On the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, white and crimson flags, which represent the deaths of Americans and Iraqis, respectively, are placed in the grass quadrangle of The Valley Library. The flags were intended to “raise awareness of the human cost of the Iraq War” as part of the 20082009 traveling Iraq Body Count display (which is unrelated to the Iraq Body Count project). (May 2008)
Estimates of the number of people killed in the Iraq Conflict (which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq and continued through the occupation, insurgency, and civil war) have taken many different shapes, and they all vary substantially.
Many difficulties arise when estimating war-related fatalities.
[1]
[2] Experts distinguish between body counts, which add up reported deaths and presumably considerably underestimate mortality, and population-based analyses, which extrapolate from random samples of the community. [3] Estimates of the number of Iraq War casualties from population-based research range from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (according to the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 1,033,000 excess deaths as of 2007 (according to the Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey). According to PLOS Medicine (2013) and other survey-based research encompassing various time periods, there were 655,000 total deaths (over 90% of them violent) as of June 2006, and 461,000 total deaths (over 60% of them violent) as of June 2011. (per the 2006 Lancet study). As of April 2009, there had been at least 110,600 violent deaths recorded (Associated Press). Through February 2020, the Iraq Body Count project has recorded 185,000208,000 violent civilian deaths. All estimates of deaths during the Iraq War are in dispute. [4] [5]
In This Article...
In Vietnam, how many soldiers lost their lives?
- 114116 prisoners of war perished in captivity, while 652662 were freed or managed to escape.
The overall number of American service members who were killed in action or died in non-hostile circumstances was 50,441. 7,877 officers have lost their lives in total, including commissioned and warrant officers. The list of all fatalities is presented here, organized by race and given in decreasing order.
The overall number of deaths for both drafted and volunteer service members, including KIAs and non-hostile deaths (numbers are approximations):[85]
30 percent of injured service members during the Vietnam War passed away from their injuries.
[86] Non-combat or friendly fire deaths made up 30.35% of American casualties in the conflict; the leading causes of death in the U.S. armed forces were small arms fire (31.8%), booby traps such mines and frags (27.4%), and aircraft accidents (14.7 percent ). [87]
How many soldiers are there in Iraq?
Iraq’s Baghdad
On Thursday, the Iraqi armed forces celebrate their 101st anniversary as they begin a new chapter in their turbulent history following the formal end of American combat operations in Iraq on December 31, 2021.
The military must navigate a number of difficulties, including fending off ongoing threats from armed groups, as it attempts to protect a nation that has been ravaged by war.
The Iraqi armed forces were initially established in 1921, but have since experienced a number of challenges and bloody battles, including the Iran-Iraq War of 198088, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the Gulf War the following year, their dissolution in 2003 after the US-led invasion, and most recently the battle against the ISIL (ISIS) organization.
Although it was uncertain whether it would happen, the Iraqi government had been anticipated to organize a nationwide parade to celebrate the anniversary on Thursday. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was no celebration of the centenary last year.
The US military, which was effectively in charge of creating a new Iraqi army following the 2003 invasion, has close relations to the Iraqi armed forces.
In response to the Iraqi government’s request, the US redeployed some military personnel to Iraq in 2014 after withdrawing its soldiers in 2010. By that time, ISIL had beaten up the Iraqi military in various regions of the country and had taken over cities like Mosul.
Now that the US has completely withdrew all of its combat forces and transitioned to an advisory role, more than four years after the armed group was routed on the battlefield.
Around 2,500 US forces and another 1,000 soldiers from the coalition were stationed in Iraq at the end of last year. How many will still be in the advisory phase is unknown.
The US combat soldiers’ withdrawal is unlikely to result in significant changes to the current security state of Iraq, according to some observers, despite its ostensibly significant ramifications and the unavoidable comparison to the recent disastrous troop drawdown from Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, problems from armed groups continue to face the security forces, from keeping effective control of the border with Syria and Turkey to waging rural counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations against ISIL in high-risk regions like Kirkuk and Diyala.
For instance, ISIL has carried out a number of attacks recently in northern Iraq against civilians, federal law enforcement, and Peshmerga troops, most frequently at night and in rural regions.
Pro-Iranian groups have also been implicated by Western officials for attacks on military installations housing US servicemen.
However, save from a few protests in memory of the US-assassinated former Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and former paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis two years ago, Baghdad and the majority of the rest of Iraq have remained fairly tranquil.
According to observers, this is partly because the Iraqi military forces, including state-allied paramilitaries, have become more effective and battle-ready in recent years as it has taken the lead in the war against the ISIL group.
Rose cited the quarterly reports from the senior inspector general to the US Congress in claiming that the ISF has increased its fighting power, “especially in regard to counter-ISIS operations.
