Jan 8, 2010
Zero is the most recent number from the Iraq War. New Year’s headlines reported round the world that December marked the first month that no US troops died in combat in Iraq since the conflict began in 2003. Although there were three non-combat related deaths reported, December was still the least deadly month in years. Likewise, 2009 saw the smallest total number of service personnel killed in a twelve month period in Iraq since the beginning of the war and less than half the number killed in 2008.
Articles on the subject contained guarded statements on the possibility that December was a good omen, maybe even an indication that overall violence was slowing and things were improving. Other experts suggest that the lack of deaths of US service personnel in December is more a function of change in US military activity than real progress. What is clear is that war is not reducible to one statistic, especially not this war. There are many numbers to consider.
The number that is most important to those families in the US who have already been directly impacted by this war is 4,370—the number of men and women as of January 4th that have been confirmed to have died serving our country in Iraq. The number 4,371 will be the most important number to the family of the next soldier who falls in battle.
The organization Iraq Body Count, which reports civilian deaths in Iraq on its website, says that on December 30th forty-four individuals were killed in incidents ranging from car bombing to hand grenades. The IBC, which relies on several sources to tabulate the civilian death toll, reports that around 100,000 non-combatant civilians have died in Iraq since 2003. More hopeful, senior US Military leadership point out that the number of insurgent attacks has decreased from as many as 200 per day two years ago to 15 per day currently. But, for the citizens of Iraq, fifteen is the important number, not the notable decline in incidents.
Washington seized the moment of respite in military casualties to announce quietly that the name of General Odierno’s command, who leads the US force in Iraq, had changed from Multinational Force-Iraq to US Force-Iraq. Behind the change in title is the fact that the once 28 country multi-national force has reduced to ostensibly to one: The US. US forces have also reduced from 170,000 to just over 110,000. Interesting enough, it is the drawdown number that has captured more headlines of late. Not surprisingly, US family members coming home is more important news than the breakup of the coalition family over there. The latter is somewhat old-hat as well.
The human cost is always going to be the most important statistic of War, but the dollars, albeit a secondary factor, cannot be ignored when there are many other needs at home and in the world. The Iraq war is estimated to have cost already over $715 billion dollars. That makes the per capita war cost roughly $2,300 to date. As a point of reference, the feared national debt comes out to about $40,000 per person. Remember when we were shocked by the prospect of spending a $100 billion dollars on a war in a year? That was before bailouts, government loan guarantees and healthcare reform cost calculations made trillion a household word.
In sports, the box score might not matter as much as the final score, but in war, every stat counts. No single number says it all. Still, zero is still a very welcome number to those who have spouses, children, siblings or relatives in the Iraq. Responsible troop withdrawal from Iraq is also welcome as long as it leaves a country and world at greater peace.