June 6, 2012

US military occupation forces in Afghanistan under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 137 casualties in the period ending June 5, as the official casualty total for the Iraq and AfPak wars* rose to 113,938.

The total includes 79,474 casualties since the US invaded Iraq in March, 2003 (Operations “Iraqi Freedom” and “New Dawn”), and 34,327 since the US invaded Afghanistan in November, 2001 (Operation “Enduring Freedom”)

AFGHANISTAN THEATER: US forces suffered 135 combat casualties in the period ending June 5 raising the total to 34,464. This includes 17,844 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as “hostile” causes and 16,620 dead or medically evacuated (as of May 7) from what it calls “non-hostile” causes.

IRAQ THEATER: US forces in Iraq reported two fewer two combat casualties in the period ending June 5, reducing the total to 79,474. This includes 35,754 dead and wounded from “hostile” causes and 43,720 dead or medically evacuated (as of May 7) from “non-hostile” causes.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by reporting regularly only the total killed (6,480- 4,489 in Iraq,1,991 in Afghanistan) but rarely mentioning those wounded in action (48,505-32,228 in Iraq, 16,277 in Afghanistan). They ignore the 58,948 (42,752 in Iraq,16,196 in AfPak (as of May 7) military casualties injured and ill seriously enough to be medevac’d out of theater, even though the 6,480 total dead include 1,387 (963 in Iraq, 424 in Afghanistan) who died from those same “non hostile” causes, including 314 suicides (as of May 7) and at least 18 in Iraq from faulty KBR electrical work. NOTE: The Pentagon seems to have stopped its monthly reports on “non hostile” injured and ill. Its previous website was changed to https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/report_sum_reason.xhtml The last total was as of May 7, 2012.

*LIBYA :Operation “Odyssey Dawn” launched in March, officially ended Oct 31, 2011 with no reported US casualties.

WIA are usually updated on Tuesday at www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf

Non combat casualties are usually reported monthly at http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm

The above report is published by Michael Munk via his email list.