled Iraq and flooded other countries, and 1.9 million are estimated to be refugees inside Iraq.[100]
Roughly 40 percent of Iraq's middle class is believed to have fled, the U.N. said. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return. All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted by militias, insurgents and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of 2006, according to Human Rights Watch, and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been killed and 250 kidnapped since the 2003 U.S. invasion.[101]
Project Censored cites the large number of Iraqi refugees as additional support of their argument that the number of Iraqi casualties is much larger than generally addressed in the mainstream media.[4]
A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the United States.[102] As a result of growing international pressure, on June 1, 2007 the Bush administration said it was ready to admit 7,000 Iraqi refugees who had helped the coalition since the invasion. According to Washington-based Refugees International the U.S. has admitted fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees since the invasion, Sweden had accepted 18,000, and Australia had resettled almost 6,000.[103]
Through September 22, 2007, approximately 19,429 insurgents/militia were reported to have been killed according to the U.S. military, including 1,310 suicide bombers.[104] An additional 1,865 insurgents were reported killed, including 79 suicide bombers, in the rest of 2007.[105] It should be noted that 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.[106] In 2008, 2,028 insurgents were killed, including 257 suicide bombers.[107] And in January through May and July through December 2009, 453 insurgents were killed, including suicide bombers, according to the Iraqi Defence Ministry.[108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118]
U.S. military and Iraqi Defence Ministry provided numbers, including suicide bombers
In addition as of August 22, 2009, approximately 1,719 suicide-bombers have also been reported killed, see full list.
Grand total: 22,313-23,826 insurgent dead
On September 28, 2006, an Al Qaeda leader claimed that 4,000 foreign insurgents have been killed in the war.[130]
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.[131]
Insurgent deaths, like civilian deaths, are hard to count or estimate. See:[132][133]
See also the examples of undercounting shown in the following sections.
The Lancet surveys did not ask respondents if the dead they were reporting were combatants or not.
As of January 2010 55,000 Insurgents were reported killed in Iraq. [134]
There are various estimates for the number of Iraqi police and military killed. See the overview section higher up for the latest numbers for Iraqi Security Force (ISF) casualties. See also this comprehensive list: List of Iraqi security forces fatality reports in Iraq.
The "Iraq Index" of the Brookings Institution keeps a running total of Iraqi Security Force (ISF) casualties.[25]
There is also a breakdown of ISF casualties at the icasualties.org site.[135]
Most studies estimating the casualties due to the war in Iraq acknowledge various reasons why the estimates and counts may be low.
On February 24, 2009 Morning Edition discussed what a Baghdad central morgue statistics office worker reported to them:
the number of deaths the morgue registers never corresponds with numbers from the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Interior. "They do it on purpose," he says. "I would go home and look at the news. The ministry would say 10 people got killed all over Iraq, while I had received in that day more than 50 dead bodies just in Baghdad. It's always been like that — they would say one thing but the reality was much worse."[136]
A January 10, 2008 Washington Post article reported: "Previous research has shown that household surveys typically miss 30 to 50 percent of deaths. One reason is that some families that have suffered violent deaths leave the survey area. ... Some people are kidnapped and disappear, and others turn up months or years later in mass graves. Some are buried or otherwise disposed of without being recorded. In particularly violent areas, local governments have effectively ceased to function, and there are ineffective channels for collecting and passing information between hospitals, morgues and the central government."[13]
On November 10, 2006 The Washington Post reported: "Accurate figures on the number of people who have died in the Iraq conflict have long been the subject of debate. Police and hospitals often give widely conflicting figures of those killed in major bombings. In addition, death figures are reported through multiple channels by government agencies that function with varying efficiency."[86]
The October 2006 Lancet study[20][21] states: "Aside from Bosnia, we can find no conflict situation where passive surveillance [used by the IBC] recorded more than 20% of the deaths measured by population-based methods [used in the Lancet studies]. In several outbreaks, disease and death recorded by facility-based methods underestimated events by a factor of ten or more when compared with population-based estimates. Between 1960 and 1990, newspaper accounts of political deaths in Guatemala correctly reported over 50% of deaths in years of low violence but less than 5% in years of highest violence."[20] The report describes no other specific examples except for this study of Guatemala.
