This Week in Iraq
Iraq - Security
Approximate number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq: 145,000
Percent of coalition forces contributed by the U.S.: 92
Number of troops the British government will withdraw from Iraq in the coming months: 1,600
Number of additional U.S. troops to be sent to Iraq, according to the President’s surge plan: 28,700
Number of additional U.S. troops to be sent to Iraq, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis of the President’s surge plan: Up to 48,000
Estimated cost of troop surge plan according to the Bush Administration: $5.6 billion
Estimated cost of troop surge plan according to CBO’s analysis: Up to $27 billion
Approximate amount appropriated by Congress for Iraq operations so far: >$450 billion
Estimated total cost of operations in Iraq by war’s end: $549 billion - $2.26 trillion
Approximate amount spent by the U.S. in World War I (in inflation-adjusted dollars): $205 billion
Approximate amount the U.S. is spending in Iraq per month (including operational
and investment costs): $8.6 billion
Approximate amount the U.S. spent in Iraq per month in Fiscal Year 2003
(including operational and investment costs): $4.4 billion
Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq: 3,260
Number reported wounded by the Defense Department: 24,476
Number of National Guard soldiers killed in Iraq through February 3, 2007: 415
Number of National Guard soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam War: 97
Number of Iraqi military and police killed since training began in June 2003: 6,401
Number of journalists killed in Iraq: 95
Number of journalists killed in Vietnam: 63
Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (November 2003): 5,000
Estimated strength of Sunni insurgency (including non-operational supporters): 70,000
Estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq in May 2003: 100
Estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq in November 2006: 800 – 2,000
Funds the insurgency in Iraq is now able to raise annually from illegal activities, including kidnappings and oil smuggling: $70 - $200 million
Number of U.S. helicopters downed by Iraqi forces this year: 9
Number of multi-fatality bombings in March 2005: 13
Number of multi-fatality bombings in March 2007: 51
Percent of attacks directed at Coalition forces: 68 percent
Percent of Iraqis who approve of attacks on Coalition forces: 51 percent
Number of Iraqi police and security forces trained and equipped: 329,800
Rate of attrition for Iraqi police, according to the Pentagon: 30 percent
Rate of desertion for Iraqi soldiers deployed to combat areas outside their
normal area of operation: >50 percent
Number of guns paid for by the U.S. for Iraq’s security forces that are unaccounted for: >14,000
Percent of Iraqis who view the security environment as bad or very bad, according to a February/March 2007 survey: 53 percent
Percent of Iraqis who say they have confidence in U.S. and coalition troops according to a February/March 2007 survey: 18 percent
Iraq – Political
Percent of Iraqis who say that their lives are generally good (according
to a February/March 2007 poll): 39 percent
Percent of Iraqis surveyed in a similar poll in 2005 who said that their lives are generally good: 71 percent
Percent of Iraqis who believe the overall situation in Iraq is bad or very bad: 66 percent
Number of seats radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al Sadr controls in the Iraqi parliament: 30
Percent of Iraqi Sunnis disapprove of the way Prime Minister al-Maliki is handling his job, according to a March poll: 96 percent
Number of Iraqi security forces the Ministry of Interior recently fired after finding them guilty of torture, taking bribes, and having links to militias: 10,000
Percent of Iraq Ministry of Interior staff who are “ghost employees”: 20-30 percent
Annual cost of corruption to Iraq’s economy: $4 billion
Number of corruption-related investigations Iraq’s Ministry of Interior opened in 2006 alone: 3,403
Percent of U.S. reconstruction budget allocated to anti-corruption initiatives: .03 percent or $65 million
Iraq - Humanitarian
Estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed in the violence since U.S.-led invasion, according to Iraq’s Minister of Health: 150,000
Number of Iraqi civilians killed in the violence in 2006, according to the U.N.: 34,452
Approximate number of Iraqis who have fled the country since 2003: 1.8 million
Approximate number of Iraqis who have been internally displaced since 2003: 750,000
Approximate number of Iraqis who are fleeing Iraq each month: 9,000
The number of new Iraqi passports issued since August 2005: > 2 million
Percent of Iraq’s professional class that has left the country since late 2003: 40 percent
Approximate number of Iraqis who have fled to Jordan: 700,000-750,000
Approximate number of Iraqis who have fled to Syria: 600,000 – 1 million
Number of Iraqis who have been granted entry to the United States since 2003: 466
Annual Iraq budget of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in 2003: $150 million
Annual Iraq budget of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in 2006: $29 million
Number of Baghdad residents polled in a March survey say they have experienced the kidnapping of a family member or relative in the past three years: 23 percent
Number of Iraqi physicians registered prior to the invasion: 34,000
Number of Iraqi physicians who have been murdered, kidnapped, or fled
the country since the invasion: 14,250
Portion of Iraq’s population that currently lives in poverty, according to the UNDP: 1/3
Infant mortality rate in Iraq: (Middle East average is 37, sub-Saharan Africa average is 105) 102
Number of Iraqi children undernourished: 4.5 million
Percent of Iraqi elementary-age children who attended school last year, according to the Iraq Ministry of Education: 75 percent
Percent of Iraqi elementary-age children who are attending school now, according to the Iraq Ministry of Education: 30 percent
Iraq - Reconstruction
Percent of Iraqis who rate their family’s economic conditions as poor: 64 percent
Estimated unemployment rate, according to the Pentagon: 13.4 – 60 percent
Percent of Baghdadis surveyed in a January 2007 poll who said that their current income meets their basic needs: 16 percent
Estimated number of jobs created by aid efforts: < 140,000
Estimated number of Iraqis still being paid not to work: 600,000
Average rate of inflation in Iraq in 2006: 50 percent
Of the $57 billion in contract funds for Iraq reconstruction aid, the amount the U.S. government has squandered due to contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses: $10 billion
Of these $10 billion in overpriced contracts and unsupported expenses, amount that was charged by Halliburton: $2.7 billion
Percent of Iraq reconstruction funds used for security and justice sector: 34 percent
Average number of attacks on infrastructure each week: 6.7
According to the GAO, anticipated reconstruction gap (difference between estimates of what is needed to rebuild and what the international community has pledged in aid) that the newIraqi government will face: $50 billion
Oil production for March 2007 (barrels per day): 2.07 million
Average oil production prior to invasion (barrels per day): 2.5 million
Bush Administration’s prewar projections of Iraq’s post-war oil output (barrels per day): 3 million
Approximate amount of U.S. reconstruction funds spent on rebuilding Iraq’s oil sector: $1.72 billion
Portion of Iraq’s GDP generated by oil revenues: 2/3
Electricity capacity in Iraq (in megawatts) prior to invasion (March 2003): 4,500
Electricity capacity to have been reached by July 2004, according to U.S. reconstruction goals: 6,000
Electricity capacity in Iraq (in megawatts) in March 2007: 3,530
Average number of daily hours of electricity nationwide: 10.7 hours
Average number of daily hours of electricity in Baghdad: 6.6 hours
Average number of daily hours of electricity in Baghdad prior to 2003: 16-24
Approximate amount of U.S. reconstruction funds spent on rebuilding Iraq’s electricity sector: $4.24 billion.
Chicago Herald Tribune