Report: 50,000 American casualties in Iraq

January 5, 2007

As the U.S. military hit a grim milestone this week of 3,000 deaths in Iraq, the online magazine AlterNet reported on Thursday another marker was reached there sometime in December: 50,000 U.S. casualties, including deaths, wounds and injuries.

The figure comes from more than 22,000 wounded in combat and more than 24,000 either injured in accidents or who became too ill to fight, all of which the U.S. military deems casualties.

The story cited two sources. One was a military document that counted casualties in Iraq through Dec. 2, 2006. The other was an independent website called the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

The author of the report urged opponents of the war to make the figure known, because "we are being manipulated along with the media and public by the administration's determination to minimize the cost in blood" by only reporting the number of deaths.