Iraq War Statistics – 2008

Jun 25 2008 For your quick reading, I’ve listed key statistics about the Iraq War, taken primarily from data analyzed by various think tanks, including The Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index, and from mainstream media sources. Data is presented as of June 15, 2008, except as indicated.

U.S. SPENDING IN IRAQ

• Spent & Approved War-Spending – About $600 billion of US taxpayers’ funds. President Bush has requested about $200 billion more for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to close to $800 billion.
• U.S. Monthly Spending in Iraq – $12 billion in 2008
• U.S. Spending per Second – $5,000 in 2008 (per Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on May 5, 2008 )
• Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq – $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)
• Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq – $9 billion of US taxpayers’ money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.
• Missing – $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)
• Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq – $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
• Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported – $1.4 billion
• Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items – $20 billion
• Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem “questionable or supportable” – $3.2 billion
• Number of major U.S. bases in Iraq – 75 (The Nation/New York Times)

TROOPS IN IRAQ

• Iraqi Troops Trained and Able to Function Independent of U.S. Forces – 6,000 as of May 2007 (per NBC’s “Meet the Press” on May 20, 2007)
• Troops in Iraq – Total 159,734, including 150,000 from the US, 4,000 from the UK, 2,000 from Georgia, 900 from Poland, 650 from South Korea and 2,184 from all other nations
• U.S. Troop Casualties – 4,099 US troops; 98% male. 90% non-officers; 80% active duty, 12% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 10% African-American, 11% Latino. 18% killed by non-hostile causes. 51% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 70% were from the US Army
• Non-U.S. Troop Casualties – Total 312, with 176 from the UK
• US Troops Wounded – 30,209, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)
• US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems – 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home
• US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq – 68 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

IRAQI TROOPS, CIVILIANS & OTHERS IN IRAQ

• Private Contractors in Iraq, Working in Support of US Army Troops – More than 180,000 in August 2007, per The Nation/LA Times.
• Journalists killed – 129, 85 by murder and 44 by acts of war
• Journalists killed by US Forces – 14
• Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed – 8,374
• Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated – A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000.
• Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated – 55,000
• Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed – 552
• Non-Iraqi Kidnapped – 306, including 57 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 89 status unknown.
• Daily Insurgent Attacks, Feb 2004 – 14
• Daily Insurgent Attacks, July 2005 – 70
• Daily Insurgent Attacks, May 2007 – 163
• Estimated Insurgency Strength, Nov 2003 – 15,000
• Estimated Insurgency Strength, Oct 2006 – 20,000 – 30,000
• Estimated Insurgency Strength, June 2007 – 70,000

QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS

• Iraqis Displaced Inside Iraq, by Iraq War, as of May 2007 – 2,255,000
• Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan – 2.1 million to 2.25 million
• Iraqi Unemployment Rate – 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect
• Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 – 50%
• Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition – 28% in June 2007 (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)
• Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 – 40%
• Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion – 34,000
• Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion – 12,000
• Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion – 2,000
• Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity – 1 to 2 hours, per Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (Per Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2007)
• Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity – 10.9 in May 2007
• Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity – 5.6 in May 2007
• Pre-War Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity – 16 to 24
• Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems – 37%
• Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies – 70% (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)
• Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated – 22%

RESULTS OF POLL Taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense (Source: Brookings Institute)

• Iraqis “strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops – 82%
• Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security – less than 1%
• Iraqis who feel less ecure because of the occupation – 67%
• Iraqis who do not have confidence in multi-national forces – 72%

Ending the Iraq War

• Obama 101: Ending the Iraq War
• Barack Obama’s Stirring 2002 Speech Against Iraq War
• Who Voted NO on Iraq War in 2002?

 

Lead found in 21 brands of lipstick

Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — Health Canada has found lead in some lipsticks for sale in Canada, but the agency says the levels do not pose a health risk for consumers.

The government decided to test lipsticks after the U.S. group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released a report last October titled “A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipsticks.”

Twenty-one of 26 samples tested at Health Canada’s product safety laboratories contained lead levels of 0.079 parts per million to 0.84 parts per million.

One lipstick sample had 6.3 parts per million, while the remainder contained no detectable levels of lead.

The Canadian results were worse than the American study. Of the 33 samples tested in the United States, 13 contained no detectable traces of lead.

In the U.S. tests, the highest lead content found was 0.65 ppm (L’Oreal Colour Riche True Red), in excess of the 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The American study prompted the state of California to decide that any lipstick containing five parts per million or more would require a safety-hazard warning to consumers; the state law prohibits companies selling products in California from exposing individuals to chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without a warning label.

Canada, however, uses 10 parts per million as its safety threshold, which is the international standard set by the United States Pharmacopeia for lead impurity for oral products. Health Canada says this standard is “conservative” and “protective of consumers,” including younger girls.

Health Canada acknowledges its lipstick tests showed “one anomaly that seems to be higher than the others” at 6.3 parts per million. But even factoring in a margin of error of 2.9, “the sample still met the 10 ppm limit,” the department said in a statement.

“It was deemed to be negligible risk and to meet acceptable standards for sale.”

Health Canada would not disclose the brands of the samples, citing confidentiality.

Lead and lead compounds, proven neurotoxins, are prohibited ingredients in cosmetics in Canada, but impurities exist in the environment that may be found in the raw materials or be acquired during the manufacturing process.

Colour additives, which are sometimes used to colour lipstick, also contain lead.

Health advocate Carol Secter isn’t comforted by government assurances about lead levels in lipstick, pointing to a growing body of scientific evidence suggesting there is no safe level of lead in the blood.

“One application at a very small level is unlikely to cause you any serious harm or no harm at all. But the lead built up in your body doesn’t dissipate. And you apply it everyday and many times a day. It’s not the one-time exposure that’s the problem,” said the president of the Breast Cancer Action Montreal who oversees its safe cosmetics campaign.

But Dr. Ray Copes, medical director of environmental health at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, said the lead levels found in the lipsticks in the Health Canada tests don’t concern him.

“In terms of exposure and health risk, it’s hard to get worked up, compared to other sources of lead exposure that are occurring everyday,” said Copes, an epidemiology professor at the University of B.C. and a specialist in risk assessment and lead exposure.

“If I was concerned about lead exposure in the population, and we are, I sure wouldn’t be looking at lipstick as the most promising place to look to reduce those exposures. I’d be looking at how lead gets into the food supply.”

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008