Iraq+War+9-08

__ Iraq War Factsheet Sept 2QQ8fBryan)  __  ** Invasion Date: ** March 20, 2003    Civilians Killed: Estimates range from 150,000 to over one million    Americans Killed: over 4155, over 30,500 wounded    Insurgents Killed (post-Saddam): 18,000-24,000.   ** Financial Cost ** of the war over $845 billion to the U.S., U.S. taxpayers will have paid $1.9trillion    Coalition Forces -177,000 current. 152,000 of them U.S. troops. This is 15 brigades of US troops    Iraqi Security Forces 557,000 (Army: 180,000, Police: 227,000, Facilities Protection Service: 150,000)    Military Contractors-182,000 (118,000 Iraqi, 43,000 Other, 21,000 US)    Peshmerga(armed Kurdish Police Forces in Northern Iraq) 50,000 invasion 270,000 current    Sunni Insurgents-70,000Mahdi Army~60,000[4] al Qaeda/others l,300+[5]    Detainees: 19,700 (U.S.-held) 24,200 (Iraqi-held)    Refugees Created: 4.7 million refugees (-16% of the population of Iraq.) Abu Graib prisoner abuse: Received international media attention in April 2004 2006 UN described Iraq as being in a "civil war- like situation." ** The Iraq Study Group Report ** December 6, 2006. "the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating" and "U.S. forces seem to be caught in a mission that has no foreseeable end." The report's 79 recommendations include increasing diplomatic measures with Iran and Syria and intensifying efforts to   train Iraqi troops. Military prosecutors charged 8 Marines with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005, 10 of them women and children. Saddam Hussein was hanged on December 30, 2006 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court, January 10, 2007 Bush proposed 21,500 more troops for Iraq, a job programme for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion for these programmes. Tours of duty were increased and the exclusions of volunteers with a history of criminal acts were relaxed. Nov2008 Due to decreased violence, the military is sending home two brigades and not replacing one of   them this month(November2008), dropping the number of brigades in Iraq from 15 to 14. A brigade has about 3,000 troops. ** OBAMA PLAN: ** Withdraw about 1 brigade per month, all but residual troops out by 2010. ** Humanitarian Crisis: ** Over half of doctors have fled Iraq due to violence, 35% of Iraqi children orphans ** Iraqi Opinion: ** March 7, 2007 survey 78% of the population opposes "the presence of Coalition forces in   Iraq," that 69% believe the presence of U.S. forces is making things worse, and that 51% of the population consider attacks on coalition forces "acceptable", up from 17% in 2004 and 35% in 2006. However, only 35% want them to leave "now". 64% described their family's economic situation as being somewhat or very bad, up from 30% in 2005. 58% described reconstruction efforts in the area in which they live as either somewhat or very ineffective, and 9% described them as being totally nonexistent.
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