(Occasional sobering thoughts.) With news about pirates dominating mainstream media these days -- do check out IntLawGrrl Beth Van Schaack's excellent post on law and piracy -- it seems a good time to reflect on the consequences of more conventional, and lethal, conflicts in which the United States is involved.Notwithstanding President Barack Obama's stated plan to take 12,000 U.S. troops out of Iraq by September, violence continues apace but political integration drags -- a situation evident in stories this week on the latest suicide bombing and the latest obstacles to establishing local governance structures.
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, some maintain that Pakistan's promise to allow some sharia law imperils Afghans' security -- even as, yesterday, there were protests challenging a new marriage law as a threat to Afghan women's security. (Photo slide show here.) The Associated Press reported from Kabul:
Dozens of young women braved crowds of bearded men screaming 'dogs!' on Wednesday to protest an Afghan law that lets husbands demand sex from their wives. Some of the men picked up small stones and pelted the women. 'Slaves of the Christians!' chanted the 800 or so counter-demonstrators, a mix of men and women. A line of female police officers locked hands to keep the groups apart.
With challenges in these countries well in mind, here is the casualty count in the 8 weeks since our last post:
Iraq Body Count reports that between 91,403 and 99,794 Iraqi women, children, and men have died in the conflict in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, representing an increase of between 721 and 777 deaths in the last 8 weeks. According to the U.S. Defense Department, 4,273 American servicemembers have been killed in Iraq. Total coalition fatalities: 4,591 persons. That's 28 servicemember deaths in the last 8 weeks, all of them Americans.
As for the conflict in Afghanistan, military casualties in Afghanistan stand at 678 Americans and 453 other coalition servicemembers. That's an increase of 25 and 27, respectively, in the last 8 weeks, and a total servicemember casualty count of 1,131.
