August 2005 Iraq casualties

Back to the monthly casualty report (this one might miss some data from the end of the month):

Avg. daily military fatality rate (Americans and others): 2.68. July was 1.87, June was 2.77, and August 2004 was 2.42. Overall average to date unchanged at 2.32.

Iraqi monthly military/police fatalities: 281. July was 304, June was 296, no stats for August 2004 (January 2005 is when the stats started: 109).

Comments: the serious injury rate for US troops is about five times the mortality rate. Apply that to Iraqi soldiers, add them to the death figure, add more for soldiers who leave legally or by desertion, and the number of Iraqi soldiers/police lost in a single month is nearly half of the number that are fully trained. Bush's statement that as Iraqi forces stand up, we will stand down is a farce - they aren't making progress in getting Iraqi forces to stand up. I suspect the only way they will make progress is by reducing the Iraqi casualty rate, meaning the American casualty rate would have to increase.


key: Iraq, trend