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US death toll in Iraq approaches 2,000

It is expected that in the coming days the U.S. military will report the 2,000th American military death in Iraq. While that number seems high to anyone, especially those who oppose the war, only 11% of those wounded in military actions in Iraq have died as a result of their injuries, whereas in Vietnam that ration was 28%. Vast improvements in body armor and strides in battlefield medicine have contributed to the lower percentage of the ratio of deaths to serious injuries.

15,000 Americans have been wounded in Iraq, roughly half of them wounded enough to be sent home. Up until recently, the American public has been pretty tolerant of the level of the loss of life in Iraq, but gradually public opinion has shifted and now more Americans than ever, regardless of the death toll, stand in opposition to the Iraq war.

However, frequently neglected is the war`s cost to Iraqis. Roughly 25,000 Iraqi civilians have died in the course of the war, and about 3,300 Iraqi soldiers and police have been killed, 2,100 this year alone, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies released this week.