War by Numbers: 1000 days

The Independent via dKos via Editor and Publisher compiles a list of what the war in Iraq looks like after 1,000 days:

Here are some of their calculations:

• $204.4 billion: The cost to the U.S of the war so far.
• 2,339: Allied troops killed
• 15,955: US troops wounded in action
• 98: U.K troops killed
• 30,000 : Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths
• 0: Number of WMDs found
• 66: Journalists killed in Iraq.
• 63: Journalists killed during Vietnam war
• 8: per cent of Iraqi children suffering acute malnutrition
• 53,470: Iraqi insurgents killed
• 67: per cent Iraqis who feel less secure because of occupation
• $343: Average monthly salary for an Iraqi soldier. Average monthly salary for an American soldier in Iraq: $4,160.75
• 5: foreign civilians kidnapped per month
• 47: per cent Iraqis who never have enough electricity
• 20: casualties per month from unexploded mines
• 25-40: per cent Estimated unemployment rate, Nov 2005
• 251: Foreigners kidnapped
• 70: per cent of Iraqi's whose sewage system rarely works
• 183,000: British and American troops are still in action in Iraq.
• 13,000: from other nations
• 90: Daily attacks by insurgents in Nov '05. In Jun '03: 8
• 60-80: per cent Iraqis who are "strongly opposed" to presence of coalition troops

In an accompanying piece from Baghdad, the newspaper's Patrick Cockburn adds one more stat: A BBC poll yesterday showed that half of the Iraqis questioned say that Iraq needs a strong leader--while only 28 per cent cited democracy as a priority.

"Iraqis are cynical about their political leaders," Cockburn writes. "The election results are likely to show that the great majority of Iraqis will vote along ethnic or religious lines as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The country is turning from a unitary state into a confederation.

"There is no sign yet of the thousand-day war ending. Every month up to a thousand fresh corpses arrive at the mortuary in Baghdad. A new Iraq is emerging but it is already drenched in blood."