WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. casualties in Iraq are approaching another grim benchmark: The point where 3,000 American troops will have died there.
As of Thursday, Jan. 4, 2,998 U.S. soldiers had died in Iraq since the beginning of combat operations on March 19, 2006 according top official figures issued by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Therefore, 99 U.S. soldiers were killed in the 29-day period from Dec. 7 through Jan. 4, at an average rate of just over 3.4 per day. This marked an increase of more than 50 percent in the rate at which U.S. soldiers were being killed per day during the previous 16-day period from Nov. 21 through Dec. 6, at an average rate of just over 2.2 per day.
The latest figures also marked a very significant rise from the previous 14-day period from Nov. 7 through Nov. 20 when 32 U.S. soldiers were killed at an average rate of just below 2.3 per day. The new statistics show a return to the 22-day period from Oct. 16 through Nov. 6 when 371 U.S. soldiers were killed at an average rate of just below 3.23 per day. They are, indeed, slightly worse than those levels were.
The latest figures may reflect increasing clashes with the Shiite militias in Baghdad and elsewhere as well as continuing attacks from Sunni insurgents. They are very close to the levels of casualties that were experienced in the early fall when U.S. and Iraqi forces aggressively engaged Shiite militias as well in Baghdad but were unable to significantly reduce their influence.
During the 18-day period from Sept. 28 through Oct. 15, 56 U.S. soldiers were killed at an average rate of just over 3.1 per day. That rate was identical to the one we reported Oct. 1 in these columns for the nine days from Sept. 19 through Sept. 27, when 28 U.S. soldiers were killed at an average rate of 3.1 per day. At that time, we noted that these figures were far higher than the rate during the previous 18-day period, when 33 U.S. soldiers were killed from Sept. 1 through Sept. 18, at an average rate of 1.77 per day.
The latest figures confirm continuing significant rates of attrition on U.S. forces more than 50 percent worse than those in the second half of August. During the two-week period from Aug. 18 through Aug. 31, 29 U.S. soldiers were killed at an average rate of just over two per day.
U.S. soldiers were killed during the three-week period from July 28 through Aug. 17 at an average rate of 2.33 per day. From July 21 through July 27, 14 U.S. soldiers were killed, at an average rate of two per day.
Before that five-week period, the rate at which U.S. soldiers were killed per day in Iraq had risen for almost eight weeks. Some 1.75 per day were killed during the eight-day period from July 13 through July 20. And 1.36 U.S. soldiers were killed per day during the 15-day period from June 29 through July 12. However, during the eight days from June 21 through June 28, 24 U.S. soldiers died at an average rate of three per day.
Some 1.75 U.S. soldiers per day died in Iraq during the seven-day period from June 14 through June 20. During the eight-day period of June 6-13, 2.5 U.S. soldiers were killed per day. During the six-day period of May 31-June 5, some 11 U.S. troops died in Iraq at an average rate of 1.82 per day.
During the 48-day period from April 13 to May 30, 107 U.S. troops died in Iraq at an average rate of just over 2.2 per day. But that was still slightly worse than the previous longer-term trend during the 68-day period from Feb. 4 to April 12, when 112 U.S. troops died in Iraq at an average rate of 1.65 per day.
As of Thursday, Jan. 4, 22,714 U.S. soldiers had been injured in Iraq since the start of military operations to topple Saddam Hussein.
During the 29-day period from Dec. 7 through Jan. 4, 657 U.S. soldiers were injured in Iraq at an average rate of just over 22.7 per day. This figure marked a slight reduction on the previous 16-day period we monitored. From Nov. 21 through Dec. 6, 379 U.S. soldiers were injured in Iraq at an average rate of just below 23.7 per day.
These figures over the past six-and-a-half weeks marked a significant rise in the rate at which such casualties were being inflicted. From Nov. 7 through Nov. 20, 259 U.S. soldiers were injured in Iraq at an average rate of 18.5 per day, according to U.S. Department of Defense figures. This marked a return to the levels of the 40-day period from Sept. 28 through Nov. 6.
From Oct. 16 through Nov. 6, 524 U.S. soldiers were injured in Iraq at an average rate of 23.81 per day. That rate of casualties suffered was virtually identical to the previous 18-day period from Sept. 28 through Oct. 15, when 427 U.S. soldiers were injured in Iraq at an average rate of 23.72 per day.
In the three-week period from July 28 through Aug. 17, 354 U.S. soldiers were injured at an average rate of 16.857 per day.
These overall figures therefore serve notice to U.S. policymakers that the insurgents in Iraq have not lost any of their capabilities to inflict relatively low but significant and increasing levels of attrition on U.S. forces.
