Insurgent ‘body count’ records released

Stars & Stripes ^ | October 1, 2007 | Joseph Giordino and Lisa Burgess

[Kaslin]

American and coalition troops have reported killing and capturing more suspected insurgents in the first half of 2007 than in any other similar period of the Iraq war, while military officials said so-called “body count” reports are meant to give “scale” to the fight.

Last week, USA Today reported that since June 2003, the U.S. military in Iraq has kept a count of insurgents killed, injured and detained. Those figures were later released by the military to Stars and Stripes.

Through August 2007, those figures show, 18,832 suspected insurgents had been reported killed, 5,196 injured and 119,752 arrested by U.S. and coalition forces.

In 2007, the figures show, coalition troops arrested an average of around 100 suspected insurgents each day. Military officials have said both the increased casualty and capture figures are attributed in part to the “surge” and more aggressive tactics by units throughout the country.

The figures are compiled from “significant action” reports received from the field, said Capt. Michael Greenberger, who released the statistics to Stars and Stripes.

“The number of individuals detained does not represent the number of detainees currently held in Iraq. The number of individuals detained is an aggregate number and does not reflect the length of time individuals may have detained,” Greenberger said.

Since the beginning of the war — indeed, since the Vietnam War, when the practice was derided — the U.S. military has eschewed body counts.

In 2005, though, press releases began being issued with numbers of enemy fighters believed killed and captured in operations. At the time, military officials said there was no top-down order to report the numbers; instead, they were reported at the discretion of ground commanders releasing information about their operations.

On Friday, a top American general in Iraq began a briefing with Pentagon reporters by noting the death of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader earlier that week. His recounting of six separate operations leading to the operative’s death included specific numbers of alleged enemy fighters killed and captured.

When asked about the numbers, Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, the chief of staff for Multi–National Corps–Iraq, said, “We’re not focused on the numbers.”

“On most operations we have fairly quantifiable data, but that’s not the genesis of what we’re trying to determine. But if we have it, we release it. So in most releases you see us do, it will tell you: wounded, killed detained/captured, it will lay that out.”

Anderson said he had seen the USA Today article, but that “we’re not focused on” overall numbers.

“There’s no attempt to sit down and tally it all up and keep track of it. We just try and do it operation by operation, and yes, try and talk concretely about those things that we can, based on what we know. But it is not any desire to change any tactic, or any way we deal with the media or anybody else, about numbers being released.”

However, he said, “I think it’s important to have it all in context.”

“I think if you’re, obviously, doing a very good job of reporting our casualties, it’s very important to understand it — particularly if they are foreign fighters or what network they belong to in Iraq, to try and give you some benefit, some value of understanding who these insurgents, militias, terrorists, foreign fighters, other elements are…” Anderson said. “You’re going to see many reports that are going to give you that.”

Greenberger, asked after Anderson’s briefing, said the data released does not include any of the identifying metrics mentioned by Anderson.

“But the data is maintained, to get a feel for ‘scale-of,’” Anderson said.

Date Occurred	AIF Killed	AIF Injured	AIF Detained
Jun-03	14	46	142
Jul-03	78	85	583
Aug-03	71	69	739
Sep-03	72	77	872
Oct-03	101	79	959
Nov-03	153	109	2233
Dec-03	108	79	2761
Jan-04	77	50	2023
Feb-04	53	48	1496
Mar-04	77	67	1953
Apr-04	1247	620	1619
May-04	758	124	1219
Jun-04	366	107	1209
Jul-04	243	89	1507
Aug-04	1623	201	1486
Sep-04	727	80	1526
Oct-04	333	82	2264
Nov-04	960	94	3861
Dec-04	337	61	2669
Jan-05	261	76	4085
Feb-05	173	93	2566
Mar-05	184	104	3184
Apr-05	203	62	3037
May-05	386	110	4109
Jun-05	320	95	4371
Jul-05	180	65	3660
Aug-05	244	72	2871
Sep-05	313	71	3052
Oct-05	467	92	3174
Nov-05	346	60	3569
Dec-05	170	48	2782
Jan-06	187	74	2168
Feb-06	156	69	2096
Mar-06	197	55	2625
Apr-06	349	75	2702
May-06	363	71	2535
Jun-06	250	51	2206
Jul-06	332	95	2769
Aug-06	203	74	2288
Sep-06	241	101	1956
Oct-06	391	227	2596
Nov-06	576	160	2516
Dec-06	657	192	2858
Jan-07	768	144	3205
Feb-07	612	167	2909
Mar-07	493	124	3442
Apr-07	535	256	3205
May-07	506	159	3130
Jun-07	634	174	2948
Jul-07	575	192	3005
Aug-07	505	120	3239
Sep-07	254	45	2062
TOTAL	18832	5196	119752

[M Kehoe]

I'd like to see the counts reversed regarding captured and killed.

