I recently told someone she was correct to claim tens of thousands of American deaths and injuries were caused by the Iraq War; however, this leaves out total deaths and injuries, including Iraqi citizens and a large number of injuries suffered by both Iraqis and Americans.
An estimate by the prestigious British polling agency Opinions Research Business concluded that from March 2003 to August 2007 the total number of Iraqi deaths was 1,033,000. Obviously this doesn't include records from 2007 to 2013. The medical journal, the Lancet, puts Iraqi deaths at 600,000, covering the war only up to July 2006. Obviously, including the years following would increase these figures dramatically.
Pentagon estimates were 4,487 dead and 32,226 Americans wounded. But these figures are derived from a very narrowly tailored category, including only combat injuries caused by "external agents or causes." This figure excludes "combat fatigue," a term referring to physiological and psychological trauma. So the Pentagon's own estimate of brain injuries often caused by improvised explosive devices includes mild to severe brain injuries numbering 229,106 as of 2011. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that up to 480,000 Iraq veterans were injured, suffering conditions of "altered mental status."
Different methodologies and periods of time make exact figures hard to confirm. But hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries, including to Iraqi citizens, occurred during the war. That's 10 times greater than that reported in U.S. media.
So add some perspective when you hear Republicans scream about President Barack Obama's lie. President George W. Bush's lie about weapons of mass destruction killed or injured probably more than 1 million American and Iraq soldiers and civilians.
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No doubt Obama lied, but hearing two-faced Republicans self-righteously denounce him is as obscene as Bush's original lie about an unneeded pre-
emptive strike in Iraq.
Peter W. Johnson
Superior
