# data[].attributes.headline
US 'war on terror' has killed over half a million people: study

# data[].attributes.subject
US 'war on terror' has killed over half a million people: study

# data[].attributes.body
- Between 480,000-507,000 people were killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq in the wake of 9/11 attacks, study says.
- Hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have been killed due to the so-called "war on terror" launched by the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack, according to a new study.
-death toll between 480,000 and 507,000.
-The toll includes civilians, armed fighters, local police and security forces, as well as US and allied troops.
- The report states that between 182,272 and 204,575 civilians have been killed in Iraq; 38,480 in Afghanistan; and 23,372 in Pakistan. Nearly 7,000 US troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period.
-Brown University said the new toll "is a more than 110,000 increase over the last count, issued just two years ago in August 2016".
-the US war in Afghanistan, which has been the country's longest military invasion for 17 years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The death toll includes civilians, armed fighters, local police and security forces, and US and allied troops [Arko Datta/Reuters]

Hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have been killed due to the so-called "war on terror" launched by the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack, according to a new study.

The report, which was published on Saturday by the Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, put the death toll between 480,000 and 507,000.

The toll includes civilians, armed fighters, local police and security forces, as well as US and allied troops.

The report states that between 182,272 and 204,575 civilians have been killed in Iraq; 38,480 in Afghanistan; and 23,372 in Pakistan. Nearly 7,000 US troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period.

The paper, however, acknowledged that the number of people killed is an "undercount" due to limitations in reporting and "great uncertainty in any count of killing in war".

"We may never know the total direct death toll in these wars," wrote Nera Crawford, the author of the report titled "Human Cost of the Post-9/11 Wars: Lethality and the Need for Transparency".

"For example, tens of thousands of civilians may have died in retaking Mosul and other cities from ISIS [also known as ISIL] but their bodies have likely not been recovered."

'War remains intense'

People who were indirectly killed as a result of war, such as through disease or bad infrastructure, were also not included in the report.

In a statement, Brown University said the new toll "is a more than 110,000 increase over the last count, issued just two years ago in August 2016".

"Though the war on terror is often overlooked by the American public, press and lawmakers, the increased body count signals that, far from diminishing, this war remains intense."

As an example, the US war in Afghanistan, which has been the country's longest military invasion for 17 years, has lessened in intensity in recent years, but the number of civilians killed in 2018 has been one of the war's highest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
US 'war on terror' has killed over half a million people: study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have been killed due to the so-called "war on terror" launched by the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack, according to a new study.

# data[].attributes.body
- Iraq War, also called Second Persian Gulf War, (2003–11), conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a brief, conventionally fought war in March–April 2003, in which a combined force of troops from the United States and invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces.
- Bush declared an end to diplomacy and issued an ultimatum to Ṣaddām, giving the Iraqi president 48 hours to leave Iraq. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and other countries objected to this buildup toward war.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What was the cause of the Iraq War?

When did the Iraq War begin?

Which United States president started the Iraq War?

When did the Iraq War end?

Iraq War, also called Second Persian Gulf War, (2003-11), conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a brief, conventionally fought war in March-April 2003, in which a combined force of troops from the United States and Great Britain (with smaller contingents from several other countries) invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a longer second phase in which a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq was opposed by an insurgency. After violence began to decline in 2007, the United States gradually reduced its military presence in Iraq, formally completing its withdrawal in December 2011. American military casualties in the conflict included some 4,500 service members killed and some 32,000 others wounded.
(Read Britannica's interview with Jimmy Carter on the Iraq War and world affairs.)

