Battle Of Mosul Casualties Updated

Destruction in the Old City of Mosul. Most of its narrow streets are impassable, strewn with debris and destroyed vehicles. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)

Musings on Iraq: Battle Of Mosul Casualties Updated

There were recently two reports released in November 2017, which proved that there were still many unaccounted for casualties from the Mosul campaign. First, the United Nations released a study on the battle that included over 1,000 dead and wounded not reported before. Than the New York Times did an in depth study of Coalition air strikes during the Mosul operation, which found that there were many more incidents of civilian deaths than the Coalition acknowledged, and that it was using a flawed system to assess whether it caused any casualties.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The battle of Mosul was in every-way a bloodbath. Read the above post. On a side note .... it is a few months old, but a more detailed report on the battle against the Islamic State in Western Iraq can be read here .... Iraq: The Wars Grind Down (Strategy Page).

UN Report: At A Minimum 1075 Killed In Iraq In 17 Days

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Iraq Violence: UN Confirms More Than 2,000 Killed, Injured Since Early June -- UN News Centre

24 June 2014 – More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq, and another 1,000 injured in the two weeks since the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) and its allies began to sweep across the country, the United Nations today confirmed, stressing that those figures should be viewed “very much as a minimum.”

According to the human rights team at the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), at least 757 civilians were killed and 599 injured in Nineveh and Salah al-Din provinces, north of Baghdad, and Diyala, in the east, between 5 and 22 June.

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More News On Today's UN Report That In The Month Of June 2,000 Have Killed Been Killed Or Injured In Fighting

UN: At least 1,075 killed in Iraq in June -- AP
Iraq toll 'more than 1,000 in June' -- BBC
1,075 Iraqis killed in recent fighting -- UPI
More than 1,000 killed in Iraq violence in June: U.N. -- Reuters
U.N. Says Over 1,000 Killed in Iraq Insurgency -- Wall Street Journal
ISIL Militants Killed More Than 1000 Civilians In Recent Onslaught In Iraq: UN -- RTT
UN says more than 1,000 killed in 17 days in Iraq as govt battles jihadists -- Times of India/AFP
At least 1,075 killed in Iraq in June, UN says -- FOX News

US Military Deaths In Iraq War At 4,200

From Yahoo News/AP:

As of Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, at least 4,200 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,393 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

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Allied Casualties In Iraq And Afghanistan

From Gateway Pundit:

Allied Troop Deaths in Iraq Drop Below Those
in Afghanistan For Second Straight Month

You may not get this sense from the doom and gloom media but the coalition deaths in Afghanistan are on pace to equal the number lost last year.

ICasualties.com

The last 6 months in Iraq saw the lowest number of fatalities in a 6 month stretch since the start of the war in 2003.
And, for the second month in a row the number of troops killed in Iraq was lower than the number of coalition troops lost in Afghanistan.
The AP, of course, reported this as if it were bad news:

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More News On Causalities in Iraq And Afghanistan:
Female U.S. Casualties More Common in Iraq War -- CSSN News
Iraq by the numbers: key figures in the war -- AP
US casualties point to Taliban resurgence -- The Age
Western forces' latest Afghanistan losses overtake Iraq death toll -- Times Online
NATO, US forces suffer deadliest month in Afghanistan: figures -- AFP/Yahoo News

My Comment: Iraq will probably go down, but Afghanistan is clearly increasing.

Iraq Deaths Down, But For How Long?

From Yahoo News:

BAGHDAD - U.S. military deaths plunged in May to the lowest monthly level in more than four years and civilian casualties were down sharply, too, as Iraqi forces assumed the lead in offensives in three cities and a truce with Shiite extremists took hold.

But many Iraqis as well as U.S. officials and private security analysts are uncertain whether the current lull signals a long-term trend or is simply a breathing spell like so many others before.

U.S. commanders also warn the relative peace is fragile because no lasting political agreements have been reached among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities.

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My Comment: When Shiite Holy sites were deliberately target by Al Qaeda groups in February/March 2006, everyone knew that this was going to precipitate a major civil war. It was only through the intervention of American forces and a change in U.S. command/direction that stopped this religious conflict from spiraling out of control.

Do the same conditions exist to restart another civil war in Iraq? ..... The answer is no. Many of the leaders who were obsessed with starting such a civil war are now either dead or in hiding. In addition, Iraqi security forces are in the first phase of reconstituting themselves, and this in the long run will be the force that will stabilize the country.

If civil war is to return, it will come back under different circumstances. This includes foreign involvement from countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and foreign extremists groups .... Al Qaeda still being one of them, as well as a lack of political will from Washington to stay for the long run in developing a "Just Society" in Iraq.

Expect the tally to go down further as temperatures rise during the summer months, but what will happen in the fall is anyone's guess at the moment.