US casualties in Iraq exceed 50,000

Despite US efforts to impose an information blackout on its war casualties, the number of US troops killed and wounded in Iraq has surpassed 50,000, a senior Iranian commander says. - “Based on the existing figures and data, the American forces killed and injured in Iraq are estimated to be 50,000. However, it seems that the real statistics are much higher than this,” said Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, the deputy head of Iran's Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Friday. “Of course the figure 50,000 killed and wounded Americans, is notwithstanding the mercenaries of other nationalities who are in the US Army fighting against the people of Iraq,” the Iranian commander added. Jazayeri made reference to the enormous cost of maintaining US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and argued that the American taxpayers are rarely aware of the undeniable fact that the cost of the Iraq war is at least USD 1,000 billion.