Study documents US-inflicted carnage on Iraqi people

[IndianaGreen]

Study documents US-inflicted carnage on Iraqi people
By James Cogan
26 July 2005

The Dossier of Civilian Casualties 2003-2005, published this month by the organisation Iraq Body Count (IBC), is the most detailed assessment to date of how the illegal US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq have caused the death and injury of tens of thousands of civilians.

The dossier examines 24,865 civilian fatalities and 42,500 injuries in Iraq between March 19, 2003 and March 19, 2005. The study’s methodology was meticulous but conservative, meaning the figures underestimate the extent of the carnage inflicted on the Iraqi people. Only deaths that were reported by at least two out of 152 English-language news sources have been counted. Associated Press, Agence France Presse and Reuters provided over one third of the casualty reports. Other sources were journalists working for Knight Ridder, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian, the Independent, the BBC, UPI and other major international news outlets.

The dossier notes that the reliance on English-only sources means “it is possible that our count has excluded some victims as a result”. As well, the report does not include the deaths and injuries suffered by the Iraqi military during the invasion, or the casualties that have been sustained by the anti-occupation resistance movement. Nor does it include the casualties inflicted by the resistance on the pro-occupation Iraqi military fighting alongside the US forces.

The fact that the report does not include thousands of deaths makes its statistics even more horrifying. In Tikrit, for example, the hometown of Saddam Hussein and the target of heavy bombing in March 2003, IBC has documented that at least one out of every 90 civilians has been killed. In Baghdad, at least one out of every 500 people has been killed since the US invasion.

Across the country, IBC has recorded that a minimum of one out of every 1,000 Iraqi civilians suffered a violent death between March 19, 2003 and March 19, 2005. If a similar death toll was suffered in the United States, more than 295,000 people would have lost their lives—100 times the number killed in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/iraq-j26.shtml

[acmavm]

1. This should be required reading for anyone with a conscience. It

really shows that the Iraqi people are victims of the bush** administration's attempt to jump into the Middle East and play Barney Badass.

[ClintonTyree]

2. The bush motto........

"hey, if you want to make an omelet, you're going to have to break a few eggs".

Again, the Republican "culture of life" lie coming to the forefront.

[Hissyspit]

3. Nominated - Props to IBC

kicked, too.

[dalloway]

4. nominated and kicked.

[il_lilac]

5. and how many maimed?

We are a disgrace to the rest of the world.