Paul’s numbers are off, but not by a lot.

According to the Defense Department, 3,741 American troops had been killed in Iraq as of Sept. 5, 2007. The corresponding figure for deaths in Afghanistan is 372.

In addition, 232 American civilian workers have been killed in Iraq, according to the latest report of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

Official figures are difficult to come by for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, but the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, lists only four American civilian deaths in Afghanistan.

So, add up the military deaths, combined with the American civilian casualties from the SIGIR report and icasualties.org, and it totals 4,349. This figure is significant, but short of Congressman Paul’s assertion of over 5,000.