Posted on 01/27/2005 9:12:09 AM PST by mark502inf
The number of Iraqi civilians killed during the occupation of Iraq has reached 10,000, peace activists tracking the casualties say.
More civilians have died since the end of Saddam Hussein's regime than during the invasion to topple him, according to Iraq Body Count.
Month-by-month figures computed by the group show that by yesterday morning between 9,999 and 10,586 civilians have been killed since May 1, 2003 - when President George W Bush declared the end of "major combat operations".
This is higher than the estimated 7,350 civilians killed during the war itself.
"Sometimes you need a specific round number to bring home to people the enormity of what is happening," said John Sloboda, co-founder of Iraq Body Count.
"More people have died in the so-called post-conflict phase than during the conflict. It shows that the war has never ended."
A study published last year in The Lancet estimated civilian deaths at 100,000. The coalition does not provide figures of civilian deaths.
The Iraq Body Count data shows a large increase last spring during the failed US operation to retake Fallujah and the uprising by the radical Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.
Since then, the number of civilians killed has varied between 200 and 500 a month.
"Very few of those deaths would have occurred had the US and UK not decided to invade," said Mr Sloboda, "In a very real sense we are responsible for them."
Iraq Body Count collates casualty figures based on reports from two media sources or government and NGO reports.
Their first problem is that they do not distinguish between casualties inflicted by the insurgents/terrorists and those inflicted by the US, coalition forces, or Iraqi security forces. Second, their methodology labels all Iraqi dead who are not positively identified as insurgents as civilians. Third, they do not include any context. As this article shows, the average violent death rate under Saddam Hussein's 20+ years of rule was 70-125 per day. Using the lower end figure of 70 and multiplying by the approximately 700 days the US has been in Iraq projects to 49,000 violent deaths at the Hussein rate; a savings of over 30,000 lives under the U.S. occupation.
It further does not take into account the other ways in which the defeat of Saddam Hussein has saved Iraqi lives. Under the sanctions regime and with Hussein diverting the oil for food money to bribes, his personal use, and his security forces, UNICEF estimated that 4,500 Iraqi children per month were dying of otherwise treatable medical and nutrition related ailments. That toll has ended with the invasion and the provision of food and medicines in adequate amounts to the Iraqi people. Based on the UNICEF rates, that means over 100,000 Iraqis--mostly children--are alive now who would have died if Saddam Hssein had remained in power over the past 21 months.
No, the number of Iraqi civilian deaths is over 100,000. I saw it over at DU.
So, 1 million or more Iraquis and Iranians killed by Saddam Hussein and the mullahs, another 10,000 killed by "insurgent" terrorist Islamofascist thugs and murderers, and how many killed by American combat forces?
Did these same so called "peace activists" happen to have an ACCOUNTING OF HOW MANY SADDAM AND HIS REGUIME KILLED?????? Hundreds of thousands are suspected! Did these @$$holes get that count. Oh, wait, they are ignoring that. WWII killed millions, but they ignored the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazi's. That didn't count. Are these "human shields" going over and human shield protect the people when they vote???? I thought not!!! (and I am not turning the rant off!!! either!!! Because I hate liberals, democrats, socialists and communists)!
Yeah, I'm shocked these peace groups are off the leftwing reservation. 100,000 is such a nice round number, too. I only skimmed the article....Does it point out that the ones targeting civilians are the bad guys we're trying to kill?
It's all Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, as Mark Twain wrote.
Under Clinton we kept hearing about the number of *children* killed by handguns. A look into the validity of the stats revealed that the numbers included the 18-19 y.o. gangbangers killing each other and getting shot by police while in the commission of a crime....
Some of these *civilians*, no doubt fall into this category as well....
How is that possible?
Less than a year ago it was 100,000!
Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Michael Moron and others told us so!
DU isn't the only place quoting the bogus number. I have seen it in countless letters to the editor as well.
Two words, and the second is "No".
I sincerely like the way to talk...I couldn't have said it better myself...
I concur with the first word!
A "child" was anyone upto 25 years old in the Brady Campaign/Handgun Inc. "research".
It also included those killed by justified self defense.
"...between 9,999 and 10,586 civilians..."
Sodomy Insane killed more than that number, each month.
Why stop at 25? Uday and Kusay were children -- to Saddam that is.
Post 11 has a link to a story debunking the 100,000 figure from the Hopkins study/Lancet article that the anti-Americans have so eagerly embraced.
What an absolute a55hole! We are responsible for civilians killed by terrorists? But not resoponsible for the civilians NOT now being killed by Saddam and his murderous thugs?
Your making a joke, but believe it or not, there was a gun death study of children that included ANYONE with a living parent as they were that persons child.
I am NOT making this up!
I'd like to see a break out of civilian deaths directly attributed to US military action, compared to the staggering amount killed by the insurgents...err terrorists.
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