The Lancet reference used is to Patrick Ball, Paul Kobrak, and Herbert F. Spirer and their 1999 book, State Violence in Guatemala, 1960-1996: A Quantitative Reflection.[137] From the introduction:
They report in chapter 7:[138]
But they reported that in later, more violent years:
There is a list[139] of figures, tables, and charts in the book that can be used to calculate what percentage of the deaths were reported by the 13 Guatemalan newspapers for each year when compared to testimonies of witnesses compiled by popular organizations.
Juan Cole wrote in an October 11, 2006 article[93]: "There is heavy fighting almost every day at Ramadi in al-Anbar province, among guerrillas, townspeople, tribes, Marines and Iraqi police and army. We almost never get a report of these skirmishes and we almost never are told about Iraqi casualties in Ramadi."
A July 28, 2004 article by The Independent[140] reports that "some families bury their dead without notifying the authorities."
Stephen Soldz, who runs the website "Iraq Occupation and Resistance Report", wrote in a February 5, 2006 article:[141] "Of course, in conditions of active rebellion, the safer areas accessible to Western reporters are likely to be those under US/Coalition control, where deaths are, in turn, likely to be due to insurgent attacks. Areas of insurgent control, which are likely to be subject to US and Iraqi government attack, for example most of Anbar province, are simply off-limits to these reporters. Thus, the realities of reporting imply that reporters will be witness to a larger fraction of deaths due to insurgents and a lesser proportion of deaths due to US and Iraqi government forces."
A June 25, 2006 Los Angeles Times article[74] reports: "Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths. ... The [Los Angeles] Times attempted to reach a comprehensive figure by obtaining statistics from the Baghdad morgue and the Health Ministry and checking those numbers against a sampling of local health departments for possible undercounts."
An October 19, 2006 Washington Post article[87] reports: "The deaths reported by officials and published in the news media represent only a fraction of the thousands of mutilated bodies winding up in Baghdad's overcrowded morgue each month. ... Bodies are increasingly being dumped in and around Baghdad in fields staked out by individual Shiite militias and Sunni insurgent groups. Iraqi security forces often refuse to go to the dumping grounds, leaving the precise number of bodies in those sites unknown. Civilian deaths, unlike those of American troops, often go unrecorded."
On October 11, 2006 Middle East Professor Juan Cole noted:
"But last May [2006], the government authorities in Basra came out and admitted that security had collapsed in the city and that for the previous month, one person had been assassinated every hour. Now, that is 24 dead a day, just from political assassination. Apparently these persons were being killed in faction fighting among Shiite militias and Marsh Arab tribes. We never saw any of those 24 deaths a day reported in the Western press. And we never see any deaths from Basra reported in the wire services on a daily basis even now. Has security improved since May? No one seems even to be reporting on it, yes or no."[93]
The Australian reports in a January 2, 2007 article[73] that Iraqi government casualty estimates include "people killed in bombings and shootings but not deaths classed as 'criminal'." Also, they "include no deaths among the many civilians wounded in attacks who may die later from wounds. Nor do they include many people kidnapped whose fate remains unknown."
In a November 7, 2004 press release[142] concerning the October 2004 Lancet study the Iraq Body Count project (IBC) states: "We have always been quite explicit that our own total is certain to be an underestimate of the true position, because of gaps in reporting or recording".
One of the sources used by the media are morgues. Only the central Baghdad area morgue has released figures consistently. While that is the largest morgue in Iraq and in the most consistently violent area, the absence of comprehensive morgue figures elsewhere leads to undercounting. IBC makes it clear that, due to these issues, its count will almost certainly be below the full toll in its 'Quick FAQ' on its homepage.
Quote from an IBC note:[143] "The Iraq Body Count (IBC) estimate for x350, like that for x334, was made possible by examination of the detailed data supplied to the Associated Press (AP) by the morgues surveyed in AP's 23rd May 2004 survey of Iraqi morgues."
That May 23, 2004 Associated Press article[144] points out the lack of morgue data from many areas of Iraq. Also, it states: "The [Baghdad] figure does not include most people killed in big terrorist bombings, Hassan said. The cause of death in such cases is obvious so bodies are usually not taken to the morgue, but given directly to victims' families. Also, the bodies of killed fighters from groups like the al-Mahdi Army are rarely taken to morgues."
