Iraq Scorecard: The War So Far

DAVID WOOD

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Wars are inherently chaotic and confusing, and judging the outcome so far of the war in Iraq is doubly difficult. The formal end of the U.S. combat role there, and the drawdown of U.S. troops to below 50,000, have unleashed a flood of emotional reaction, and President Obama's speech this evening should provoke even more debate about the cause, conduct and consequences of the U.S. invasion in 2003. Here are some data points to guide the debate. Most are from the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index; the statistics on American battle wounded and evacuees are from the Veterans for Common Sense, and the Congressional budget Office. Check back at 8pm Tuesday and click play below to watch an accompanying live stream of the speech. Cost: $708 billion Number of Weapons of Mass Destruction found: 0 American battle dead 2003: 486 2004: 849 2005: 846 2006: 822 2007: 904 2008: 314 2009: 149 2010: 46 Among American troops killed in action, as of July 31, 2010: 1,282 were under 22 years of age 3,287: White 428: African American 466: Hispanic or Latino U.S. troops evacuated from Iraq due to wounds, injuries or disease: 38,845 Iraqi civilians killed 2003-2010: 112,625 (est.) Iraqi security forces on duty, 2010: 664,000 Iraqi soldiers and police killed in action 2005: 2,545 2006: 2,091 2007: 1,830 2008: 1,070

2009: 515 2010: 313 (through Aug. 1) Victims of multiple-fatality bombings, since January 2007 Total dead: 10,979 Of which: 4,464 were Shiites 1,268: Sunnis 846: Kurds 2,599: unknown or independent Iraqi security forces: 1,325 U.S./Coalition: 253 Journalists killed in Iraq: Iraqi, 119 Other: 22 High point of U.S. troops in Iraq, Oct. 2007: 171,000 When President Obama took office: 142,000 Today: 47,500 Iraqis living abroad: 2 million Iraqi refugees and displaced persons who have returned to Iraq: 275,350 Iraq's rank, Political Freedom Index, among 20 nations in the Middle East: 4 (after Israel, Lebanon and Morocco) Number of Iraqi political parties: Pre-war: 1 March 2010: 86

Oil Production, in millions of barrels per day: Pre-war: 2.5 Aug. 2010: 2.31 Revenue from oil exports, 2010: $26.2 billion

Telephone subscribers: Pre-war: 833,000 Jan. 2010: 20.8 million (includes 19.5 million cell phones)

Number of physicians in Iraq: Pre-war: 34,000 Fled since 2003: 20,000 Numbered murdered since 2003: 2,000 (est.)

Number working in Iraq, Dec., 2008: 16,000 Public mood: percent who say things are getting better: 51 percent Iraqis who feel "very safe'' in their neighborhoods March 2007: 26 percent Feb. 2009: 59 percent
Filed Under: Iraq Tagged: Iraq war casualties, Iraq war civilian deaths, iraq war cost, Iraq war troops, Obama Iraq speech

I was looking all over the web trying to find a good war statistics page. A good amount of them were just general numbers. Then I was reading this one and went to check the listed sites where he got his stats from: Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, Veterans for Common Sense, and the Congressional Budget Office. There is only one of the listings that are still open- the Congressional Budget Office (http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/01-26outlook.pdf). Scanning through that site, I couldnt find any of these stats he used. It gave me a laugh. If these stats (i.e. Iraqi civilians killed, Telephone subscribers, ECT.) were true, why not have TRUE sites listed. I do know that sites are closed for no reason a good number of times. BUT, the Congressional site is open with no listings I could find. The total deaths of the Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds are nothing but guesses in my book. There were two listings online with this data. Both of which are from the only one person, David Wood. He did pretty well on his writing showing that the American battle dead has declined, but there is no listing about these stats anywhere online. I think he found one small listing and changed it slightly for his article. The best place I found was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War The statistics are totally off with their listings. Although they did well by listing all SIX of their sources with different numbers! The long and short of it for me is that he tried to show things from him that might help everyone reading his posts. He should have used another listing of sources though. These 6 listings arent even CLOSE to his statistics or him. I think that David Wood, Chief Military Correspondent, is one of the worst writers using stats.(1) Makes me think that writing and statistics are hand-in-hand.