Sad news:

CNN.com – Deadliest day for U.S. in Iraq war – Jan 26, 2005: BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Thirty-one Marines were killed in a helicopter crash near Iraq’s border with Jordan, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed Wednesday to 36 — the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq.

And just like that we jump from 1381 casualties to 1417 casualties. January 2005 is now the third worst month for total casualties, coalition-wide (at 84 — Nov ’04 had 137 and Apr ’04 had 135, both of those months involved assaults on Fallujah) and the fourth worst in terms of casualties per day (at 3.62 as of today, 4.7 in Nov ’04, 4.67 in Apr ’04, and 7.67 at the beginning of the war). Casualties averaged 2.01/day in 2003 and 2.48 in 2004. Over the last six months, the average has been 2.74/day. Over the last three months, 3.1/day.

So, in case anyone is planning to bring democracy to another Middle Eastern country, the price is roughly 2 to 3 soldiers per day. And somewhere around $10 billion dollars per month. It’s impossible to calculate the ratio of soldiers killed or money spent per WMD found or Osama’s captured, of course, because you cannot divide by zero.

(Figures courtesy of http://radicalruss.net/personal/iraqwar.xls)