🧵 Thread on figures and facts of battle of Fallujah🇮🇶
Recently, I came across some videos on youtube talking and describing battle of Fallujah. What, rather intrigued me is the way they described the number of casaulties sustained by US forces and Iraqi insurgents
Recently, I came across some videos on youtube talking and describing battle of Fallujah. What, rather intrigued me is the way they described the number of casaulties sustained by US forces and Iraqi insurgents
Armchair historian made a video on the battle, claiming casaulties of US forces were 95 killed and 500 wounded and insurgents sustained 1500 to 2000 killed and another 1500 fighters captured
I wonder what are the sources for his figures and numbers?
I wonder what are the sources for his figures and numbers?
I did some digging and research on this, I read and researched multiple books and sources written on this topic but, couldn't find a single source that aligns with his figure neither his figure US casaulties nor the casaulties of insurgent fighters
Maybe the closest to his figure could be the account given by General Bolger in his book. But, there is huge disparity between both, as Bolger states more than 1200 insurgents were captured, mentions nothing about killed whereas Armchair states 1500 were captured not just that
Armchair also stated further 500 were wounded whereas Bolger states 609 wounded. Armchair stated, 95 US soldiers were killed but Bolger states only 70 were killed. So, here we find grave disparity and discrepancy between both armchair and account given by the General
If we examine other sources, we find even more intriguing disparity.
Account given by journalist Thomas Rick as follows:
Atleast 1,000 insurgents were killed
54 US soldiers were killed and 425 seriously wounded
Figure states by this source matches nowhere close to Bolger's
Account given by journalist Thomas Rick as follows:
Atleast 1,000 insurgents were killed
54 US soldiers were killed and 425 seriously wounded
Figure states by this source matches nowhere close to Bolger's
If we move on to next source i.e the account given by ex US military officer and intelligence analyst Nance, we find him busting the myth of overexaggerated figure of insurgent casaulties in battle of Fallujah, he puts the figure as 1-1.2 k at most
x.com
x.com
All, the three sources we have examined, agrees on one single point which is the number of insurgents killed were nowhere near to 1500 let alone 2000 as stated by armchair historian. All the sources agree on 1-1.2 k or maybe more than 1.2 k, but none stated 1.5 k or more i.e 2 k
But, there is a slight problem none of these sources agree on number of US casaulties to say the least. Every single of them have their own numbers and figures which contradict with each other, some stating higher casaulties and some really low
Now, the question is can we deduce the number of US casaulties? I would say maybe as the sources give us hints and not total whole figures. Forexample, according to the Guardian within first week of first battle of Fallujah, 50 were killed
x.com
x.com
And atleast 250 were WIA. This was first battle of Fallujah, the second one was even more deadlier. If within a week, these many got injured and killed. Just imagine how many got killed and injured as whole in the entire battle which lasted four weeks
According to Nance, each week US forces sustained heavy casaulties. In first week of Dec alone, there were 71 killed and more than 300 wounded. In another 30 killed and more 200 wounded. If we were to put all figures together
x.com
x.com
We get atleast twice or thrice the higher the casaulties to was stated by DOD which Rick and Bolger quoted.
Now you might ask me, why am I quoting Rick and Bolger's figure despite them quoting DOD's figure and number of casaulties?
Isn't it cherry picking?
Now you might ask me, why am I quoting Rick and Bolger's figure despite them quoting DOD's figure and number of casaulties?
Isn't it cherry picking?
The answer is simple, the reason I quoted them is to demonstrate that even according to DOD's sanitized version of statics doesn't agree with figures stated by armchair historian.
Claiming 1500-2000 insurgents were killed is indeed wild and preposterous!
Claiming 1500-2000 insurgents were killed is indeed wild and preposterous!
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