Feb. 23, 2007 — It’s no easy task tallying the total casualties supporting the US war effort in Iraq because “while the Defense Department issues a press release whenever a soldier or Marine dies,” getting the official figures on civilian contractor deaths and injuries before 2006 requires a time-consuming Freedom of Information Act request, according to Associated Press writer Michelle Roberts.

HERE’S MORE FROM HER STORY:

In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military…. Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon’s work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Defense Department’s count of more than 3,100 U.S. military dead does not tell the whole story.

The whole story by Roberts, Iraq Contractor Deaths Go Little Noticed, is that: “The insurgents in Iraq make little if any distinction between the contractors and U.S. troops”.
ALSO, SEE:
Contractor Deaths in Iraq Nearing 800 January 29, 2007
More than 500 Contractor Deaths in Iraq? November 2, 2005
Civilian Footprint December 21, 2006
Iraq Wounded Fight for Insurance Coverage July 11, 2006
ADD from Associated Press on 2/24/07: The AP finds Americans are keenly aware of how many U.S. forces have lost their lives in Iraq, but they “woefully underestimate the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed.”

Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000 and could be much higher; some unofficial estimates range into the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq reports more than 34,000 deaths in 2006 alone.