Prelude to war

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 ended in Iraq's defeat by a U.S.-led coalition in the Persian Gulf War (1990-91). However, the Iraqi branch of the Baʿath Party, headed by Saddam Hussein, managed to retain power by harshly suppressing uprisings of the country's minority Kurds and its majority Shiʿi Arabs. To stem the exodus of Kurds from Iraq, the allies established a "safe haven" in northern Iraq's predominantly Kurdish regions, and allied warplanes patrolled "no-fly" zones in northern and southern Iraq that were off-limits to Iraqi aircraft. Moreover, to restrain future Iraqi aggression, the United Nations ( UN) implemented economic sanctions against Iraq in order to, among other things, hinder the progress of its most lethal arms programs, including those for the development of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. ( See weapon of mass destruction.) UN inspections during the mid-1990s uncovered a variety of proscribed weapons and prohibited technology throughout Iraq. That country's continued flouting of the UN weapons ban and its repeated interference with the inspections frustrated the international community and led U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton in 1998 to order the bombing of several Iraqi military installations (code-named Operation Desert Fox). After the bombing, however, Iraq refused to allow inspectors to reenter the country, and during the next several years the economic sanctions slowly began to erode as neighbouring countries sought to reopen trade with Iraq.

In 2002 the new U.S. president, George W. Bush, argued that the vulnerability of the United States following the September 11 attacks of 2001, combined with Iraq's alleged continued possession and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction (an accusation that was later proved erroneous) and its support for terrorist groups-which, according to the Bush administration, included al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks-made disarming Iraq a renewed priority. UN Security Council Resolution 1441, passed on November 8, 2002, demanded that Iraq readmit inspectors and that it comply with all previous resolutions. Iraq appeared to comply with the resolution, but in early 2003 President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that Iraq was actually continuing to hinder UN inspections and that it still retained proscribed weapons. Other world leaders, such as French Pres. Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, citing what they believed to be increased Iraqi cooperation, sought to extend inspections and give Iraq more time to comply with them. However, on March 17, seeking no further UN resolutions and deeming further diplomatic efforts by the Security Council futile, Bush declared an end to diplomacy and issued an ultimatum to Saddam, giving the Iraqi president 48 hours to leave Iraq. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and other countries objected to this buildup toward war.

The 2003 conflict

When Saddam refused to leave Iraq, U.S. and allied forces launched an attack on the morning of March 20; it began when U.S. aircraft dropped several precision-guided bombs on a bunker complex in which the Iraqi president was believed to be meeting with senior staff. This was followed by a series of air strikes directed against government and military installations, and within days U.S. forces had invaded Iraq from Kuwait in the south (U.S. Special Forces had previously been deployed to Kurdish-controlled areas in the north). Despite fears that Iraqi forces would engage in a scorched-earth policy-destroying bridges and dams and setting fire to Iraq's southern oil wells-little damage was done by retreating Iraqi forces; in fact, large numbers of Iraqi troops simply chose not to resist the advance of coalition forces. In southern Iraq the greatest resistance to U.S. forces as they advanced northward was from irregular groups of Baʿath Party supporters, known as Saddam's Fedayeen. British forces-which had deployed around the southern city of Basra -faced similar resistance from paramilitary and irregular fighters.

In central Iraq units of the Republican Guard-a heavily armed paramilitary group connected with the ruling party-were deployed to defend the capital of Baghdad. As U.S. Army and Marine forces advanced northwestward up the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, they bypassed many populated areas where Fedayeen resistance was strongest and were slowed only on March 25 when inclement weather and an extended supply line briefly forced them to halt their advance within 60 miles (95 km) of Baghdad. During the pause, U.S. aircraft inflicted heavy damage on Republican Guard units around the capital. U.S. forces resumed their advance within a week, and on April 4 they took control of Baghdad's international airport. Iraqi resistance, though at times vigorous, was highly disorganized, and over the next several days army and Marine Corps units staged raids into the heart of the city. On April 9 resistance in Baghdad collapsed, and U.S. soldiers took control of the city.

