War Room - Salon.com

Tuesday, Apr 20, 2004 08:56 EDT

Iraq by the numbers

By Geraldine Sealey

The Pentagon doesn't like publicizing tallies of the dead and wounded in Iraq much, or generally offering statistics regarding military action there, so Newsweek adds up the depressing toll in the latest issue.

"150,000. The estimated number of all coalition forces in Iraq, of which about 124,000 are Americans and 26,000 are others.

20,000. The number of U.S. troops who are being told this week that they'll have to stay in Iraq another 90 days.

8,875 to 10,725. The minimum and maximum estimates of the number of Iraqi civilians killed in Iraq so far, according to IraqBodyCount.org, an organization of British and American academics. Other groups have even higher estimates.

3,466. The total of American soldiers wounded in action in Iraq through April 17, 2004, according to the Pentagon. There's a lot of controversy about these figures, which do not include many minor wounds, although they do include some soldiers who are wounded and returned to duty. Other estimates of wounded American soldiers range as high as 15,000.

793. Total coalition soldiers killed in Iraq since the war began, according to the U.S. Armys Central Command, as of April 17, 2004. Of those, 579 were killed in action. 690 of the dead are American soldiers of which 501 are officially listed as KIA or hostile action. Besides the Americans, soldiers from El Salvador, Thailand, Spain, Italy, Britain, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Denmark and Bulgaria have lost their lives."