By: john w.

919,967

At least 919,967 people have

been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq

since the U.S. and coalition attacks, based on lowest credible estimates.

Afghanistanbodycount.org

About 303 times as many people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq than in the ghastly attacks of September 11, 2001.

Casualties in Afghanistan:

Afghan troops killed [1] 8,587

Afghan troops seriously injured [2] 25,761

Afghan civilians killed [3] 8,813

Afghan civilians seriously injured [4] 15,863

U.S. troops killed [5] 1,140

U.S. troops seriously injured [6] 3,420

Other coalition troops killed [7] 772

Other coalition troops seriously injured [8] 2,316

Contractors killed [9] 298

Contractors seriously injured [10] 2,428

Journalists killed [11] 19

Journalists seriously injured [12] unknown

Total killed in Afghanistan 19,629

Total injured in Afghanistan 48,644

Casualties in Iraq:

Iraqi troops killed [13] 30,000

Iraqi troops seriously injured [14] 90,000

Iraqi civilians killed [15] 864,531

Iraqi civilians seriously injured [16] 1,556,156

U.S. troops killed [17] 4,414

U.S. troops seriously injured [18] 31,882

Other coalition troops killed [19] 318

Other coalition troops seriously injured [20] 2,296

Contractors killed [21] 933

Contractors seriously injured [22] 10,569

Journalists killed [23] 142

Journalists seriously injured [24] unknown

Total killed in Iraq 900,338

Total injured in Iraq 1,690,903

More than 130 times as many people have been killed in these wars and occupations than in all terrorist attacks in the world from 1993-2004, according to data compiled by the US State Department. More recent figures are un-available — after the 2004 report showed terrorism at an all-time high, numerous experts suggested that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were fueling an increase in terrorism, and subsequent State Dept terror tallies have remained classified.

Why does Iraq Body Count

report a much lower number?

• From the start of the Iraq invasion and occupation, an organization called Iraq Body Count (IBC) has offered its tallies of the announced civilian death toll in Iraq.

Offering their JavaScript box to other websites, the IBC tallies quickly became ubiquitous on the web, and IBC's numbers have come to be seen as "the responsible standard" in death counts. But IBC's methodology delivers numbers that are implausibly low.

Where a credible estimate can't be found, we use the available data to make our own estimate, and explain our math.

[1] Afghan troops killed: Based on estimate and tracking by Mark Herold, Ph.D at the University of New Hampshire, as detailed at his website. Dr. Herold's count is 8,587, and ended in July 2004.

[2] Afghan troops seriously injured: Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 3:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for troops during wartime.

[3] Afghan civilians killed: Based on estimate and tracking by Dr. Herold, as detailed at his website. For casualties since Dr. Herold's last update in July 2004, we've made a crude guess based on the average of 72 monthly deaths Dr. Herold recorded among Afghan civilians during 2004's first seven months.

Deaths among Taliban fighters and Taliban affiliates are included in Afghan civilian casualties, because there is no relaible way to separately tally Taliban deaths and Afghan civilian deaths. American media seems to believe press releases from the US military which routinely conclude that almost all Afghans killed in any incident were Taliban operatives, but sadly, after too many misleading press releases from US military officials we can't consider such claims plausible.

We are aware, of course, that the battlefields of Afghanistan have become increasingly violent under the Obama administration, as Barack Obama's "change", insofar as Afghanistan is concerned, has meant increasing the American military presence and engagement in Afghanistan.

Thus our continued reliance on Dr Herold's work from an earlier era means that this page's approximation of casualties among Afghan civilians is an under-estimate. Until there's an impartial, fact-based assessment of the current carnage in Afghanistan, the number of dead and injured Afghan civilians presented on this page almost certainly falls farther behind the actual casualties with every update we post.

[4] Afghan civilians seriously injured: Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 1.8:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for civilians during wartime.

[5] U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan: US military deaths in Afghanistan are announced by US Department of Defense and CENTCOM, and tallied at Wikipedia, which notes that "the American figure is for deaths 'In and Around Afghanistan' which, as defined by the U.S. Department of Defense, includes some deaths in Pakistan and Uzbekistan, the death of a DoD civilian employee, and the deaths of four CIA operatives."

[6] U.S. troops seriously injured in Afghanistan: To the best of our knowledge, this data is not publicly tracked (if you know a reliable source for this information, please let us know). Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 3:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for troops.

