Wednesday, October 26, 2005

From The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Who are the dead of Operation Iraqi Freedom? How did they die? Like the rest of America, they are a diverse group. A numerical portrait of U.S. military members who have died so far in the war in Iraq:

Number who died since major combat ended April 30, 2003: 1,846.

Percent who died since major combat ended: 93.

Number lost in November 2004, the month with the most deaths: 137.

Percent of the dead who were in the Army: 68.

Percent in the Air Force: 1.

Percent in the National Guard or Reserves: 25.

Percent who died in three Iraqi provinces with mostly Sunni Muslims, the branch of Islam to which Saddam Hussein belongs: 53.

Percent who died outside military action: 23.

Percent who died in accidents on land: 12.

Number who died of illness: 9.

Number of friendly fire deaths confirmed by the Department of Defense: 4.

Number killed in rifle and grenade attack by fellow soldier at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait: 2.

Number of commanders killed in so-called fragging attack — by a soldier on a superior — at a camp outside Baghdad: 2.

Percent who were officers: 10.

Number older than 45 years: 30.

Number who were age 18: 20.

Number of women: 44.

Percent of the dead who were women: 2.

Percent who were Hispanic: 11.

Percent who belonged to a minority group: 25.

Number from California, the most of any state: 215.

Number from Alaska, least of any state: 4.

Number from Texas: 174.

Number from New York state: 92.

Number from Puerto Rico: 16.

Percent from the South: 38.

Percent from the Northeast: 16.

Number of foreign citizens: 76.

Number from Mexico, the country with the most foreign citizens: 27

Number identified by the Defense Department who were awarded posthumous citizenship: 24.

Number who died after five years or more in military service: 568.

Number who died within first three months of their tour of duty: 925.

Percent of total dead who were married: 40.

Percent with children: 30.

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NOTE ON NUMBERS: The numbers are based on counts by the Department of Defense and Associated Press. Most items are based on 1,985 deaths tallied by the DOD as of Oct. 25. The AP's count, which includes deaths reported by news staff in Iraq, has been consistently somewhat ahead of the DOD's. The percentages for minorities were last updated Oct. 15, and the number of foreign citizens was updated Sept. 3. The numbers for marital and parental status, as well as when killed during tour of duty and military service, include 245 deaths in Afghan operations that cannot be separated out.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

But major fighting is over and mission accomplished, right? And we still have no plan to get out of there.

Anonymous said...

How many people died on our hiways over the last 2 years? Where is our plan to eliminate those deaths?

Anonymous said...

Anon, you're not comparing apples to apples. I ask what is the plan to get out of there, not to eliminate deaths. Bush said himself that major fighting is over and mission accomplished. Isn't that the goal of any war? After you get your mission accomplished, why are you still there?

A lot of deaths on the highways are due to dumbasses, so are you saying Bush is a dumbass? Because he is the commander in chief that sent these soilders over there.

Anonymous said...

Would you rather fight them over here>?

Anonymous said...

We went into Iraq to throw our weight around, I'm surprised we havn't had to fight anyone over here. I would understand if some Iraqi came over and started fighting. It's no different than what we did.

No one complains about the war in Afghanistan. They attacked us and we went to fight them. That's usually how war works. Everybody I know was behind that. If the first Bush would have taken care of this, we probably wouldn't be having this discusion. They lied and concocted a story to get us into Iraq and now we have no plan to get out. We're going to be there a long time.

What's your answer to get out? We've gotten rid of Saddam and got them a constitution what else is there to do? I ask that question knowing you just can't pack up and leave but still there is no exit plan.