Iraq Coalition Casualties Soon to Surpass September 11th Fatalities

President Bush has made the argument on numerous occasions that America has been made safer as a result of his decision to attack Iraq. I'd like to refute this assertion by pointing to a sobering statistic: the total number of casualties in the US-led coalition will soon surpass the number of fatalities as a result of the September 11th terrorist attack, probably in the next twenty-four hour period. (1) Here's a count of the two numbers side by side:

Number of fatalities as a result of the September 11th attacks: 2,973 (2)
Number of coalition forces who died as a result of President Bush's decision to attack Iraq: 2969 (3)

I do think it is important to draw attention to this sad statistic. The immense loss of life is just heartbreaking as I think of the families who lost soldiers in Iraq. Sadly, the moment is imminent when it will no longer be inaccurate to say that President Bush's war in Iraq has taken more American lives than even the terrorists' most horrific attack.

This simple comparison fills me with an unshakeable anger. President Bush is poised to beat the terrorists at their own game: he's taken more lives than them. Mission Accomplished.

I think it is right to hold President Bush to task for this, for it was his decision that has cost the lives of so many American and coalition soldiers. When will we begin to hold him and his administration accountable for this?


1 - Bush's justifications for the war have been fairly consistent, and are regularly mentioned in speeches and press briefings. The number of casualties suffered by coalition forces pales in comparison to the number of Iraqi civilians who have perished since the US-led attack. An exact number is hard to determine, but is in the tens of thousands.

2 - The September 11th figure is drawn from Wikipedia, which has a well documented and footnoted entry on the events that transpired. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks)

3 - The coalition figure comes from the following site, http://www.icasualties.org/oif/, which gathers its information directly from the US Department of Defense, Centcom, MNF, and the British Ministry of Defense.