To date, there have been 648 deaths and an official tally of 3,500 wounded since combat begain. There is an unofficial tally of 7,000-10,000 wounded.
(source:
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/)
Historically speaking, these numbers are low.
The invasion of Sicily for example cost well over 22,000 casulties on the Allied side. (The Axis lost over 165,000)
More recently, the British Falkland war which only lasted 72 days had 240 KIA (wounded count not listed)
(Souce:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6909)
5,000-10,000 Iraqi civilians are reported to have been killed. Iraqi military loses are in the 4,800-6,400 range.
Some are comparing the Iraq war with Vietnam. While I disagree with some of the political concepts in those comparisons, the tactical part is sound.
Iraq like Vietnam was a foriegn nation, were we were fighting against ages old concepts and a people who would willingly spend life to inflict damage on their enemies.
The enemy knows the terrain better than we do.
This counter-strike was expected, but it was hoped it wouldn't appear until after the transition was complete. The fighting is house to house, through cramped neighborhoods, the layout well known to the enemy, not well known to us.
Any expert on military operations will tell you that urban fighting is one of the worst enviroments to fight in. Collateral damage is high, and there are constraint on our troops that the enemy doesn't have. They are hiding in sacred places where if we shoot back, we are accused of 'defiling a holy place', and the bad PR adds more fighters to the enemys camp. The enemy has no problem with hiding behind women and children and firing, using suicide bombers, and rigging the wounded to explode. There are rules of engagement that most nations subscribe to. This enemy does not.
In plain words, its a very sucky situation.
Now, I'm of the camp that says we shouldn't have gone in there in the first place. That argument doesn't need to be re-debated. Dead horse, we're there now. Thats what counts.
So, getting out.
We can't leave until there is a stable government in place.
We can't leave while there is an armed uprising of a few thousand fanatics, especially when they have retaken several cities.
We can't leave while the country can't protect itself.
Leaving now would turn into a civil war, with possible other nations grabbing for their own pieces of the pie. Iraw, Syria, and Kuwait would love to push those borders back a bit...and don't doubt Turkey wouldn't want to drop the hammer on the Kurds as well.
The exit strategy is clear.
-Regain control of the areas currently in rebellion
-Continue the transition of power back to the Iraqis
-Continue to rebuild the infrastructure to allow self-sufficiency
-Protect the borders until such time as that duty can be returned to a functional Iraqi Army.
The timeframe for most of that is later this year. That may be ajusted depending on how long pascification takes.
Expect at least another 100-200 American KIA before then.
For a military campaign, 1,000 deaths is a small number.
But each one robs us of one of our brightest, and is therefore too much.
It must however be done so that the job is done right.
Let us hope it is done with minimal future losses as well.
-Peace.
