The U.S. Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations” Since World War II

By James A. Lucas and Prof Michel Chossudovsky

[This article was first published by Global Research in 2015, with updates in 2024. You can read it here.]

Introductory Note by Michel Chossudovsky

Let us put this in a historical perspective: the commemoration of the War to End All Wars acknowledges that 15 million lives were lost in the course of World War I (1914-18).

The loss of life in the Second World War (1939-1945) was on a much large scale, when compared to World War I: 60 million lives both military and civilian were lost during World War II. (Four times those killed during World War I.)

The largest WWII casualties were China and the Soviet Union:

• 26 million in the Soviet Union,

• China estimates its losses at approximately 20 million deaths.

Ironically, these two countries (allies of the US during WWII) which lost a large share of their population during WWII are now under the Biden-Harris administration categorized as “enemies of America,” which are threatening the Western world.

Germany and Austria lost approximately 8 million people during WWII, Japan lost more than 2.5 million people. The US and Britain respectively lost more than 400,000 lives.

This carefully researched article by James A. Lucas documents the more than 20 million lives lost resulting from US-led wars, military coups and intelligence ops carried out in the wake of WWII, in what is euphemistically called the “post-war era” (1945- ).

The extensive loss of life in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and Libya, Palestine is not included in this study. Nor are the millions of deaths resulting from extreme poverty.

Acts of Economic Warfare

In the post Cold War era, “shock and awe” IMF “economic medicine” applied in countries of the Global South as well as in Eastern Europe has resulted in mass poverty and an unprecedented process of economic and social destruction, under the helm of of the so-called Washington Consensus.

In the course of the last four years, 190 countries, member states of the United Nations have been subjected to the COVID-19 lockdown which has resulted in extreme poverty and unemployment. In many regards, this is an act of economic and social warfare against sovereign nation-states.

In turn, in response to a non-existent pandemic the COVID-19 “vaccine” which was launched in mid-December 2020 has resulted in millions of deaths worldwide.

Yes, it’s a killer vaccine. That message should be loud and clear. This is happening all over the world: children and adolescents are dying. Crimes against humanity, crimes against our children.

Continuous US-led Warfare (1945- ): There was No “Post-war Era”

And now, a World War III scenario is contemplated by US-NATO, in alliance with Israel.

A genocide is ongoing against the people of Palestine with the full support of Western countries.

NATO-US forces are at Russia’s doorstep. A so-called “preemptive nuclear war” against China, Russia and Iran is on the drawing board of the Pentagon.

At no point since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, has humanity been closer to the unthinkable.

All the safeguards of the Cold War era, which categorized the nuclear bomb as “a weapon of last resort,” have been scrapped.

The dangers of nuclear war are real. They are “profit-driven.”

Under Joe Biden, public funds allocated to nuclear weapons are slated to increase to 2 trillion by 2030 allegedly as a means to safeguarding peace and national security at taxpayers’ expense. (How many schools and hospitals could you finance with 2 trillion dollars?)

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The U.S. Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations” Since World War II

by James A. Lucas

After the catastrophic attacks of September 11 2001 monumental sorrow and a feeling of desperate and understandable anger began to permeate the American psyche. A few people at that time attempted to promote a balanced perspective by pointing out that the United States had also been responsible for causing those same feelings in people in other nations, but they produced hardly a ripple. Although Americans understand in the abstract the wisdom of people around the world empathizing with the suffering of one another, such a reminder of wrongs committed by our nation got little hearing and was soon overshadowed by an accelerated “war on terrorism.”

But we must continue our efforts to develop understanding and compassion in the world. Hopefully, this article will assist in doing that by addressing the question “How many September 11ths has the United States caused in other nations since WWII?” This theme is developed in this report which contains an estimated numbers of such deaths in 37 nations as well as brief explanations of why the U.S. is considered culpable.

The causes of wars are complex. In some instances nations other than the U.S. may have been responsible for more deaths, but if the involvement of our nation appeared to have been a necessary cause of a war or conflict it was considered responsible for the deaths in it. In other words they probably would not have taken place if the U.S. had not used the heavy hand of its power. The military and economic power of the United States was crucial.

This study reveals that U.S. military forces were directly responsible for about 10 to 15 million deaths during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and the two Iraq Wars. The Korean War also includes Chinese deaths while the Vietnam War also includes fatalities in Cambodia and Laos.

The American public probably is not aware of these numbers and knows even less about the proxy wars for which the United States is also responsible. In the latter wars there were between nine and 14 million deaths in Afghanistan, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Guatemala, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sudan.

But the victims are not just from big nations or one part of the world. The remaining deaths were in smaller ones which constitute over half the total number of nations. Virtually all parts of the world have been the target of U.S. intervention.

The overall conclusion reached is that the United States most likely has been responsible since WWII for the deaths of between 20 and 30 million people in wars and conflicts scattered over the world.

To the families and friends of these victims it makes little difference whether the causes were U.S. military action, proxy military forces, the provision of U.S. military supplies or advisors, or other ways, such as economic pressures applied by our nation. They had to make decisions about other things such as finding lost loved ones, whether to become refugees, and how to survive.

And the pain and anger is spread even further. Some authorities estimate that there are as many as 10 wounded for each person who dies in wars. Their visible, continued suffering is a continuing reminder to their fellow countrymen.

It is essential that Americans learn more about this topic so that they can begin to understand the pain that others feel. Someone once observed that the Germans during WWII “chose not to know.” We cannot allow history to say this about our country. The question posed above was “How many September 11ths has the United States caused in other nations since WWII?” The answer is: possibly 10,000.

Click here to read the full article.