Counting Fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan

Are Fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan going down? 

I just came across the following comment on NBC politics: 

 "More troops have DIED under Barry than George..........."

This is simply not true.  icasualties.org keeps a year by year count of fatalities for both Iraq and Afghanistan, for the U.S., the U.K, and all other countries in theatre.  The site allows you to look at fatalities by month, year, field of operation, by country, and by type.  It actually lists the names, rank, and cause of death of those who died.

6593 Fatalities, Both Hostile and "Non-hostile"

We've had a total of about 6593 fatalities in both fields of operation, a total that includes service people who have died in both hostile and non-hostile action.  (Non-hostile causes include such things as vehicle accidents, suicide, illnesses, helicopter crashes that were not the result of hostile fire.)

There have been 1741 fatalities since 2009, which includes 84 fatalities in early 2009 (January and February) that Obama really had no control over, leaving 4852 fatalities that occurred in the Bush administration. 

Fatalities have come down rapidly since 2010. The peak was 1021 fatalities in 2007, most of them in Iraq.  There were 599 fatalities in 2010, most in Afghanistan ; 472 in 2011, and 244 so far in 2012.

20% of Afghan fatalities are "non-hostile".

About 20% of the fatalities listed in Afghanistan were classified as "non-hostile".  In 2012, 46 out of 247 deaths in Afghanistan in 2012 to date have been classified as "non-hostile".
I couldn't get the site to work to calculate the total "non-hostile" deaths for Iraq.  However, there were 54 fatalities in Iraq in 2011 and 1 fatality in 2012.  Of those 55 fatalities in Iraq, 21 were "non-hostile", including that 1 fatality in early 2012.  That serviceman actually died in Bahrain.

Here's the year by year breakdown of U.S. fatalities since 2001:

• 2001:  12
• 2002:  49
• 2003:  534
• 2004:  901
• 2005:  945
• 2006:  921
• 2007:  1021
• 2008:  469
• 2009:  466
• 2010:  559
• 2011:  472
• 2012:  244

In Memoriam:  
There is no way I can write about military fatalities without adding:  My deepest sympathies to the family members and loved ones of all that perished.  And, to those who died:  Thank you for your service.  Rest in peace.