Iraq Coalition Casualty Statistics/External Links (October-December 2003)

The following is a chronological listing of External Links (articles) for Iraq Coalition Casualty Statistics (October-December 2003).

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Articles & Commentary

October

• 2 October 2003: "US wounded in the shadows" by David Isenberg, Asia Times.
• 2 October 2003: "General: 3 to 6 GIs Dying in Iraq a Week" by Tini Tran, AP.
• 3 October 2003: "US 'facing deadlier foe' in Iraq", The Mercury (Australia).
• 3 October 2003: "More U.S. casualties in Iraq", Post Granma Internacional (Cuba).
• 4 October 2003: "U.S. 'years' from cut in Iraq force" by James O'Shea, Chicago Tribune.
• 4 October 2003: "4,000 U.S. Non-Combat Evacuations in Iraq" by Mark Benjamin, UPI: "...with more than one in five of those for psychiatric or neurological problems, according to Pentagon data. ... A total of 3,915 evacuations from the region have been for non-combat medical problems. A combination of what the Pentagon is calling evacuations for 'psychiatric' and 'neurological' problems make up 22 percent of the total, with 478 and 387 evacuations, respectively.".
• 4 October 2003: "Attacks on U.S. forces increase Incidents in Iraq average 17 a day" by Jim Michaels, USAToday.
• 7 October 2003: "Mystery Blood Clots Kill Troops," UPI.
• 15 October 2003: "In face of casualties, Bush has hard sell on Iraq" by Alan Elsner, Reuters.
• 16 October 2003: "Homemade bombs among dangers as U.S. casualties mount" by Jeff Wilkinson, Knight Ridder.
• 17 October 2003: "US combat deaths pass 100. Another four US soldiers have been killed in Iraq - bringing to more than 100 the number of US personnel who have died in attacks since major hostilities ended", BBC; also see American casualties in post-war Iraq pass 100 from CTV.ca.
• 17 October 2003: "Deserting Our Troops" by Steven Rosenfeld, TomPaine.
• 17 October 2003: "Sick, wounded U.S. troops held in squalor" by Mark Benjamin, UPI.
• 18 October 2003: "Killed in Action" by Martha Brant, Newsweek.
• 20 October 2003: "Army seeks to reduce patient backlog at base. Reservists complain about medical treatment, living conditions" by Barbara Starr, CNN: "The U.S. Army will send specialists to help reduce a backlog of National Guardsmen and reservists seeking medical care at Fort Stewart, Georgia, ... The additional medical personnel will come from the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, ... The move is part of an initiative to reduce what Army officials have acknowledged is a backlog problem at Fort Stewart."
• 20 October 2003: "Postwar Casualties Rise Amid Disarray in US Plans" by Jim Lobe, Dissident Voice.
• 20 October 2003: "US Military Personnel Wounded in Iraq & Afghanistan: A Running Log", TheMemoryHole.
• 20 October 2003: "US Deaths in Vietnam and Iraq by Month", lies.com.
• 21 October 2003: "Fallujah Continues Slow Boil As U.S. Casualties Mount In Iraq", U.N.Wire United Nations Foundation.
• 21 October 2003: "Army Investigates Treatment of Ill Iraq Veterans" by Jeffrey Gettleman.
• 21 October 2003: "Doctors, dollars rushed to Ft. Stewart" by Mark Benjamin, UPI.
• 21 October 2003: "Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins" by Dana Milbank, Washington Post.
• 22 October 2003: "Iraq War Stretching U.S. Army to Breaking Point" by David T. Pyne, EtherZone.
• 22 October 2003: "U.S. Reports Increase in Daily Attacks in Iraq", AP.
• 23 October 2003: "Press Underreports Wounded in Iraq. Few Newspapers Tally Injuries, Accidents" by Seth Porges, Editor & Publisher: "When newspapers reported this week on poor medical and living conditions for Americans injured in Iraq, it might have come as a shock for some readers. For months, the press has barely mentioned non-fatal casualties or the severity of their wounds. ... E&P reported in July that while deaths in combat are often tallied by newspapers, the many non-combat troop deaths in Iraq are virtually ignored. It turns out that newspaper readers have also been shortchanged in getting a sense of the number of troops injured, in and out of battle."
• 24 October 2003: "Iraq Occupation Returning Army to the 'Hollow Force' of the 1970s" by David T. Pyne, EtherZone.
• 25 October 2003: "How US media cover military casualties in Iraq? Most analysts agree major TV networks have kept daily combat casualties in Iraq on back burner" by Giles Hewitt, Khilafah.com.
• 26 October 2003: "Senators: Conditions `unacceptable for sick reservists at Fort Stewart", AP.
• 27 October 2003: "Rumsfeld's War Against the United States Army" by David T. Pyne, EtherZone.
• 27 October 2003: "Pentagon Eager To Prevent Iraq From Becoming Another Vietnam" by Brad Smith, TampaBayTribune.
• 29 October 2003: "Sick soldiers wait for treatment" by Mark Benjamin, UPI.
• 29 October 2003: "In Iraq, U.S. casualties since May 1 eclipse number killed in combat" by E.A. Torriero, Chicago Tribune.
• 29 October 2003: "US troops' death toll hits landmark figure" by Sarah Left, Guardian UK.
• 29 October 2003: "Toll in Iraq Costs President at Home" by Susan Page and Dennis Cauchon, USAToday.
• 29 October 2003: "Pentagon Manages War Coverage By Limiting Coffin Pictures. 'Body Count' News Fueled Antiwar Sentiment During Vietnam Campaign", TheBostonChannel.
• 30 October 2003: "US Iraq deaths exceed war toll. The number of US troops killed in hostile action in Iraq since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on 1 May has exceeded those killed during the war itself", BBC.
• 30 October 2003: "Postwar US combat toll tops invasion deaths" by Michael Howard, Ewen MacAskill and Charlotte Denny, Guardian UK.
• 31 October 2003: "Pentagon's Plan to Eliminate U.S. Army Division-based Force Structure Unwise" by David T. Pyne, EtherZone.