On that same day Basra was finally secured by British forces, which had entered the city several days earlier. In the north, however, plans to open up another major front had been frustrated when the Turkish government refused to allow mechanized and armoured U.S. Army units to pass through Turkey to deploy in northern Iraq. Regardless, a regiment of American paratroopers did drop into the area, and U.S. Special Forces soldiers joined with Kurdish peshmerga fighters to seize the northern cities of Kirkuk on April 10 and Mosul on April 11. Saddam's hometown of Tikrīt, the last major stronghold of the regime, fell with little resistance on April 13. Isolated groups of regime loyalists continued to fight on subsequent days, but the U.S. president declared an end to major combat on May 1. Iraqi leaders fled into hiding and were the object of an intense search by U.S. forces. Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, 2003, five months after his two sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein, who were central figures in their father's brutal 24-year rule, had been killed in a shoot-out with American troops after the brothers had been found hiding in a private residence. Saddam was subsequently convicted of crimes against humanity and was executed on December 30, 2006.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Iraq War | Summary, Causes, Dates, Combatants, Casualties, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Iraq War, conflict in Iraq (2003-11) that consisted of two phases: a conventionally fought war in March-April 2003, in which a combined force of troops primarily from the United States and Great Britain invaded Iraq and defeated Iraqi military forces, and a second phase consisting of a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

# data[].attributes.body
- War on terrorism, term used to describe the American-led global counterterrorism campaign launched in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
- Estimates of the number of Iraqi civilians killed during the period of maximum violence—roughly 2004 to 2007—vary widely but generally exceed 200,000. U.S.
-The war on terrorism was a multidimensional campaign of almost limitless scope.
- Its military dimension involved major wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, covert operations in Yemen and elsewhere, large-scale military-assistance programs for cooperative regimes, and major increases in military spending.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
WASHINGTON-Since 9/11, two major U.S. national security priorities have been to prevent further terrorist attacks against U.S. targets, and to disable terrorists with a demonstrated or potential global reach. Among the stated purposes of the Iraq war was to expunge a supposed connection between the government of Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, and to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to states and terrorist groups. While few have denied the benefits of a Hussein-less Iraq, the failure to locate evidence of a terrorist connection or WMD within Iraq has led some to question the wisdom of the decision to commit America to war there. Some have even suggested that the war may in fact bring about an increase in terrorist activity.

On June 26, 2003, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted a Current Issues Briefing entitled "Global Terrorism after the Iraq War." The participants were terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former Institute senior fellow; Daniel Byman of Georgetown University and contributor to an Institute multi-case study on previous counter-terrorism campaigns; Martha Crenshaw of Wesleyan University, a former Institute grantee and long-time consultant on political violence work at the Institute; and Paul Stares, director of the Institute's Research and Studies Program and a specialist on emerging challenges to international peace and security.

The views summarized below reflect the discussion at the meeting; they do not represent formal positions taken by the Institute, which does not advocate specific policies.

The Good News

Even among those who opposed the Iraq war, there is general consensus that removal of Saddam Hussein was a fundamental requirement for the democratization of Iraq. And, while the work of democracy building promises to be a long and arduous process, U.S. special envoy L. Paul Bremer is generally seen to be making the right decisions with regard to delays in getting new leadership installed until the infrastructure that supports democratic institutions can be put in place. Separately, with increased law enforcement, intelligence, and security measures since 9/11, the United States has made substantial progress in capturing terrorist leaders and dismantling al Qaeda bases in Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. There has been no major attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

The Bad News

The connection between the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq is somewhat tenuous, one panelist noted. There is no solid evidence that al Qaeda or other terrorist groups received support from the former Iraqi regime. Nor have any weapons of mass destruction or ancillary products or technology been found, although some may have been "privatized" by the Hussein regime before or during the war. The identification of these questionable threats as motives for the war has harmed relations with some U.S. allies, weakened fragile alliances, and worsened already negative perceptions of U.S. motives, especially in the Muslim world. As such, triumphalism in the Iraq war's wake, with so much unfinished business and so many peripheral and complex issues at stake, is counter-productive in that it distracts from the work at hand.

