100,000 Iraqis Died, Allied Officer Says
More than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers died in the Persian Gulf War, most of them during allied air strikes, a senior allied military official estimated Friday.
The exact war toll on the Iraqi side may never be known, but it stands in stark contrast to the 124 American combat deaths.
Iraq has shown no interest in offering an estimate of its war dead. The U.S. Central Command insists that it never took a count and thus cannot provide a credible estimate.
But a senior allied officer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, estimated that 60,000 to 80,000 Iraqis were killed by the relentless allied air strikes before the ground war started.
An additional 15,000 to 25,000 Iraqi troops likely were killed in the four days of combined air and ground attacks, said the officer.
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