November

• 1 November 2003: "NPR Continually Misquoting US Casualties" (web post).
• 2 November 2003: "Iraq Guerrillas Down U.S. Chopper, at Least 15 Dead" by Michael Georgy, Reuters.
• 2 November 2003: "Pentagon keeps dead out of sight. Bush team doesn't want people to see human cost of war. Even body bags are now sanitized as `transfer tubes'" by Tim Harper, The Star.
• 3 November 2003: "U.S. Military Upholds TV Cover Ban on Iraq Coffins" by Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters.
• 3 November 2003: "New Attacks Intensify Pressure on Bush" by Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post.
• 4 November 2003: "US casualties mount in Iraq; coalition headquarters targeted" by Patrick Moser, AFP.
• 4 November 2003: "US casualties mount in Iraq Bush faces political challenge", The New Nation (Bangladesh).
• 4 November 2003: "Analysis: Reality of war sinks in as U.S. casualties mount" by Charles Hanley, AP.
• 4 November 2003: "Newspapers Change Reporting on Iraq Deaths. Non-combat Fatalities, Injuries Cited More Often" by Seth Porges, Editor&Publisher.
• 4 November 2003: "17 U.S. soldiers are killed in Iraq War's deadliest day" by Marc Kaufman, Washington Post.
• 4 November 2003: "The Truth Why the U.S. is Losing the Peace in Iraq" by David T. Pyne, EtherZone.
• 5 November 2003: "Issue for Bush: How to Speak of Casualties?" by Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times.
• 5 November 2003: "Confidence in & Support for U.S. Policies in Iraq Continues to Erode, According to Harris Poll."
• 7 November 2003: "With Better US Economy, Focus of Presidential Elections Likely to Shift to Iraq" by Jim Malone, Voice of America.
• 7 November 2003: "Don't Mention the Dead. When the body of US soldier Artimus Brassfield was flown to the military mortuary at Dover, Delaware, there were no TV pictures of a flag-covered coffin and hero's salute - the White House has banned media coverage at the base. But can Bush's efforts to hide the body bags quell growing public disquiet over the death toll in Iraq?" by Gary Younge, Guardian/UK.
• 8 November 2003: Christopher Brauchli: "Iraq casualties: Bush doesn't want us to know", Daily Camera.
• 10 November 2003: "Update: 7,500 US Casualties Evacuated from Iraq War Zone to US" by Esther Schrader, Los Angeles Times.
• 10 November 2003: "With Iraq casualties growing, Vietnam analogies returning" by David Westphal, commercialappeal.com.
• 11 November 2003: "Heavy US casualties in Iraq attack", From correspondents in Khaldiyah, news.com.au.
• 13 November 2003: Charles Glass: "There are so many echoes of Vietnam in Iraq ... It took two years for US deaths to reach 324 in Vietnam. It passed that figure in seven months in Iraq."
• 14 November 2003: "The Hidden Cost of Bush's War. Concern about fatalities among Western forces in Iraq tends to overlook another ghastly statistic: the spectacularly mounting toll of the severely wounded. Andrew Buncombe reports on America's invisible army of maimed and crippled servicemen", Independent/UK.
• 14 November 2003: "Pentagon Limits Funeral Coverage. Arlington to Keep Reporters Away" by Steve Vogel, Washington Post.
• 14 November 2003: "Accounting for the Invisible Casualties of War Shouldn't Be a Matter of Politics" by Andrew Rosenthal, New York Times.
• 14 November 2003: "US casualties in Iraq surpass Vietnam war death toll", IndiaPress.org.
• 14 November 2003: "U.S. casualties from Iraq war top 9,000" by Mark Benjamin, UPI.
• 14 November 2003: "Bush to meet bereaved British relatives" by Julian Borger, Guardian UK.
• 16 November 2003: "At Least 17 Dead as 2 U.S. Copters Collide Over Iraq" by Dexter Filkins, New York Times.
• 16 November 2003: "Rumsfeld: No early troop pullout", UPI.
