Americans Underestimate the Number of Iraqis Killed in War

An interesting survey reported by the Associated Press in the article linked to in this entry's title shows that while Americans are pretty well informed about the number of Americans killed in Iraq, they are not nearly as well informed about the number of Iraqis killed. The survey also shows that younger people are much more likely to know someone who died in this war than older people. It is a pretty interesting article.

Over 700 American Civilians Have Died in Iraq

When we talk about American deaths in Iraq, we almost always talk about military deaths. This past week a family in Ohio lost their daughter in Iraq. She was working for an organization headed by former American Secretary of State Albright that promotes democracy. She was killed along with three other workers from that organization. By clicking on this entry's title you can read an article about an American family that lost a son in Iraq who was a civilian contractor. That article mentions that over 700 American civilian contractors have died in Iraq and over 3000 have been wounded. (Those figures are based on insurance claims that have been filed with the U.S. Defense Department.)

If you add in those causalities, then close to 30,000 Americans have been killed or wounded in Iraq. Most of these deaths have come after Bush had his "Mission Accomplished" photo-op opportunity back in May of 2003. Which, of course, brings up the question: Mr. President, if the mission was accomplished, then why are we still losing Americans in Iraq?