Iraq - How risky is it to our service members?

Not as risky as the anti-war crowd would have you think.

The same is probably true for UK troops in Afghanistan as the BBC reports.

The total number of UK troops killed while on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 has risen to 21 after a soldier was killed on 27 August 2006 in a clash with insurgents.

Of these, seven are known to have died either as a result of illness, non-combat injuries or accidents.

That means there have been 14 UK troops killed by hostile action in 5 years in Afghanistan; an average of less than 3 per year.

All service member's deaths are a tragedy but this puts things in perspective.