According to the most recent estimate by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in its annual global military assessment in 2020, the Iraqi armed forces now include more than 530,000 active soldiers, housing both state-mandated security forces and paramilitary formations. According to data gathered by the World Bank, the number has more than doubled since the military was rebuilt in 2014, when there were about 200,000 active members.
The elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), a division-sized entity under the command of the Iraqi minister of defense that combats “terrorism in Iraq,” will continue to get help from the US.
The coalition’s special operations adviser group provides the tiny CTS with an unmatched level of support, including training, administrative and financial procurement support, as well as dedicated intelligence and aerial support, in comparison to the larger Iraqi Security Forces.
The divides between the state’s military and paramilitary forces, according to some commentators, pose difficulties.
Along with the state-mandated army, there are paramilitary umbrella organizations Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), over which Iran claims major influence, and Peshmerga forces that answer to the northern Kurdish regional government.
The Peshmerga troops and the PMF forces were equally important in the war against ISIL.
The former was created in direct response to Saddam Hussein’s oppressive policies toward the Iraqi Kurds, while the latter swiftly came into effect after Ali al-Sistani, the Shia spiritual leader, issued a fatwa encouraging Shias to join forces with Sunnis to fight against ISIL.
The paramilitaries are posing their own threats to Iraq’s security despite their unquestionable support to the war against the group in previous years.
ISIL cells have long been able to take advantage of a void in “hot zones” like Kirkuk and Diyala due to the border issue between Baghdad and Erbil. An increase in ISIL attacks in these provinces in recent months serves as evidence of that difficulty.
Meanwhile, the expanding PMF, which is mostly Iran-loyal, has started launching attacks against the US presence and 2019’s major rallies. They’ve been charged with orchestrating a campaign of targeted killings of dissidents, journalists, and activists.
How well the central command can strike the delicate balance with both Peshmerga forces and PMF will partially determine how effective the military is at keeping Iraq secure.
Given the significant influence of Iran-aligned militias like the Popular Mobilization Forces and their control over checkpoints, highways, and facilities, Rose noted that the ISF also experiences internal autonomy struggles. This is notable in addition to the US operational role being reduced and the activity of ISIS increasing.
Apart from its interactions with paramilitary groups, the ISF faces ongoing maintenance, logistical, and intelligence-gathering difficulties and is still dependent on partner air assistance, according to experts.
Who won, North or South Vietnam?
The North Vietnamese communist government fought South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States, in the long, expensive, and contentious Vietnam War. The ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union exacerbated the issue. Over 3 million people died in the Vietnam War, more than half of whom were Vietnamese civilians (including over 58,000 Americans).
Even after President Richard Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords and ordered the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers in 1973, the American people’s opposition to the war remained deeply divided. South Vietnam was taken over by communist forces in 1975, which put an end to the war. The following year, South Vietnam was united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Which town suffered the greatest loss of life during World War Two?
BEDFORD, Va. (AP)Marguerite Cottrell recalls the summer day in 1937 when a Western Union telegram was brought to the farm where she was raised as her mother was putting clothes out to dry.
Her mother opened it, sat down, and started to cry. John Reynolds, Cottrell’s older brother, had perished during the Normandy assault on the French coast during D-Day.
Cottrell, 4, stated, “I realized something horrible had happened. She recalls her mother saying: “Well, Jack the Little has entered heaven. I have no idea what we’ll do.”
The same telegrams with the same opening line, conveying the secretary of war’s “deep regret” that a loved one was killed or missing, were distributed throughout the small town of Bedford, Virginia, which is nestled next to the Blue Ridge Mountains, that summer. Nine of them were delivered on one day.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, twenty men from Bedford or the nearby area perished. Nineteen members of Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment lost their lives while attempting to capture Omaha Beach. The 20th man worked for a separate organization.
Bedford, a community of around 4,000 people at the time of the crucial World War II invasion, suffered horribly. Its proportionate D-Day losses were among the highest of any American community.
In Iraq, how many people have American forces killed?
How many people have died and been injured in Iraq since the American invasion in 2003 is unknown with certainty. However, from the time of the invasion until October 2019, we are aware that between 184,382 and 207,156 civilians have perished as a direct result of war-related violence committed by the United States, its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and resistance forces in Iraq. Iraqi people have been violently killed by aerial bombardment, shelling, gunfire, suicide attacks, and flames set by bombing. Several bystanders have also sustained injuries.
The actual figures are probably far higher because neither the Iraqi government nor the coalition led by the United States have accurately reported all deaths associated with the war. The number of deaths among Iraqis is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands based on surveys of randomly chosen households.
As a result of the war’s indirect toll on the systems that provide food, healthcare, and clean water, more than twice as many civilians in Iraq may have perished from illnesses, infectious diseases, and starvation that may have been prevented or cured. The conflict has exacerbated the negative consequences of years of unfavorable U.S. policy measures against Iraq beginning in the 1960s, particularly economic sanctions in the 1990s that had disastrous repercussions on Iraqis.
