Iraq: Key Figures Since The War Began

U.S. TROOP LEVELS:

_October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup.

_December 2008: 145,000.

_Confirmed U.S. military deaths as of Jan. 2, 2009: At least 4,219.

_Confirmed U.S. military wounded (hostile) as of Dec. 31, 2008: 30,920.

_Confirmed U.S. military wounded (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of Dec. 6, 2008: 35,141.

_U.S. military deaths for December 2008: 14

_Deaths of civilian employees of U.S. government contractors as of Sept 30, 2008: 1,264.

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_Iraqi deaths in December 2008 from war-related violence: 393, up from November 2008, which at 360 was the lowest number of civilian casualties reported in one month since the AP began tracking them in May 2005.

_Assassinated Iraqi academics as of Dec. 21, 2008: 410.

_Journalists killed on assignment as of Jan. 2, 2009: 136.

COST:

_Nearly $585 billion so far, according to the National Priorities Project.

OIL PRODUCTION:

_Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day.

_Dec. 14, 2008: 2.40 million barrels per day.

ELECTRICITY:

_Prewar nationwide: 3,958 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 4-8.

_Dec. 9, 2008 nationwide: 4,740 megawatts. Hours per day: 14.1.

_Prewar Baghdad: 2,500 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 16-24.

_Dec. 9, 2008 Baghdad: Megawatts not available. Hours per day: 14.3.

Note: Current Baghdad megawatt figures are no longer reported by the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report.

TELEPHONES:

_Prewar land lines: 833,000.

_Oct. 2, 2008: 1,300,000.

_Prewar cell phones: 80,000.

_Oct. 2, 2008: 13.4 million.

WATER:

_Prewar: 12.9 million people had potable water.

_Oct. 2, 2008: 20.9 million people have potable water.

SEWERAGE:

_Prewar: 6.2 million people served.

_Oct. 2, 2008: 11.3 million people served.

INTERNAL REFUGEES:

_Nov. 27, 2008: At least 2.4 million people are currently displaced inside Iraq.

EMIGRANTS:

_Prewar: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad.

_Nov. 25, 2008: Close to 2 million mainly in Syria and Jordan.

All figures are the most recent available.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in late November that it had reached a milestone: exactly 50,000 Iraqi refugees had submitted for resettlement from host countries in the Middle East. Some refugees will not be able to return to Iraq and cannot, or will not, remain in host countries, according to UNHCR.

Sources: The Associated Press, State Department, Defense Department, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, The Brookings Institution, Refugees International, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, Committee to Protect Journalists, National Priorities Project, The Brussels Tribunal, Department of Labor.

AP researchers Julie Reed and Rhonda Shafner in New York compiled this report.

Comments

[DZonn]

# of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11 = 0

[gakabani]

Huffpost will never allow my post to be placed for reading. YOU are pathetic.

[Hellisher]

I agree with the general tone of the comments. Also has anyone heard of this absurd comparison between Chicago being more violent than Iraq? What the people who quote these numbers don't tell you is that the Iraqi figures are for US troops only - not all Iraq deaths.

Secondly, Chicago does have more murders than the number of US troops KIA in Iraq in the last year but that's no mystery - there's 150,000 US military personnel stationed in the country - Chicago's violence is taken from 3 million people DOH! Be a scientist first, and whatever your political affiliation, keep that out of it. Whether your left or right don't cover up deaths, I mean how sick can you get? I can't stand people who friggin' lie in that way.

[LITNUP]

You can tell by the number of comments that once again good news about the success in Iraq and the fact that the people of Iraq have better services than before the war is against the progressive mantra of "guilty by being American ' mantra

[B-Dog]

The good news regarding the success in Iraq? "Stunningly superficial."

[pvo]

Iraqui dead? they lost their count!. Accurate counting always seems to present a problem with these guys here they should let others do the work such as

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

[LeeCalif]

The Bush War : statistics above.

The Bush Depression : just starting (will be around at least 10 years)

[larry278]

A 10 year Bush depression is much too optomistic; try 25 years, even if Obama rebuilds the USA & the world in 8 years.

[nogimmicks]

Numbers carefully selected to hide the total number of civilians including women and children, murdered, as well as the effect of long term political and social destabilization of the country.

[BuzzingAlong]

Don't place much faith in the statistics about portable water and adequate sewage treatments in this AP hournalistic effort.

And notice that there is no mention of the numbers of physicians that have either been killed or left the country and the poor state of medical services and very high unemployment currently experienced by the Iraqis.

Like I said earlier, if you want the know the real state of affairs there are several foreign sources and try some of blogs of real Iraqis who are still in Iraq.

Two of the best American sources of the truth about Iraq and the middle east is Juan Cole at
Informed Comment www.juancole.com and corksphere.blogspot.com.

[LeeCalif]

You're so right !

[BuzzingAlong]

"Iraqi deaths in December 2008 from war-related violence: 393, up from November 2008, which at 360 was the lowest number of civilian casualties reported in one month since the AP began tracking them in May 2005."

What is wrong with this picture?

In typical Bush/Cheney lapdog fashion, this so-called journalistic effort has chosen to ignore the 1,305,444 other Iraqi dead.

Anyone who really want to know what is going on in Iraq should read sources in the foreign press.

[bannorhill]

The civilian death toll is nowhere near that figure.

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ puts the count at between 90,235 and 98,502.

Most of the deaths are caused by terrorist bombings and other terrorits murders NOT US actions.

[Hirnlego]

How many Blackwater and private contractors have been killed? The total number is probably much higher..

[RJII]

great, great...now can we get the F out of there. We got problems here that need funding. Never should have been there day one.

[ZellaBee]

Exactly! Bring 'em home. NOW.

[joetherealist]

Where is the total number of Iraqi dead? That's the dirty little secret.....

"Any time there is this much profit to be made, you're going to have a lot of collateral damage."

Dick Cheney

[drsmc41]

That's what I was looking for, too.

[JulieKay]

I was also looking for the Iraq dead number. I have read somewhere from 600,000 to over a million Iraq deaths.

It makes me angry that there is so little consideration for what the US did to innocent people during an unneeded and unjust war.

I have also read that the displaced Iraqis have been more susceptible to being recruited for terrorist activities.

[Ramirez]

Iraq Body Count has the numbers.
*****

"Iraq Body Count is an ongoing human security project which maintains and updates the world’s largest public database of violent civilian deaths during and since the 2003 invasion. The count encompasses non-combatants killed by military or paramilitary action and the breakdown in civil security following the invasion.

Data is drawn from cross-checked media reports, hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures to produce a credible record of known deaths and incidents."

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/