Order Code RS22532
Updated February 29, 2008
Iraqi Police and Security Forces
Deaths Estimates
Hannah Fischer
Information Research Specialist
Knowledge Services Group
Summary
This report presents various governmental and non-governmental estimates of Iraqi
police and security forces fatalities. The Department of Defense (DOD) regularly
updates total U.S. military deaths and wounded statistics from Operation Iraqi Freedom
(OIF), as reflected in CRS Report RS21578, Iraq: Summary of U.S. Casualties, but has
not regularly released detailed statistics on Iraqi security forces deaths. For information
on Iraqi civilian deaths, see CRS Report RS22537, Iraqi Civilian Deaths Estimates.
Because these estimates are based on varying time periods and have been created using
differing methodologies, readers should exercise caution when using them and should
look on them as guideposts rather than as statements of fact. This report will be updated
as needed.
Although the Department of Defense (DOD) has recently released a chart (see
Figure 1) showing Iraqi Security Forces deaths over time, it has not released the numbers
associated with the chart, and there have been conflicting reports of deaths from news
sources and non-profits. With this in mind, Table 1, below, provides Iraqi security forces
and police officers deaths estimates from non-governmental sources. These estimates are
based on varying time periods and have been created using differing methodologies,
readers should exercise caution when using them and should look on them as guideposts
rather than as statements of fact.

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CRS-2
Table 1. Iraqi Security Forces and Police Officers Deaths Estimates
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count estimate of security forces and police killed,
7,874a
June 2003 - February 14, 2008
Associated Press, estimate of security forces killed,
5,629b
April 28, 2005 - February 13, 2008
Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, estimate of security forces and police killed,
7,874c
June 2003 - February 10, 2008
Notes:
a. Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, “Iraqi Police/Military,” [http://icasualties.org].
b. Personal communication with Associated Press, February 13, 2008.
c. Brookings Institution, Iraq Index: Tracking Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq, at
[http://www.brookings.edu/saban/~/media/Files/Centers/Saban/Iraq%20Index/index.pdf], p. 8.
In addition, on November 29, 2008, the White House announced a 40% drop in Iraqi
Security Force casualties since the surge operations began in June.1 However, according
to Major General Kevin J. Bergner in a Defense Department news briefing, the “Iraqi
security forces in general, the Iraqi army and Iraqi police, [are] increasingly the first line
of defense. They are suffering casualties, suffering losses frequently at two to three times
that of the coalition.”2
The Department of Defense (DOD) has released a chart showing Iraqi Security
Forces deaths. However, it has not released the numbers associated with the chart. Using
estimates, CRS has reproduced an approximation in the chart below.
1 White House Press Release, Just the Facts: 2007 War Funding by the Numbers, November 29,
2007.
2 Kevin J. Bergner, Major General Kevin J. Bergner Holds Defense Department News Briefing,
CQ Transcriptions, December 19, 2007.

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CRS-3
Figure 1. Iraqi Security Forces Deaths
January 2006 - November 2007
350
300
250
200
s
h
Deat 150
100
50
0
Jan- Feb- Mar- April- May- Jun- July- Aug- Sept- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- April- May- Jun- July- Aug- Sept- Oct- Nov-
06
06
06
06
06
06
06
06
06
06
06
06
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
Date
Source: CRS rendition of DOD graph, as derived from the Multi-National Corps - Iraq report, Measuring
S e c u r i t y a n d S t a b i l i t y i n I r a q , D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 7 ,
[http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/FINAL-SecDef%20Signed-20071214.pdf].

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