Last 2 Weeks: 51 US AfPak War Casualties

US foreign fighters suffered 48 combat casualties in the 2 weeks ending April 10, as the total rose to 39,051.

Courtesy: afpak.foreignpolicy.com

(PORTLAND, OR) - US foreign fighters in Afghanistan under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 51 casualties in the 2 weeks ending April 10 March 27, as the official casualty total for the Iraq and AfPak wars* rose to 120,367. The Pentagon did not report WIAs last Wednesday.

The total includes 81,316 casualties since the US invaded Iraq in March, 2003 (Operations "Iraqi Freedom" and "New Dawn"), and 39,051 since the US invaded Afghanistan in November, 2001 (Operation "Enduring Freedom")

AFGHANISTAN THEATER: US foreign fighters suffered 48 combat casualties in the 2 weeks ending April 10, as the total rose to 39,051. The total includes 20,132 dead (6 pending) and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and 18,919 dead or medically evacuated (as of Dec.3, 2012) from what it calls "non-hostile" causes.

IRAQ THEATER: The total of US military personnel in Iraq is unclear, with estimates ranging from a few hundred to several thousand. Most armed US employees are designated as civilians. No new military or civilian DOD casualties were reported during the period ending April 10, so the total remains as 35,748 dead and wounded from “hostile" causes and 45,568 dead or medically evacuated (as of Dec 3, 2012) from "non-hostile" causes.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by reporting regularly only the total killed (6,678- 4,488 in Iraq, 2,190 in Afghanistan) but rarely mentioning those wounded in action (50,625-32,221 in Iraq; 18,404 in Afghanistan).

They ignore the 59,908 (44,607 in Iraq, 18,463 in AfPak (as of Dec 3, 2012) military casualties injured and ill seriously enough to be medevac'd out of theater, even though the 6,678 total dead include 1,417 (961 in Iraq, 456 in Afghanistan) who died from those same "non hostile" causes, of whom almost 25% (332) were suicides (as of Jan 9, 2013) and at least 18 in Iraq from faulty KBR electrical work.

NOTE: It’s unclear whether the AfPak number for WIAs at some point started to include medical evacuations for non hostile injuries and disease.

*LIBYA: Operation "Odyssey Dawn" launched in March, 2011 officially ended Oct 31, 2011 with no reported US casualties.

WIAs are usually updated on Wednesday at www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf

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