There is a little-known report known as the National Security Index, put out periodically by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. It contains some truly grim statistics that are rarely reported by the mainstream media even though the report is available on the Committee’s web site, along with footnotes documenting every statistic.
Iraq Statistics From the October 17, 2005 National Security Index:
General:
- Approximate number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq: 152,000
- Percent of coalition forces contributed by the U.S.: 87.4
- Weeks since the Pentagon developed a plan to draw down U.S. forces in Iraq to roughly 40,000 by mid-2005: 104* (now 106)
- Approximate amount appropriated by Congress for Iraq operations so far: $218 billion
- Approximate amount spent by the U.S. in World War I: $205 billion
- Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) found: 0
- Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq: 1,962* (now 2,027)
- Number killed since the President announced the end of major combat: 1,823* (now 1,883)
- Number reported wounded by the Defense Department: 15,063* (now 15,220)
- Approximate number of medical evacuations of U.S. military personnel performed since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom: 55,000
- Number of National Guard soldiers killed in Iraq through August 27, 2005: 300
- Number of National Guard soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam War: 97
Below the fold are more Iraq statistics from the October 17, 2005 Report:
Iraq Statistics From the October 17, 2005 National Security Index: (continued)
General (continued):
- Number of Iraqi military and police killed since training began (June 2003): 3,339
- Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (November 2003): 5,000
- Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (June 2005): 15 – 20,000
- Estimated number of 86 Iraqi military battalions that are capable of operating independently: 1
- Total amount of taxpayers’ money spent by Halliburton that the Defense Contract Audit Agency has deemed either excessive or insufficiently documented: $1.47 billion
- Total number of nations contributing troops to Iraq as part of President Bush’s “coalition of the willing” at some point during the war: 37
- Number of these nations that either have withdrawn or plan to withdraw their troops from the coalition: 14
- Average size of troop contributions by nations with troops currently deployed to Iraq, excluding the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, and Italy: 186
- Amount of the $13.6 billion pledged by the international community for Iraq’s reconstruction that has been dispersed: $2.9 billion
- Rank of September 2005 among months with the highest number of multiple-fatality bombings: 1
Iraq: The Constitutional Referendum and the Way Forward:
- Estimated voter turnout for the October 15 constitutional referendum in Iraq: 63-64%
- Estimated percentage of Sunnis who voted against ratifying the constitution in Sunni-dominated areas such as al Anbar province: 85-95%
- Number of the constitution’s 130 clauses that remained incomplete prior to the referendum: 50
- Average weekly insurgent attacks during the period prior to the referendum (August-October 2005): 570
- Average weekly insurgent attacks during the period prior to the previous election (November 2004-January 2005): 515
- Total number of trained Iraqi Security Force (ISF) personnel that Bush Administration planners believe will be needed by 2007 to assume responsibility for securing the nation: 325,000
- Total number of ISF personnel the Administration currently reports as trained: 199,400
- Number of 88 Iraqi Army battalions currently able to conduct operations independent of U.S. forces: 1
More tomorrow