An April 2005 article by The Independent[145] reports:
The December 2006 report of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) found that the United States has filtered out reports of violence in order to disguise its policy failings in Iraq.[146] A December 7, 2006 McClatchy Newspapers article[146] reports that the ISG found that U.S. officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence on one day in July 2006, yet "a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light more than 1,100 acts of violence." The article further reports:
From the ISG report itself: "A murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the source of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the database. A roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count."[146]
According to Project Censored, the undercounting and underreporting of Iraqi casualties has led to a widespread belief among the United States public that very few Iraqis have been killed, with an average "estimate" of under 10,000 reported by an Associated Press poll in February, 2007.[4] This survey was, itself, not reported in the mass media, even by the Associated Press.
In May 2004 the Associated Press completed a survey[144] of the morgues in Baghdad and surrounding provinces. The survey tallied violent deaths from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, through April 30, 2004.
From the AP article:
Accidental trauma deaths from car accidents, falls, etc. are not included in the numbers. The article reports that the numbers translate to 76 killings per 100,000 people in Baghdad, compared to 39 in crime-ridden Bogotá, Colombia, 7.5 in New York City, and 2.4 in neighboring Jordan. The article states that there were 3.0 killings per 100,000 people in Baghdad in 2002 (the year before the war).
Morgues surveyed in other parts of Iraq also reported large increases in the number of homicides. Karbala, south of Baghdad, increased from an average of one homicide per month in 2002 to an average of 55 per month in the year following the invasion; in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, where there were no homicides in 2002, the rate had grown to an average of 17 per month; in the northern province of Kirkuk, the rate had increased from 3 per month in 2002 to 34 per month in the survey period.[144]
Many non-combatants from both coalition and non-coalition countries have also been killed or wounded, including journalists and international aid personnel and foreign civilians. See the main overview chart at the top for numbers and more info.
| Coalition deaths by country
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For the latest casualty numbers see the overview chart at the top of the page. See also the icasualties.org site:[33] or the Iraq Page.[6]
Since the official handover of power to the Iraq interim government on June 28, 2004, coalition soldiers have continued to come under attack in towns across Iraq.
National Public Radio, iCasualties.org, and GlobalSecurity.org have month-by-month charts of American troop deaths in the Iraq War.[3][147][148]
British Casualty Monitor has a fortnightly updated graphical analysis of British casualties.[149]
The combined total of coalition and contractor casualties in the conflict is now over ten times that of the 1990-1991 Gulf War. In the Gulf War, coalition forces suffered around 378 deaths, and among the Iraqi military, tens of thousands were killed, along with thousands of civilians.
See the overview chart at the top of the page for recent numbers.
On August 29, 2006 The Christian Science Monitor reported:[150] "Because of new body armor and advances in military medicine, for example, the ratio of combat-zone deaths to those wounded has dropped from 24 percent in Vietnam to 13 percent in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, the numbers of those killed as a percentage of overall casualties is lower."
Many U.S. veterans of the Iraq War have reported a range of serious health issues, including tumors, daily blood in urine and stool, sexual dysfunction, migraines, frequent muscle spasms, and other symptoms similar to the debilitating symptoms of "Gulf War syndrome" reported by many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, which some believe is related to the United States' use of radioactive depleted uranium.[151]
A study[152] of U.S. veterans published in July 2004 in The New England Journal of Medicine on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that 5 to 9.4% (depending on the strictness of the PTSD definition used) suffered from PTSD before deployment. After deployment 6.2 to 19.9% suffered from PTSD. For the broad definition of PTSD that represents an increase of 10.5% (19.9 - 9.4% = 10.5%). That is 10,500 additional cases of PTSD for every 100,000 U.S. troops after they have served in Iraq. ePluribus Media, an independent citizen journalism collective, is tracking and cataloging press-reported possible, probable, or confirmed incidents of post-deployment or combat-zone cases in its PTSD Timeline.[153]
Information on injuries suffered by troops of other coalition countries is less readily available, but a statement in Hansard indicated that 2,703 UK soldiers had been medically evacuated from Iraq for wounds or injuries as of October 4, 2004 and that 155 UK troops were wounded in combat in the initial invasion.[154]
Leishmaniasis has been reported by U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, including visceral leishmaniasis. The number of those who may become infected could reach 750 to 1,250 or even more, what made up to nearly 1% of U.S. troops serving in Iraq in 2003-2004.[155]
As of August 2008, Sixteen American troops have died from accidental electrocutions in Iraq according to the Defense Department.[156] One soldier had been electrocuted in a shower, while another had been electrocuted in a swimming pool. KBR the contractor responsible, had been warned by employees of unsafe practices, and has been criticised following the revelations.[157]
Ted Koppel, host of ABC's Nightline, devoted his entire show on April 30, 2004, to reading the names of 721 of the 737 U.S. troops who had died thus far. He did not mention deaths in Afghanistan. (The show hadn't been able to confirm the remaining 16 names.)
