Body Count in Baghdad Nearly Triples

[cal04]

Morgue's Revised Toll for August Undermines Claims by Leaders of Steep Drop in Violence
Baghdad's morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq's capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital.

Separately, the Health Ministry confirmed Thursday that it planned to construct two new branch morgues in Baghdad and add doctors and refrigerator units to raise capacity to as many as 250 corpses a day.

The morgue expansion plans and the final body count for August show the dramatic surge in violence in Baghdad since U.S.-led foreign troops entered Iraq in 2003. Baghdad's morgue chiefly handles unidentified gunshot victims, now predominantly shot execution-style and often found with hands bound and showing signs of torture.

Since the spring, as sectarian violence has mounted, monthly counts of civilian casualties have reached the highest levels of the war, topping 1,800 at the Baghdad morgue in July. At least 3,438 Iraqis were killed across the country that month, according to Iraqi government figures, nearing the total of roughly 5,000 for the entire first year of the war.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090700768.html

[Jcrowley]

1. There is much deception

I suspect that the figures of all killed and wounded of all nationalities is being undercounted purposely. As the Bushies are hyper aware of the PR damage control mechanism I believe we will not know the true toll for years to come if ever.

As it was in Katrina body counts are not done particularly of "the other."