Iraq has received more than $100 billion in relief and reconstruction, but many areas of the country still lack access to housing and clean water.
Key Findings
Since the American invasion, there have been between 184,382 and 207,156 civilian deaths in Iraq.
Unknown but probably much higher, the real number of civilians murdered in direct and indirect combat violence.
- Civilians are still losing a substantial amount of life because the infrastructure of Iraq’s healthcare system and other areas has sustained life-threatening damage.
Recommendations
- In addition to including a count of children killed, the U.S. government should make sure that civilian deaths and injuries are included in public reports of combat fatalities.
Who was the initial combatant lost in Iraq?
March 20, 2004 St. Anne, Illinois, resembles it did at this time last year in many ways. The year before that as well. The year before that as well.
Farm fields in murky brown color are prepared for planting. Rarely does a freight train that passes through the town of 1,300 disturb the peace that it is enshrouded in. In the late-winter wind, the flags and yellow ribbons fly briskly. And everyone who attends school is safe.
However, there is a noticeable change this yeara pain that persists. Even the second-graders in Deborah Cotton’s class are aware of that.
The first American fatality of the Iraq War was Marine Capt. Ryan Beaupre, a 30-year-old from the neighborhood with red hair, who St. Anne discovered early on March 21, 2003. He was on a mission to transport British special forces to seize the Iraqi oil fields when the helicopter he was co-piloting crashed in the desert, killing him.
Everyone in St. Anne who knew himbasically everyoneremembered Ryan Beaupre as a young man on a mission.
Ryan’s former teacher, Mrs. Cotton, who worked with him 25 years ago, remarked that Ryan “always seemed to have goals in his life, even at an early age.” “He was always the one to lead by example. He served as a true example for the younger children.
She thought back to a recent lesson in which she had invited her second-graders to choose a person whose life deserved to be immortalized on a postage stamp. Mrs. Cotton remarked, “I assumed I’d get the typical Abraham Lincolns, or maybe a couple Britney Spears.” “I just wanted them to choose someone they respected.”
Holly Sirois, Cassidy Stalnecker, and Destiny Torres, however, all chose Capt. Ryan Beaupre. To demonstrate how the stamp need on appear, they made images or adhered his picture to displays.
Holly, 7, stated, “He was a hero because he was rescuing our land.” I wanted he was still alive and was sorry he passed away.
Ryan Beaupre’s death was reported on the main page of their three-page weekly even a year later. His high school in nearby Kankakee had a fundraiser, which is mentioned in the current issue. In order to provide a scholarship in Ryan’s honor, Bishop McNamara High School will host the “Bash for Beaupre.”
Jason Worby, a classmate, said, “This is a manner that he can support youngsters and children that want to come to the school forever now.” “To preserve his memory alive forever is our collective goal,”
The locals claim that there is a stronger sense of community now. Perhaps a little more patriotism, but there were also some subtly expressed concerns about the war that had been brought home to them.
Ryan’s first-grade teacher, Kathy Frantz, said: “I do know that he thought it was worthwhile.” And I suppose the rest of us agree with that.
Everyone is concerned that the anniversary would just make Ryan’s parents’ home on West Station Street more depressing.
The 1930 house’s interior is being renovated with the assistance of Mark Beaupre, 57. He claims it’s therapeutic work that keeps his mind off of other things. He allowed an ABCNEWS team inside this week and showed us some of his son’s personal belongings. The last letter they received was from a buddy of Ryan who had been told to send it exclusively on the occasion of his passing. It was also accompanied with dog tags, medals, patches, and a letter.
I apologize for the suffering I have brought you as a result of this. Do not express anger toward the Marine Corps, the military, the executive branch of government, or the president. I made the decision to join the military. The president and my superior commanders were simply acting in accordance with their judgment. Accept the fact that I died doing something I genuinely loved and for a cause bigger than myself.
When I am distracted, I occasionally read the following sentence: “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The moral and patriotic state that believes that no conflict is worth fighting is considerably worse. The person is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free until made and kept free by the efforts of better men than himself. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature. Mill, John Stuart
The underlying notion is sound, however there is a little Marine Corps hubris in there.
I want you to know that my family and parents are the best I could have asked for. I’ll never forget one of my primary school buddies telling me that he would like to swap places with me if he could because of my family and home life. Thanks to you two, I genuinely believe that I have had a blessed life.
Another son and two girls are the children of Mark Beaupre and his wife, Nicky. But it’s hard to say goodbye to Ryan, a bright young man who expressed interest in attending law school, teaching, and perhaps even running for office in the future.
Mark claims that suffering has separated him from the conflict that took the lives of his son and more than 500 other American service members.
However, its effects on him and his small community are just a short stroll from his door to the cemetery where his son is currently interred.