War Casualties

Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love. – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1958
Have you wondered how many lives have been lost in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both civilian and military? Quite surprisingly to me, it is still difficult to find out how many civilians have died in Afghanistan; finding the counts for Iraq was easy, though it has become less reliable since the US has decided that "we don't do body counts".

Deaths in Afghanistan (civilian as of July 2004, military current) and Iraq (as of Feb. 21, 2008)

Deaths in Afghanistan (civilian as of July 2004, military current) and Iraq (as of Feb. 21, 2008)
WarUS Military DeathsCivilian Deaths (low count)
Afghanistan6863,485
Iraq4,29992,100
Total4,98595,585
Combined Total100,570

Note that this does not include deaths of military personnel of other countries, such as the UK. Remember, too, that thousands more have been wounded. The cost of Bush's invasion has been unmercifully high.

I do not know the quality of these numbers; some are repeated in several places, so I tend to believe they are in the right range.

By comparison, 2,940 deaths were reported in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. To seek vengeance for the loss of almost 3,000 people, we have killed almost 100,600. How has this helped decrease terrorism? How can this be considered just?

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