March 2006 Iraq casualties

(Sorry, missed doing the February report.)

Avg. daily military fatality rate (nearly all of them Americans): 1.06. February was 2.07, January 2.06, and March 2005 was 1.26. Overall average to date is 2.3, down .03 from January. Total US dead as of today: 2343.

Iraqi monthly military/police fatalities: 193. February was 158, January was 189 and March 2005 was 176. Total dead: 4397.

Iraqi monthly civilian fatalities: 901. February was 688, January was 579, and March 2005 was 240. Note that the civilian numbers may be less accurate than others, but could still be useful in determining trends.

Comments: The American death rate has dropped somewhat in the last few months. That doesn't seem to have changed public pessimism - Americans appear to be tired of seeing hundreds of American dead annually as we enter the fourth year of the war.

Either the Iraqi civilian body count is low, or media overplayed the civil strife that resulted from blowing up the Shiite shrine towards the end of February. I recall seeing reports about thousands of deaths in sectarian violence.