U.S. Casualties Plummet in Iraq

U.S. casualties in Iraq have sunk to their lowest level since the war began, with the fatality rate for G.I.'s on the front lines dropping to less than half the monthly average since the war began.

November 2003 was by far the bloodiest month for U.S. forces, with two helicopter crashes boosting the death rate to 82. By February 2004, however, the number of U.S. troop deaths had dropped to less than a quarter of that number, with 20 Americans killed.

Casualty rates compiled by the website lunaville.org, which is now considered by journalists, military personnel and their families to be the most accurate and comprehensive source for Iraq casualty totals, have shown a dramatic decline since January 2004, when 47 G.Is were killed.

In a development largely overlooked by the press, the February monthly death total of 20 was less than half January's number. And figures for the first nine days of March track almost exactly with the February rate, with five U.S. dead so far.

Since the war's inception in March 2003 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq has averaged 46 per month, with individual monthly totals as follows:

Mar. 2003 - 65
Apr. 2003 - 73
May 2003 - 37
June 2003 - 30
July 2003 - 47
Aug. 2003 - 35
Sept. 2003 - 31
Oct. 2003 - 42
Nov. 2003 - 82
Dec. 2003 - 40
Jan. 2004 - 47
Feb. 2004 - 20
Mar. 2004 - 5[Though Mar. 9]

Figures for U.S. wounded show a similar decline - from October's high of 422 to a February total of 147.

For updates see: http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

Editor's note:
Check out "Resolve" with the official President Bush photo – click here now

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: