Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
4,259 U.S. service members dead
31,089 U.S. service members wounded*
1,320,110 Iraqi deaths attributable to the invasion**
Cost of the war to American taxpayers as of 11/08: $656.1 billion
Number of Weapons of Mass Destruction found: 0
* unofficial estimates of wounded run as high as 100,000; the discrepancy is due to a change in the way the U.S. DoD’s methodology of determining what counts as “wounded”. Further, it is estimated that thousands of troops have suffered permanent brain damage but are not counted in official casualty figures.
** all estimates of Iraqi casualty counts are speculative and subject to interpretation. This estimate is the high end.
