At least 116,000 Iraqi civilians and more than 4,800 coalition troops died in Iraq between the outbreak of war in 2003 and the U.S. withdrawal in 2011, researchers estimated Friday.
Its involvement in Iraq has so far cost the United States $810 billion and could eventually reach $3 trillion, they added.
The estimates come from two U.S. professors of public health, reporting in the British peer-reviewed journal The Lancet.
They base the figures on published studies in journals and on reports by government agencies, international organizations and the news media.
“We conclude that at least 116,903 Iraqi noncombatants and more than 4,800 coalition military personnel died over the eight-year course” of the war from 2003 to 2011, they said.
“Many Iraqi civilians were injured or became ill because of damage to the health-supporting infrastructure of the country, and about 5 million were displaced.
“More than 31,000 U.S. military personnel were injured and a substantial percentage of those deployed suffered posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other neuropsychological disorders and their concomitant psychosocial problems.”
Citing figures from the website costofwar.com, which looks at funding allocated by Congress, the study said that as of Jan. 15 this year, the Iraq war had cost the United States about $810 billion, “not including interest on debt.”
“The ultimate cost of the war to the USA could be $3 trillion,” it said. “Clearly, this money could have been spent instead on domestic and global programs to improve health. The diversion of human resources was also substantial, in Iraq, the USA, and other coalition countries.”
The paper was authored by Barry Levy of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and Victor Sidel of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
It appears in a package of investigations into the health consequences of the Iraq war, published by The Lancet to mark the 10th anniversary of the start of the conflict.
via Iraq war killed 120,000, cost U.S. $800 billion – The Japan Times.
No job? That’s because you were robbed in the biggest heist in history, but you didn’t notice because you were distracted by the explosions and collapsing buildings. You recall that the day before the attacks of 9/11/2001 then US. Secretary of Defense announced that the Pentagon had lost $2.3 TRILLION tax payer dolllers, right? No? Not Billion, that’s 2.3 TRILLION dollars. That’s about the entire gross national product of the United Kingdom for the entire year of 2011. Joe Six Pack shrugs and says, “What can I do about it? Nothing.” I don’t believe that missing 2.3 trillion is included in the 1.3 to 4 trillion they have additionally taken for the wars.