Claiming that this would constitute a political statement, the Sinclair Broadcast Group took the action of barring the seven ABC-affiliated stations it controls from airing the show. The decision to censor the broadcast drew criticism from both sides, including members of the armed forces, opponents of the war, MoveOn.org, and most notably Republican Senator John McCain, who denounced the move as "unpatriotic" and "a gross disservice to the public"
As of January 18, 2007, there were at least 500 American amputees due to the Iraq War. According to a Time magazine article, the 500th victim was a 24-year-old corporal, who lost both legs in a roadside bomb explosion on January 12, 2007. He was cared for at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and then was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The article reports: "The 500 major amputations — toes and fingers aren't counted — represent 2.2% of the 22,700 U.S. troops wounded in action. But the number rises to 5% in the category of soldiers whose wounds prevent them returning to duty."[50]
However, in a presentation given by Dean Kamen at a TED (conference) in March 2008, Dean reports that a senior DoD official disclosed that "1,600 of the kids we've sent out have come back missing at least one full arm. Whole arm. Shoulder disartic..."[158]
A Mar. 2009 article in USA Today[159] reported that according to a Pentagon estimate, as many as 360,000 U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts may have suffered TBIs, including 45,000 to 90,000 veterans with persistent symptoms requiring specialized care. (A separate estimate for the Iraq conflict alone was not specified.)
A Feb. 2007 article[160] by Discover magazine, titled "Dead Men Walking. What sort of future do brain-injured Iraq veterans face?", reports: "One expert from the VA estimates the number of undiagnosed TBIs at over 7,500. Nearly 2,000 brain-injured soldiers have already received some level of care, ..."
USA Today reported in November 2007:
At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by USA TODAY.
The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.[161]
A top Army psychiatrist, Colonel Charles Hoge, told Congress in March 2008 that nearly 30% of troops on their third deployment suffer from serious mental health problems, and that one year was not enough time between combat tours.[162]
A March 12, 2007 Time magazine article[163] reported on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. About one third of the 103,788 veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seen at Veterans Affairs facilities between September 30, 2001 and September 30, 2005 were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder, such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. More than half of those diagnosed, 56%, were suffering from more than one disorder. The most common combination was post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
In January 2008 the U.S. Army reported that the rate of suicide among soldiers in 2007 was the highest since the Army started counting in 1980. There were 121 suicides in 2007, a 20% jump over the prior year. Also, there were around 2100 attempted suicides and self-injuries in 2007.[164]
Time magazine reported on June 5, 2008:
Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. ... About a third of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq say they can't see a mental-health professional when they need to. When the number of troops in Iraq surged by 30,000 last year, the number of Army mental-health workers remained the same — about 200 — making counseling and care even tougher to get.[162]
In the same article Time also reported on some of the reasons for the prescription drug use:
That imbalance between seeing the price of war up close and yet not feeling able to do much about it, the survey suggests, contributes to feelings of "intense fear, helplessness or horror" that plant the seeds of mental distress. "A friend was liquefied in the driver's position on a tank, and I saw everything," was a typical comment. Another: "A huge f______ bomb blew my friend's head off like 50 meters from me." Such indelible scenes — and wondering when and where the next one will happen — are driving thousands of soldiers to take antidepressants, military psychiatrists say. It's not hard to imagine why.[162]
Concern has been expressed by mental health professionals about the effects on the emotional health and development of returning veterans' infants and children, due to the increased rates of interpersonal violence, posttraumatic stress, depression, and substance abuse that have been reported among these veterans.[165][166] Moreover, the stressful effects of physical casualties and loss pose enormous stress for the primary caregiver that can adversely affect her or his parenting, as well as the couple's children directly.[167] The mental health needs of military families in the aftermath of combat exposure and other war-related trauma have been thought likely to be inadequately addressed by the military health system that separates mental health care of the returning soldier from his or her family's care, the latter of whom is generally covered under a contracted, civilian managed care system.[168]
(Additional links not found in the 2 reference sections higher up.)
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