25,000

This week, on Monday, December 11, we arrived at 25,000 (22,000+ wounded, nearly 3,000 dead) official U.S. military casualties in Iraq. Newsweek presents a powerfully narrated interactive photo journal, Glenn Kutler of icasualties.com providing a steady analysis of the grim numbers, examining trends since the start of the invasion in March 2003 in this stunning presentation.

Click on image above to view slideshow. Click 'Article Link' below tags for a small sampling of the stats...

Transcribed from the program:

• 25,000 U.S. military casualties
  
• 22,057 WIA (as of 16 Dec 2006)
  
• 2,942 KIA (as of 16 Dec 2006)
  
• 22 days of initial fighting to take the country (April 9, 2003)
  
• Human cost to take country: 122 KIA (approx. 5 KIA/day)
  
• 5 month initial occupation following invasion
  
• 80% reduction in U.S. troop death rate during initial occupation (approx. 1 KIA/day)
  
• 96% of U.S. KIA since 'Mission Accomplished' speech

Kutler says that the killing of Saddam's sons was the first up tick on the insurgency. The UN mission bombing further shocked all involved; the reality of an organized insurgency was now apparent.

Year two, 2004, was the most violent period of the war. 936 dead, more than 9,000 wounded. April 2004, when Abu Ghraib became a household name, was the worst month. That also coincides roughly with the first subduing of Fallujah after four contractors were kidnapped, killed and burned and dragged through the streets, and finally hung from a bridge by a celebratory crowd the townspeople.

The second taking of Fallujah, in November 2004, produced the deadliest week of the war: 67 casualties. That month remains, not surprisingly, the most lethal as well, with 137 KIA.

Please view the rest. Moving and important remembrance.