[7] Other coalition troops killed in Afghanistan: Coalition military deaths in Afghanistan are announced by US Department of Defense and CENTCOM, and tallied at Wikipedia.

[8] Other coalition troops seriously injured in Afghanistan: To the best of our knowledge, this data is not publicly tracked (if you know a reliable source for this information, please let us know). Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 3:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for troops.

[9] Contractors killed in Afghanistan: A December 2009 report from the US Department of Labor cited 298 Amerivcan contractors and mercenaries killed in Afghanistan.

[10] Contractors seriously injured in Afghanistan: Based on this July 2007 Reuters article, which cites US Department of Labor statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, 2,428 private contractors had been seriously wounded in Afghanistan from the beginning of hostilities in 2001 through July 2007.

[11] Journalists killed in Afghanistan: Reporters' deaths are tracked by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

[12] Journalists seriously injured in Afghanistan: To the best of our knowledge, this data is not publicly tracked (if you know a reliable source for this information, please let us know).

[13] Iraqi troops killed: Based on an estimate of 30,000 deaths, offered by US Gen. Tommy Franks, cited by the Washington Post on Oct. 23, 2003. No estimate has been made publicly since that time.

[14] Iraqi troops seriously injured: Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 3:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for troops during wartime.

[15] Iraqi civilians killed: Based on this study [pdf], published in the British medical journal The Lancet in October 2006. The study's mid-point estimate was 654,965 deaths, and its high estimate was 942,636 deaths, but we have used the study lowest credible estimate, that at least 392,979 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the occupation, in addition to deaths expected from Iraq's normal death rate, through July 2006.

U.S. authorities, including President Bush himself, have loudly complained that the study is based on "flawed methodology" and "pretty well discredited," but that's simply untrue. The study was conducted by Johns Hopkins University, and used standard, widely accepted, peer-reviewed scientific methodology — the same methodology used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to estimate deaths from disease outbreak anywhere in the world, the same method routinely trusted by the U.S. and U.K. when counting deaths from warfare, civil unrest, and various catastrophes anywhere in the world.

Explained very briefly, Iraqi respondants in numerous randomly selected locations were asked about recent deaths in their households, and when family members were asked to show a death certificate, about 80% of the deaths they described could be so documented. Results from these interviews were extrapolated nationwide, in the same way political opinion polls extrapolate a few hundred interviews to reflect nationwide opinions. As stated above, we have used the study's lowest estimate of 392,979 deaths occurring over the first 40 months of occupation. We have then extended this rate of civilian deaths (9,824 deaths per month) over subsequent months of the occupation since the study was published.

[16] Iraqi civilians seriously injured: Posted number reflects our estimate, using a conservative, historically-based ratio of 1.8:1 (serious injuries to fatalities) for civilians during wartime.

[17] U.S. troops killed in Iraq: Based on numbers announced by US Department of Defense and CENTCOM, and tracked by the good folks at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

[18] U.S. troops seriously injured in Iraq: Based on numbers announced by US Department of Defense and CENTCOM, and tracked by the good folks at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

(According to this 2005 article by Salon reporter Mark Benjamin, an additional 25,289 service members had been evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan for injuries or illnesses, but not included in the official numbers. These injuries are not included in the numbers presented on this page.)

[19] Other coalition troops killed in Iraq: Based on numbers announced by US Department of Defense and CENTCOM, and tracked by the good folks at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

[20] Other coalition troops seriously injured in Iraq: To the best of our knowledge, this data is not publicly tracked (if you know a reliable source for this information, please let us know). Posted number reflects our estimate, assuming the same injury to death ratio suffered by American troops in the same battlefield.

[21] Contractors killed in Iraq: Based on this July 2007 Reuters article, which cites US Department of Labor statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The article reports that 933 private contractors had been killed in Iraq from the beginning of hostilities in 2001 through July 2007.

[22] Contractors seriously injured in Iraq: Based on the same article, 10,569 private contractors had been seriously wounded in Iraq from the beginning of hostilities in 2001 through July 2007.

[23] Journalists killed in Iraq: Reporters' deaths are tracked by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

[24] Journalists seriously injured in Iraq: To the best of our knowledge, this data is not publicly tracked (if you know a reliable source for this information, please let us know).

--Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News

Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.

Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with no nuttiness and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.