As a human rights organization UUSC is alarmed about the high civilian death toll and mounting costs of the Iraq war on the United States, Iraq, and the world. Stark figures about the escalation of costs in these most recent three months of "transition" to Iraqi rule are being reported, a period that the Bush administration claimed would be characterized by falling human and economic costs.

War affects everyone, not just those directly involved in the fighting. In a report issued Sept. 30, 2004 by the Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy in Focus the number of Iraqi civilians killed since March 20, 2003 has been between 12,800-14,843.

Iraq Body Count, a volunteer group of British and U.S. academics and professional researchers, has compiled statistics on civilian casualties from eyewitness and media reports. The organization says the civilian death toll ranges from 14,800 to 16,300, but acknowledges that ascertaining accurate counts is extremely difficult because the ongoing violence makes it impossible for journalists and other impartial observers to move around safely. For further information, visit Iraq Body Count.

Congress had mandated U.S. government agencies to assist civilian victims of war in the Iraq supplemental bill signed by President Bush on April 16. They await clearer evidence before they direct an unspecified amount of the $2.4 billion appropriated for relief and reconstruction

Others in the Iraq peace advocacy movement have developed a measure of the actual financial costs of the war and the impact on a number of areas of domestic human rights policy. Visit The war in Iraq costs the United States to learn of the one of the more quantifiable effects of war: the financial burden it places on U.S. taxpayers, the increase in the U.S. deficit and the transfer of money from domestic priorities to sustaining the occupation of Iraq are very clear. You also may use our online Legislative Action Center to send an immediate message expressing your concern to your elected members of Congress.

And last, but definitely not least, American casualties in Iraq continue to mount. More than 1,100 American have lost their lives and 7,782 have been wounded, many suffering severe wounds. Too many families have lost their sons and daughters, husbands and wives…so many dead, so many horribly maimed and wounded. For them the costs of this war are real and not abstract. Every death, every injury should burn like a knife in our hearts, for these are all America's sons and daughters.

Visit Iraq war casualties for the latest information.  

Posted Nov. 5, 2004