Iraq war by the numbers, as last US combat brigade leaves
The last US combat brigade left Iraq today, after $751 billion and 4,415 American lives. Here's a breakdown of the Iraq war numbers.
In this Aug. 16 photo, US Army soldiers from 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment pose with an American flag for a photograph after crossing the border from Iraq into Kuwait. The soldiers from 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, are the last combat brigade to leave Iraq as part of the drawdown of US forces.
Maya Alleruzzo/AP
Boston
The last US combat brigade departed Iraq on Thursday morning, 12 days ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline set by President Obama. It completed a cutback to 50,000 troops, from a high of 170,000. Mr. Obama has said all US service members will be pulled out by Jan. 1, 2012.
More than seven years after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, Americans, Iraqis, and the international community are assessing the impact of one of the longest and most expensive wars in United States history.
"Given the blood and treasure expended on all sides, it's a pretty poor outcome," Toby Dodge, an Iraq specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told the Monitor's Scott Peterson in his cover story, "Iraq Score Card: What's been left behind."
Here's a look at some of the numbers.
Financial cost
• $751 billion will have been poured into Iraq by the United States by the end of FY2010, according to a July report from the Congressional Research Service.
• $53 billion of that is earmarked for everything from education and sewer systems to office furniture and paint.
• $142 billion was the highest annual cost, in FY2008, during the surge.
• $23.2 billion been spent on training Iraq security forces since 2004, with an additional $2 billion expected for FY2011.
• $51 billion is the projected total cost for the Iraq war in FY2011.
Human cost
• 4,415 American troops have died in Iraq as of Aug. 18, according to the independent monitor iCasualties.org. An additional 179 British and 139 coalition troops have died.
• 466 killed troops came from California, the greatest loss of any state. Texas lost 413 troops, and Pennsylvania lost 195.
• 31,882 American troops have been injured in Iraq as of the end of July, according to iCasualties.
• Two-thirds of all injured troops came from the Army.
• 9,537 Iraqi troops have died between June 2003 and June 29, 2010, according to the Brookings Institution Iraq Index.
• 97,000-106,000 Iraqi citizens have died in the war, according to IraqBodyCount.org.
Conditions in Iraq
• 20 percent of the population has access to sanitation in the home, according to the Brookings Institution Iraq Index.
• 45 percent have in-home access to drinking water.
• 50 percent have 12-plus hours of electricity a day.
• 30 percent have access to public health services.
Now, the United States faces another test, the Monitor's Michael B. Farrell writes in his cover story, "The Surge Home."
"If one gauge of a nation's humanity is how it treats its returning soldiers, then the US is about to face a significant test," writes Mr. Farrell. "Experts say the country is woefully unprepared to handle it."