• 16 November 2003: "Bush, advisers weigh new Iraq governing options as casualties mount", AP.
• 16 November 2003: "Rebuilding Bodies, and Lives, Maimed by War" by Neela Banerjee, New York Times.
• 22 November 2003: "Indignities Endured by U.S. Military: How the Bush Cartel Disrespects and Short Sheets Our Soldiers," Buzzflash news analysis.
• 24 November 2003: "Under Fire, Bush Meets Families of Iraq War Dead" by Adam Entous, Reuters.
• 24 November 2003: "ACTIVE MORTUARY," Kansas.com: "Toll in Two Wars: A total of 516 U.S. troops have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, according to the latest Defense Department figures. Iraq: 294 combat deaths and 130 noncombat deaths. Afghanistan: 28 combat deaths and 64 noncombat deaths."
• 25 November 2003: "General Says Fewer Attacks on U.S. Forces in Iraq", Reuters: General John "Abizaid said there were enough troops in Iraq to combat the insurgents, who have killed 185 American troops since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1."
• 25 November 2003: "Revising Report, Army Denies Throats of 2 G.I.'s Were Cut" by Dexter Filkins, New York Times: "...a United States military official retracted his earlier report that the throats of two American soldiers had been slashed during an attack on Sunday in the northern city of Mosul. ... said that the two soldiers had died of gunshot wounds to the head, and that their bodies had been pulled from their car by Iraqis and robbed of their personal belongings. Contrary to initial accounts on Sunday from Mosul, he said the bodies of the men had not been mutilated or pummeled with rocks."
• 26 November 2003: "Nat'l Guard, Reserve to Take Iraq Combat" by Robert Burns, AP: "Nearly 40 percent of the 105,000 troops in the new force will be National Guard and Reserve. That compares with about a 20 percent share in the current force of 130,000 troops. And it won't be just Army reservists; the Marines plan to use about 6,000 of their citizen-soldiers."
• 26 November 2003: "Iraqi Attacks on Americans Start to Ease, Bremer Says" by Joel Brinkley, New York Times: "Far fewer Americans have been killed in guerrilla attacks in recent days ...Instead,.. the insurgents have turned to killing other Iraqis."
• 26 November 2003: "About the Bush Cartel's 'Smiley Face' Spin on the Grim November Record for GI Deaths in Iraq -- And the Month's Not Over Yet", Buzzflash Analysis: "November has had MORE U.S. soldier deaths - 75 to date PLUS the 21 additional Coalition deaths of UK, Italy, and Poland also killed in the month of November. ... Total Coalition deaths for this month alone so far total 96. ... Total Coalition deaths since now total 511 -- and this is only as of November 24."
• 28 November 2003: "A Chickenhawk Thanksgiving in Baghdad" by David B. Livingstone, alternet.
• 29 November 2003: "November Deadliest Month in Iraq" by Bradley Graham, Washington Post: "More U.S. troops have died in Iraq in November than in any month since the war began last March, according to Defense Department figures. ... With November nearly over, the official death count yesterday stood at 79, surpassing March (65) and April (73), when the invasion was underway and fighting was most intense and widespread."
• 30 November 2003: "Seven Spaniards, two Japanese, two Americans die in Iraq bloodbath", AFP.
• 30 November 2003: "Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000", Orlando Sentinel: "Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers. ... Military officials deny they are fudging the numbers. But the latest figures show that 9,675 U.S. troops have been killed, wounded, injured such as in accidents, or become sick enough to require airlifting out of Iraq."

