The Human Toll of Reconstruction During Operation Iraqi Freedom: Report Overview

Abstract

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) recently released a special report entitled The Human Toll of Reconstruction or Stabilization Operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom.1 Through this review, SIGIR sought to determine how many peopleU.S. Servicemembers and civilians, third-country nationals, and Iraqiswere killed while participating in activities related to the rebuilding of Iraqs infrastructure and institutions. Our report reviewed personnel deaths caused by hostile acts between May 1, 2003 (the declared end of major combat operations in Iraq) and August 31, 2010 (the conclusion of Operation Iraqi Freedom). We found that during this period at least 719 people lost their lives while performing stabilization and reconstruction operations (SRO) missions, including 318 U.S. citizens, 111 third-country nationals, 271 Iraqis, and 19 others of unknown nationality. In addition, at least 786 people were injured; there were also at least 198 reported kidnappings of Iraqis and third-country nationals who were performing reconstruction- or stabilization-related missions. For this study, SIGIR examined all available sources of information on casualties in Iraq, seeking to determine what losses occurred during SRO missions. We looked only at those personnel who died under hostile circumstances, excluding those killed by accident, suicide, homicide, or natural causes. The sources reviewed included classified and unclassified information from the Departments of Defense (DOD), State, and Labor; the individual military Services; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); contracting companies working on SRO tasks; and open-source data. We found that no integrated database tracking such casualties existed and that the agencies used differing accounting methods to track losses, which made arriving at a reasonably precise number exceedingly difficult.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2011
Accession Number
AD1042783

Entities

People

  • Craig Collier
  • Stuart Jr W. Bowen

Organizations

  • Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Personnel
  • Army
  • Army Personnel
  • Casualties
  • Combat Operations
  • Death
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Infrastructure
  • Iraqi-War
  • Law Enforcement
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Police
  • Police
  • Security
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.