Flit

Canadian casualties: now #4 on the balance sheet

Once again, I must say it gives me no pleasure at all to say this, but by either proportional measure (size of military or size of national population), recent fatal casualties among the Canadian military have put the nation in a higher place among nations involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.

Here are the total fatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11 combined, by nation:
1. United States 2,991
2. United Kingdom 154
3. Italy 38
4. Canada 32
5. Spain 30
6. Ukraine 18
7. Germany 18
8. Poland 17
9. Bulgaria 13
10. France 9

Here are the fatal military casualties per 1,000 military service personnel (all arms):
1. United States 2.14
2. United Kingdom 0.73
3. Canada 0.57
4. Spain 0.21
5. Bulgaria 0.19

Here are the fatal military casualties per million population:
1. United States 10.49
2. United Kingdom 2.61
3. Bulgaria 1.75
4. Canada 1.00
5. Spain 0.75

I suspect most Americans would not reflexively rate Canada, Bulgaria, and the pusillanimous Spanish as their greatest allies after Britain. I do wish they'd start.