December

• 4 December 2003: "Body Armor Saves Lives in Iraq" by Vernon Loeb and Theola Labbé, Washington Post.
• 4 December 2003: "Battle Reveals New Iraqi Tactics" by Anthony Shadid, Washington Post: "For the military, the fight revealed a startling new reality about the fighters themselves -- unprecedented coordination and tactics and numbers yet unseen. ...[and] a determination [not expected] from guerrillas best known for hitting, then running."
• 6 December 2003: "Army Will Face Dip in Readiness. 4 Divisions Need to Regroup After Iraq" by Vernon Loeb, Washington Post: "Four Army divisions -- 40 percent of the active-duty force -- will not be fully combat-ready for up to six months next year, leaving the nation with relatively few ready troops in the event of a major conflict in North Korea or elsewhere, a senior Army official said yesterday. ... While the Army had been using 120 days as its standard for 'resetting' divisions returning from overseas deployments, overhauling the divisions returning from Iraq could take as long as 180 days because of the extreme weather in Iraq and the unprecedented magnitude of the planned troop rotation."
• 6 December 2003: "Combat casualty count doubted" by Patrick Peterson, Knight-Ridder: "Defense Department statistics show that as of [December 5], some 2,150 service members had been wounded in action in Iraq, while 354 were injured in nonhostile incidents. Of 441 service members who have died in Iraq, 304 are listed as killed in hostile action; 137 deaths resulted from nonhostile action."
• 7 December 2003: "Violence to rise in Iraq, says US commander vowing strong riposte", AFP: "...Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US forces in the country warned, adding that the coalition would also press on with an 'offensive' riposte.... he expected it to intensify and the targets to widen over coming months, right through June and July ...'as we move towards the transfer of sovereignty at the end of June,' he said."
• 7 December 2003: "Iraqi Guerrillas Kill GI, Wound Two More" by Bassem Mroue, AP.
• 7 December 2003: "Legacy of a Bloody November" by Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: "The United States is likely to have a substantial military presence in the greater Middle East for much of the decade to come. It remains to be settled what the nature, purpose and effect of that force will be."
• 7 December 2003: "Rumsfeld Says Army in Iraq Not Worn Out" by Robert Burns, AP: "The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on the Army, but the soldiers who are due home next spring are fit to return to a war zone if called upon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday."
• 8 December 2003: "A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq", AP: "As of Monday, Dec. 8, 444 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 307 died as a result of hostile action and 137 died of non-hostile causes, the department said."
• 8 December 2003: "Getting Saddam may not end attacks" by Jim Krane, Chicago Sun-Times.
• 9 December 2003: "Car Bomb Wounds 41 U.S. Troops in Iraq", AP: "A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives at the gates of a military barracks on Tuesday, injuring 41 American troops and six Iraqi civilians. Hours earlier, three soldiers died in a road accident in central Iraq, and three civilians died when a Baghdad mosque was rocketed."
• 9 December 2003: "3 Fort Lewis Stryker brigade soldiers die. Accident not from hostile action" by Mike Barber, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
• 9 December 2003: "Suicide Bomb Injures 58 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq" by Seb Walker, Reuters.
• 9 December 2003: "Suicide bomber blows up car wounding 58 US soldiers at base near Mosul", AFP.
• 10-16 December 2003: "The Bodies Come Home" by Sydney H. Schanberg, Village Voice: "The president is grieved by U.S. casualties. He also worries they'll cost him votes."
• 10 December 2003: "Death comes in cans for US troops in Iraq" by Michael Georgy, Reuters: "Tikrit - Toy cars, Coca-Cola cans and animal carcasses have something in common in Iraq - they are all used to kill American soldiers with ruthless efficiency. ... Guerrillas fighting the occupation fill the objects with explosives, place them on the side of the road and press a remote control button when US troops pass by. ... In military parlance it is known as an improvised explosive device (IED), the weapon of choice for insurgents who have killed 193 US troops in post-war Iraq."
• 10 December 2003: "Two Military Aircraft Make Emergency Landings in Iraq. In Separate Incidents, Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Mosul" by William Branigin, Washington Post.
• 11 December 2003: "Iraq Suicide Attack Causes U.S. Casualties" by Jim Krane, AP: "Three suicide bombers attacked the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division west of Baghdad on Thursday, the military said. There were casualties, but it was not clear if any U.S. soldiers died in the third suicide attack on American troops this week."
• 12 December 2003: "Indignities Endured by U.S. Military: How the Bush Cartel Disrespects and Short Sheets Our Soldiers", a Buzzflash Analysis.
• 14 December 2003: "Killed in Iraq", New York Times: "The Department of Defense has identified 450 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war."
• 17 December 2003: "Daily Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq," AP: "As of Wednesday, Dec. 17, 457 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 313 died as a result of hostile action and 144 died of non-hostile causes,... The British military has reported 52 deaths; Italy, 17; Spain, eight; Denmark, Ukraine and Poland have reported one each.
• 18 December 2003: "Medical evacuations from Iraq near 11,000" by Mark Benjamin, UPI: "The military has made 8,581 medical evacuations from Operation Iraqi Freedom for non-hostile causes in addition to the 2,273 wounded -- a total of 10,854, according to the new data. The Pentagon says that 457 troops have died. ... The Pentagon's casualty update for Operation Iraqi Freedom listed on its Web site, however, does not reflect thousands of the evacuations. ... It is a toll the country has not seen since Vietnam, said Aseneth Blackwell, former national president of Gold Star Wives of America, Inc., a support group for people who lose a spouse from war. ... 'It is staggering,' said Blackwell."
• 20 December 2003: "Wounded Troops Denied Benefits?," CBSNews.com.
• 22 December 2003: "2 U.S. Troops, Translator Killed in Iraq," AP: "A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy on Monday, killing two American soldiers and an Iraqi translator, the military said. ... Two other soldiers from the 1st Armored Division were wounded in the attack at about 11:45 a.m. in Baghdad, the military said."
• 25 December 2003: "4 G.I.'s and 6 Iraqi Civilians Are Killed in Bomb Attacks" by Edward Wong, New York Times: "As Iraqis and occupation soldiers began their Christmas celebrations on Wednesday and early Thursday, guerrilla fighters unleashed a string of intense rocket and bomb attacks across the country, killing at least four American soldiers and six Iraqi civilians and wounding dozens of people."
• 27 December 2003: "Four more US soldiers die in Iraq," BBC/UK: "...in a series of incidents since Thursday night. ... Four soldiers were also injured in the attack, which happened at a military base in Baqouba. ... The losses make that 24-hour period the most costly in terms of US lives this month. ... Over that period, Baghdad alone saw 26 attacks against various targets - whereas on average US forces come under attack about 17 times a day throughout Iraq. ...

Rockets, mortars and rocket- propelled grenades were fired at targets including the coalition's headquarters, foreign embassies, government buildings and a hotel."

• 27 December 2003: "Iraqi guerrillas kill 2 GIs -- week's death toll rises to 10" by Michelle Faul, AP: "...violence serving as a reminder that insurgents remain defiant despite the capture of Saddam Hussein."
• 27 December 2003: "20 Coalition Casualties in Iraq Blasts," Guardian/UK: "Iraqi insurgents launched several attacks in the southern city of Karbala on Saturday, and there were 20 coalition casualties, a military spokesman said. Two coalition troops were reported killed."
• 28 December 2003: "Up to 13 Die as Attacks Shatter Fragile Calm in Southern Iraq" by Edward Wong, New York Times: "At least four soldiers from the occupying forces and at least nine Iraqis were killed Saturday in four highly organized suicide bombing attacks in this Shiite holy city 60 miles southwest of Baghdad. More than 100 soldiers and civilians were wounded. Most of the casualties were not American."
• 29 December 2003: "Body Bags Make Reality of War Sink In" by Linda McAlpine, Wisconsin Journal.
• 31 December 2003: "Return of U.S. war dead kept solemn, secret" by Gregg Zoroya, USA Today.