Dissident Veteran For Peace

As of Tuesday, day 1,225 of the Iraq War…

• 2,561 American soldiers have been reported killed, according to the US Department of Defense. Associated Press, however, reported Monday that the minimum number of American casualties in Iraq is 2,567.
• 18,988 soldiers have been reported wounded in action.*
• 39,284 is the minimum number of civilians killed in Iraq.
• $298.6 billion in taxpayer funds have been spent on the war.
• $144.4 million is Pasadena taxpayers’ share; $3.1 billion is Los Angeles’.

Since the last Count [7/6/06]…

• 8 more American soldiers have been reported killed.
• 161 more Iraqi civilians have been reported killed.
• 100 civilians were killed each day on average during May and June, the first two months of Iraq’s new US-backed government, according to Reuters. While Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki denied the possibility of an impending civil war, an unnamed Iraqi official said, “If this is not civil war … then I don’t know what is.”
• 14,000 Iraqis have died since January, CNN reported last week.
• 66 is the minimum number of civilians killed Sunday by three separate car bombs, according to the Washington Post.
• 2 out of 5 Iraqis recently interviewed stated they had lost family members or friends to insurgent violence, according to a survey released by Reuters Monday.

QUOTE:
“They did [their job] honorably, they did it admirably,” said the attorney for one of three soldiers being tried for the deaths of three Iraqi men during a May mission. “If they did want to kill these men, they could have and been within the rules of engagement.” According to AP, the soldiers testified that they “were under orders to ‘kill all military age males.’”

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan…

• 314 American soldiers have been reported killed.*
• 825 have been reported wounded in action.*
• 800 people have been killed since the middle of May, AP reported Monday.
• 35 vehicles carried "hundreds" of Taliban soldiers to a government building where they killed 3 police officers and injured 7 on Monday, according to reports by AP and the Washington Post.

COUNTDOWN: 832 days remain until the 2008 presidential election.