While U.S. military occupation of the seat of the caliphate is generally accepted in the West as a necessary part of post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction, the extended presence of large numbers of American troops in Iraq will likely promote the perception-particularly among young and potentially radical Muslims-that the United States harbors an anti-Islamic bias. The withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia will probably do little to offset such perceptions.

Further, with unfinished business in both Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. troops are considerably stretched, hostility towards Syria and Iran, both highly nationalistic countries, has made even solid U.S. allies blanch. Any U.S. action against either is likely to reinforce simmering anti-American sentiment, engender greater nationalistic fervor in these countries, and produce more jihadist recruits. Despite the obvious risks, an increase in U.S. troop presence in the Gulf may be a necessary measure to ensure force protection, achieve immediate security goals, and assist in setting reconstruction efforts on a solid trajectory. However, for anti-U.S. terrorists, increased force protection may translate to an enhanced preference for attacking soft U.S. targets such as civilians abroad.

The Future of Global Terrorism

The nature of the grievance matters. Many analysts think it should no longer be considered apologist to cite root causes of terrorism. Poverty, developmental imbalances, and the disparity between the haves and have nots, continue to be salient issues requiring urgent attention under the globalization rubric. While over the long term, the effects of soft power tactics remain unknown until tried, efforts to resolve historical and political grievances may well do more to promote peace and a reduction in anti-western hostility than do coercion, war, and military occupation. Cultural and educational exchanges, genuinely fair trade arrangements, and diplomacy generally would help make democracy more palatable to skeptics and improve the U.S. image abroad. It would be more helpful for the United States to overtly back indigenous institutions supporting cultural exchange and tolerance, rather than covertly backing dubious resistance movements.

Better information, provided in a more benevolent and trustworthy fashion than that offered by radical Islamists, could be America's best defense. U.S. domestic policies that have the appearance of targeting Muslim minorities are reverberating throughout the world. Instead of officious dismissal, expanded public diplomacy would clarify these policies to an attentive global audience.

Stability in Iraq, if achieved, will greatly help the war on terrorism, in that a genuine, successful, and coordinated state-building effort with an appropriate and transparent exit strategy will do much to reduce anti-American sentiment in the region. A disorderly and increasingly violent Afghanistan has proven to be no model for creating an environment for democratization and post-war recovery, but has proven that limited engagement without an effective post-war peacekeeping plan backfires politically and fails operationally. Negotiations with countries in the Middle East and Central/South Asia to gain their assistance in reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rebuilding of international alliances and cooperation generally, would go far to rebuild U.S. credibility worldwide.

Rather than a snake to be decapitated, terrorism is more like a mold, noted a U.S. official recently. Root causes remain relevant, and long-term prevention of decaying fungal growth (so to speak) will go far toward ensuring healthy relations with the Muslim world. Lessons should be learned from Israel's strategy of pre-emption against radicals, and the resulting chronic intractability and cycle of revenge it produces. Hamas, Hezbollah, and even al Qaeda are examples of terrorist groups that often are the main providers of key services to disenfranchised and war-ravaged populations. In so doing, they consolidate a base for spreading violent jihadist ideology. Preventing the growth of such ideology will depend on displacing cycles of violence with genuine initiatives geared toward peace, democratic reform, economic development, and the redress of grievances within affected populations, which in turn may reveal new avenues for reducing the threat of terrorist violence.

This Newsbyte was written by Suzanne Wopperer of the Institute's Office of Public Outreach. The views summarized above reflect the discussion at the meeting; they do not represent formal positions taken by the Institute, which does not advocate specific policies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
WASHINGTON-Since 9/11, two major U.S. national security priorities have been to prevent further terrorist attacks against U.S. targets, and to disable terrorists with a demonstrated or potential global reach. Among the stated purposes of the Iraq war was to expunge a supposed connection between the government of Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, and to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to states and terrorist groups.