>>>>Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have died and more die each day. A Pakistani acquaintance told me that there are more than a million war widows in Afghanistan.
>>>>Somehow, this country has to regain its conscience
>>
>>"It is easier to fight the world than to wrestle with your conscience"
>> - Matshona Dhliwayo
>
>Were are these numbers coming from? Mind you I am not disputing the numbers -- but getting such figures seems a rather daunting task.

Good question.
Yes, it's a daunting task and I don't want to start another debate about journalism, but it shouldn't be.

https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2006/burnham-iraq-2006.html

Johns Hopkins is one source for Iraqi deaths - over 600,000 and it increases every day.

To put that in perspective, we considered Saddam Hussein to be a war criminal because he killed 70,000 Iraqis.

The US caused Afghan death count is currently estimated at about 150,000 and that increases every day. However, inter-tribal warfare related to the war causes hundreds of thousands of deaths, hence all the widows.

US-caused deaths in Syria and Libya are lower but they are increasing every day.

Not surprisingly, the US death count is much lower.
One reason is that many enemy deaths are inflicted by people in safe places in the US who guide drones for a living.
The Atlantic article about the B-2 bombers I cited can give you an idea about the damage US firepower can inflict with no fear of reprisal.
It's horrific.