TEHRAN- New research reveals the U.S. so-called war on terror has killed at least 4.5 - 4.6 million people and counting.

The study, published in a report, by the Costs of War project at Brown University in the American state of Rhode Island has revealed the horrifying numbers as a result of U.S.-led military adventurism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.

The report cites the direct war fatalities such as attacks that directly killed nearly one million people.

According to the research, another major aspect that has indirectly killed millions more is the military destruction of economies, public services, infrastructure, and the environment, which adds to the death toll long after bombs are dropped and increases over time. The report estimates that these factors have contributed to the deaths of more than 3.5 million people.

The second aspect requires more research, which the project highlights as “many long-term and under-appreciated consequences of war” that need to be studied in more detail.

Other research indicates that the direct war fatalities that killed nearly one million people is an undercount, something which again the report alludes to, saying “precise mortality figure remains unknown”.

In another section of the project’s report on the death toll in Iraq, it reads “estimates of war deaths in Iraq have been particularly controversial. A 2006 article in The Lancet estimated that approximately 600,000 Iraqis had died due to war violence between 2003 and 2006”.

The report goes on to say the controversy over the conflicting reports on the death toll in Iraq stems from news outlets that are opposed to the war, who overplayed the death toll, while those who supported the illegal invasion downplayed the death toll.  

A report from the Lancet says the death toll in Iraq from 2003 and in the following three years alone had reached 600,000 Iraqis.

The project cites a report from the Lancet that says the death toll in Iraq from 2003 and in the following three years alone had reached 600,000 Iraqis. There have been various unbiased studies that concluded more than one million Iraqis have been killed as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2011.

Even the one million mark of Iraqi deaths can be considered an undercount when there were daily reports of almost daily terror bombings that killed either scores or hundreds of Iraqis. And then, add to that the era of the U.S. and Daesh from 2014 to 2017 where hundreds of thousands of others were slaughtered and it’s not difficult to imagine more than one million Iraqis have died and continue to die today as a result of the U.S. so-called “war on terror”.   

There is little doubt that the U.S. has brought nothing but insecurity and instability to West Asia, with its military presence. In January 2018, the Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said:

"America's corrupting presence in this region should end… In this region, they brought war, discord, sedition, destruction, destruction of infrastructure.  Of course, wherever they stepped in the world, they acted the same way... this must end."

The latest research by the Costs of War project also warns that "these wars are ongoing for millions around the world who are living with and dying from their effects." The report put emphasis on the effects of U.S. wars on women and children who "suffer the brunt of these ongoing impacts."

The report notes that while some people were killed in fighting, far more, especially children, have been killed by the reverberating effects of U.S. wars, such as the spread of disease and damage to public services for example. "More studies are necessary on the impact of war’s destruction of public services, especially beyond the healthcare system, on population health," the report says. "Damage to water and sanitation systems, roads, and commercial infrastructure such as ports, for instance, have significant but less understood consequences."

The research says wars and conflicts which the U.S. has waged or been engaged in under the pretext of countering terrorism since September 11, 2001 makes clear that the impacts of war's ongoing violence are so vast and complex that they are unquantifiable.

It should be noted that after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. waged wars and sparked conflicts, especially in West Asia under the pretext of fighting terrorism. However, as a result of the U.S. military adventurism, there has been an extremely sharp rise in terrorist groups that had no presence in West Asia or countries such as Somalia before Washington’s intervention in the region.

In other words, the so-called “war on terror” has had the complete opposite effect of the slogan under which the Pentagon waged a campaign of instability in West Asia that allowed terrorism to flourish.

The report says the damage caused and ongoing deaths from wars means those who waged them should shoulder the responsibility in repairing the damage inflicted.

Millions of people are still in distress, pain and traumatized in both current and former warzones, the study says, calling on the U.S. as well as its allies to alleviate the ongoing losses and suffering of millions of people and provide the required "reparations, though not easy or cheap”. This is something “imperative," the report points out.

The project blames the U.S. for its role in the military adventurism it has embarked on post 9/11, in particular the casualties inflicted during the American two-year war and occupation of Afghanistan.

The report focuses on Afghanistan as an example of how people, in particular women and children, the most vulnerable in society, are dying because, despite the U.S. (shambolic) withdrawal, the damage Washington inflicted on Afghanistan’s vital services, such as the health sector and the damage the U.S. caused to the country’s sanitation and other infrastructure in the 20 years of war and occupation means Afghans are still dying today.  

"Though in 2021 the United States withdrew military forces from Afghanistan, officially ending a war that began with its invasion 20 years’ prior, today Afghans are suffering and dying from war-related causes at higher rates than ever," the report alarmingly points out.

The Costs of War project said that far more research is needed to collect more adequate data "to guide life-saving interventions."

"More studies are necessary on the impact of war’s destruction of public services, especially beyond the healthcare system, on population health," the report noted. "Damage to water and sanitation systems, roads, and commercial infrastructure such as ports, for instance, have significant but less understood consequences."

In the case of Somalia for example, U.S. intervention and the war that followed has prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid, which the research says exacerbated famine; this is a natural disaster that could have been alleviated if the U.S. instead chose to spend a vast amount of money in humanitarian assistance programs and not radicalizing the local population (and increasing terrorism and bloodshed) by bombing civilians with drones in the sky.  

A section of the report reads “though all warring parties must be held responsible, in the sections on the causal pathways this report does touch on relevant consequences of United States actions in particular because that is where the Costs of War project is based and has the most potential to promote government accountability.”

Critics argue that if the United States had not waged war against countries in West Asia or provoked conflicts in the region, then other parties would not have engaged in any combat missions. In this case, the U.S. must be solely responsible for the disturbing direct and indirect death toll as a result of its provocative and illegal military measures.