Casualty figures for U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq are widely reported, and as of this week U.S. forces have suffered 3,362 killed and 24.314 wounded. But you don’t hear about Iraqi military and police casualties very often, both because Iraqi combat deaths don’t mean much to the average American and because Iraqis themselves, having lived with such extreme violence for so long, don’t invest much meaning in running totals. But here they are for the morbidly curious, the casualty figures for all Iraqi security forces – army, navy, air force, police and border guards – rounded to nearest thousand since March 2003, according to chief coalition trainer U.S. Army Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey:
Killed In Action: 8,000
Wounded In Action: 18,000
What do these numbers say to us? They speak to the very active role Iraqi forces play in the counter-insurgency, the extent to which insurgents target them and their “lightness” and vulnerability compared to U.S. and coalition forces. Iraqis are, frankly, easier to kill. Only recently have Iraqi forces begun to introduce up-armored and blastproof trucks of the type that U.S. forces have had for years. And during the early years of the conflict, many Iraqi units were so short of body armor that soldiers had to share vests with their squadmates, each taking turns wearing them. Also, the relatively high ratio of Iraqi killed to wounded testifies to the inferior quality of Iraqi battlefield medicine. When Iraqi units go it alone, their wounded are more likely to die than when U.S. units are there for medical support.
Related posts:
- Flashback: After the Surge: Is the British Withdrawal from Southern Iraq a Model for U.S. Forces?
- For Iraqi Terp, A Happy Ending
- Change.org: Afghan Watchdog Report Highlights War’s Toll on Children
- 8ak: Indian Air Force Jets Barred from Naxalite Fight
- World Politics Review: Improvised Bombs Complicate Afghan War Effort
- World Politics Review: Remembering a Fallen Soldier
David, don’t those numbers strike you as low? I seem to recall any number of incidents with the Iraqi police being carted off in large numbers and getting a round to the head or police stations being blown up. Several attacks against recruits and guys signing up, do they not count?
Grandjester,
They might be low. They are just the official numbers, which aren’t always accurate in a place like Iraq. Maybe tack on a couple thousand?
[...] After three years of training by coalition forces – and nonstop combat with insurgents – Iraqi army and police units are battle-hardened, highly motivated and skilled in battlefield drills. “At the tactical level … we’re doing quite well,” says Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey, a senior official in the coalition training organization. “They’re fighting, dying, being wounded, being moved around country.” He says 5,300 Iraqi soldiers from outside of Baghdad have been brought in for the “surge.” [...]