U.N. Puts ’06 Death Toll in Iraq Above 34,000

NY Times ^ | January 16, 2007 | SABRINA TAVERNISE

[woofie]

BAGHDAD, Jan. 16 — The United Nations reported Tuesday that more than 34,000 Iraqis were killed in violence last year, a figure that represents the first comprehensive annual count of civilian deaths and a vivid measure of the failure the Iraqi government and American military to provide security.

Numbers of civilian deaths have become the central indicator for the trajectory of the war and are extremely sensitive for both Iraqi and American officials. Both track the tallies but neither will release them.

This latest figure was the first attempt at hand-counting individual deaths for an entire year. It was compiled using statistics from local morgues, hospitals and municipal authorities across Iraq and was nearly three times higher than an estimate for 2006 compiled from Iraqi ministry tallies by The Associated Press earlier this month.

An Iraqi government spokesman called the count exaggerated and said it had been obtained using “incorrect sources.” Though the Iraqi government closely tracks deaths through the Interior and Health Ministries, he said it did not have a system in place for compiling a comprehensive figure.

The vast majority of Iraqi deaths are reported, at least to local authorities, so that Iraqis can obtain death certificates to prove inheritance and to receive government compensation. Some deaths still go unreported, however, and the United Nations tally may in fact be lower than the true number of deaths nationwide.

As death tolls have risen, the lack of security has become the single most important barrier to success of the American enterprise here. The numbers of dead, at least at the Baghdad morgue, are running double what they were in 2005.

Underscoring the challenge, even as the United Nations released its figure — 34,452 deaths in all — at least 70 more people were killed when a series of ....

[Just A Nobody]

showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers were killed in the violence that raged in the country last year.

The question I never see asked is:

How many of the 14,298 civilians were TERRORISTS???
How many were blown up or used as shields by the terrorists?

Since the TERRORISTS do not wear uniforms, they are considered "innocent civilians" and no one questions this.

[CBart95]

It's useful that you raise these issues, even if you do it rather half-heartedly or at least in a resigned way.

It might do well to aquire a ready skepticism toward all these "statistics" generated by Islamo-facist leaning outfits knowing that lying propaganda is the primary terrorist "war weapon"...they do their best fighting in the "theater of the mind".

And they excel in working to pit the enemy against themselves by fomenting confusion and misunderstanding in the citizen ranks of their enemy. ( One might conclude that the pagans are leading the race at this juncture if confusion and cross-purposes are any guage of things.)

Take heart. Don't give up the race...the battle will be won and we will prevail.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Even more pathetic is the politicization of a "respected medical journal" (The Lancet). It's one thing for, say, the NYT to be biased -- medical and scientific journals should value objectectivity above scoring political points.

[Just A Nobody]

medical and scientific journals should value objectectivity above scoring political points.

I valued their opinions more before they joined the anti-smoking and global warming nonsense.

[FourtySeven]

Yes, but note that even if the UN figure is correct and even if it had been constant ever since the start of the Iraq operation, this figure is way way lower than the Lancet figure of 650 000 that is trumpeted by every left-wing moonbat around.

I was thinking that too. Smart money says that the 650,000 figure will still be used though.

[weegee]

The Left was saying 1,000,000 dead Iraqis in 2004. And they predicted we would "soon" see tens of yhousand dead US troops.