(Occasional sobering thoughts.) With:► bombings and other lethal violence on the increase in Iraq as the deadline nears for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the cities pursuant to a pact about which we've posted, and
► continuing concerns over civilian casualties in Afghanistan has just led the United States to restrict aerial strikes there,
here's the casualty count in the 5 weeks since our last post: Iraq Body Count reports that between 92,393 and 100,868 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 463 and 503 deaths in the last 5 weeks. According to the U.S. Defense Department, 4,314 American servicemembers have been killed in Iraq. Total coalition fatalities: 4,632 persons. That's 18 servicemember deaths in the last 5 weeks. As was the case in our last post, all servicemember casualties in this period were Americans.
As for the conflict in Afghanistan, military casualties in Afghanistan stand at 712 Americans and 486 other coalition servicemembers. That's an increase of 26 and 21, respectively, in the last 5 weeks, and a total servicemember casualty count of 1,198. 
