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Unacceptable Death Toll in Iraq, Say Americans
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the United States are disappointed with the human cost of the coalition effort, according to a poll by Ipsos-Public Affairs released by the Associated Press. 77 per cent of respondents believe the number of U.S. military casualties and Iraqi civilian casualties has been unacceptable.
The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein's regime was launched in March 2003. At least 3,160 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 23,600 troops have been wounded in action.
There has been no official inquiry on the actual number of Iraqi casualties. A volunteer group of British and U.S. academics and researchers—known as Iraq Body Count (IBC)—estimates that more than 57,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed during the military intervention.
In December 2005, Iraqi voters renewed their National Assembly. In May, Shiite United Iraqi Alliance member Nouri al-Maliki officially took over as prime minister.
On Feb. 25, Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie dismissed suggestions that Iran's government is actively involved in Iraq, saying, "In the last few weeks, they have changed their position, and they stopped a lot of their tactics and a lot of intervention or interference in the Iraqi internal affairs."
Polling Data
Has there been an acceptable or unacceptable number of U.S. military casualties in Iraq?
Acceptable | 19% |
Unacceptable | 77% |
Not sure | 4% |
Has there been an acceptable or unacceptable number of Iraqi civilian casualties in Iraq?
Acceptable | 17% |
Unacceptable | 77% |
Not sure | 6% |
Source: Ipsos-Public Affairs / Associated Press
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,002 American adults, conducted from Feb. 12 to Feb. 15, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.