Just saying if I had my preference.

5.56mm

[Doogle]

next!

[Last Dakotan]

I had begun to think that this was the first war in history that the press only acknowledged the numbers of our dead or wounded.

[jveritas]

Through August 2007, those figures show, 18,832 suspected insurgents had been reported killed, 5,196 injured and 119,752 arrested by U.S. and coalition forces.

A total of 143,780 have been either killed, injured or captured.

God bless all our brave troops.

[Thrownatbirth]

I'm sure there will be complaints about the high dead-to-wounded ratio.

Hey, stuff happens.

[Unknowing]

I reckon that’s 1,355,904 virgins or goats or whatever.

Nice work, and congratulations to our armed forces.

[jveritas]

This great news about the casualties among the terrorist enemy deserve to be in the “Breaking News Section”.

[sonic109]

Nice shootin boys , nice shootin.

[Stonewall Jackson]

You baaad boy. ;-)

[Kaslin]

No doubt the moonbats will complain

[Southack]

Interesting numbers...

[Kaslin]

Indeed

[Old Sarge]

At least Stars & Gripes is reporting it. AP will either carry it, or spike it.

Smart money is on “spike”.

[Red6]

And of those detained probably 90% were let go (Statistic is figurative).

Sad but true reality is that while CNN, CBS, and foreign media beat the Abu Gharib story, because it fits into their political or ideological agenda, we for all practical purposes could hardly interrogate, were not allowed to detain suspects past certain benchmark times....... Hell, it’s harder for a US soldier in Iraq to detain an Iraqi than a COP a civilian in the US.

Over filled prisons, courts over run with cases, and the desire to appear as benevolent with occasional mass releases has led thousands who should have felt a rope around their neck to be let go. It is understandable how a soldier under certain circumstances might want to take justice into their own hands.

[river rat]

"I'm sure there will be complaints about the high dead-to-wounded ratio."

Once the grunts experience the fact that wounded or captured Jihadists get patched and/or released to fight again -- they take "measures".

But you're right -- the KIA to WIA is way out of "normal"...
But then again, these assholes aren't "normal" in any regard.

[Tex Pete]

Gen. Anderson is a friend of mine.

Keep on mowing ‘em down, boys! Hooah!

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Let’s go for 20,000 dead by the end of the year. I like nice round numbers.

The figures for Afghanistan should be impressive because every time the Taliban attacks en masse, they become a mass of bodies. The last battle had over 165 KIA. The wounded, if they escaped, were possibly about the same number.

Nothing like rackin’ and stackin’ them.

One problem with these figures, where does WIA fit in with the overall figures? Are they included in Detained, or are they based on blood-trails, reports from captured enemy, or KIA to WIA ratios?

Anyone know the answer?

[CutePuppy]

Looking at how small the numbers of the “insurgency” was until April 2004 (number of killed, wounded and detained implies level of activity), when John Kerry just about secured the nomination and started his shameful flip-flop campaign against Operation Iraqi Freedom, only few months before he “reported for duty” in August 2004 - shows vividly that Democrats’ anti-Iraqi Freedom campaign gave aid and comfort to the enemy starting right at that moment.

Also, while numbers of kills and detainees went up somewhat starting around the end of 2006, just before the election, the “surge” was not yet in force or a “policy”, so it’s obvious that “insurgents” were responsible for picking up the violence levels to help Democrats in their election campaign and drive to “redeploy” our troops from Iraq. The numbers and reports of violence dropped steeply a month ago when it became obvious that Democrats failed and are not getting the benefits from Iraq.

The conclusions are then that the military “surge” in itself (which only fully started recently) is likely not as much responsible for the good things that happened since October 2006 in Iraq (though Gen. Petraeus did a great job there) but more importantly, David Petraeus was particularly far better on Capitol Hill than his predecessor George Casey, and that’s where we were losing the “war” - on political front in Washington, not on military front in Iraq). What we needed was not just a great General, but a great spokesman for our cause in Iraq and Petraeus delivered the way previous Commanders did not. That should not be underestimated, and is characteristic of truly great leaders.

Bravo, and keep up the good work!

[CutePuppy]

Good question, I was wondering, too. FWIW, my opinion is that they would be separate numbers (from after action reports) and not be included in Detained - it’s hard to imagine that none of the Detained were not wounded.