As of 8:13 PM today:
The number of US troops in Afghanistan: 18,000 US fatalities in Afghanistan: 208 ("Operation Enduring Freedom US Fatalities," <http://icasualties.org/oef/>) The length of the Afghan War = 1363 Days Average Daily Fatalities in Afghanistan: 0.15
The number of US troops in Iraq: 140,000 US fatalities in Iraq: 1746 ("Iraq Coalition Casualty Count," <http://icasualties.org/oif/>) The length of the Iraq War = 835 Days Average Daily Fatalities in Iraq: 2.09
140,000 / 18,000 = 7.77 208 X 7.77 = 1617.77 0.15 X 7,77 = 1.17
Other things being equal, a tour of duty in Afghanistan is already roughly 56% as dangerous as one in Iraq.
US casualties in Afghanistan have been clearly trending up (the trend in Iraq is less linear, with spikes in November 2003, April 2004, November 2004, and January 2005 ["Iraq Coalition Casualty Count," <http://icasualties.org/oif/>]):
Period Total 2005 54 2004 52 2003 47 2002 43 2001 12 Total 208
("Operation Enduring Freedom US Fatalities," <http://icasualties.org/oef/>)
The US casualty rate in Afghanistan may catch up with that in Iraq in several years, unless Washington sends more troops to Iraq and put them into combat zones more often, in a vain attempt to numerically overwhelm and decisively defeat guerrillas, which will increase US casualties (as well as Iraqi combatant and civilian casualties) in Iraq. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Monthly Review: <http://monthlyreview.org/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>