That's a breathtakingly big number; if it's true, then 1 out of 40 Iraqis have been killed since the beginning of the invasion. Of course the US and UK governments have both disputed the accuracy of the study. It certainly does not cast them in a good light:
Nearly a third of the deaths (31%) were ascribed to the coalition forces. Most of the deaths - 601,000 out of 655,000 - were due to violence and of those, 56% were caused by gunshot wounds.
Read the Guardian story for more information.
This is one of those times when it would be nice if the statistics turned out to be wrong. Don't count on it, though; the same group previously did a similar study in 2004, with much the same results. It's unlikely that exactly the same statistical error would occur twice.ÂÂ
The article mentions that this implies a death rate of about 1% of the Iraqi population per year due to conflict, which is similar to what could be expected during wartime. So judging from the number of casualties alone, it would seem that Iraq is already in the midst of a civil war.
That comes to 600 people a day. You think someone might have noticed all those bodies piling up in the street if these numbers are accurate?
Another example of nonsense being accepted as fact.
That comes to 600 people a day. You think someone might have noticed all those bodies piling up in the street if these numbers are accurate?
Another example of nonsense being accepted as fact.
Denny; most Muslims bury their dead the same day they die, as per Islamic law. I do love the neocon response though "Lay off, we've only murdered 1/10th as many innocents as that study projects".
the neocon response to going ons in Iraq summarized by DA: "Lay off, we've only murdered 1/10th as many innocents as that study projects".
it seems they celbrate 'death', they argue about the numbers. 'death' is not bothersome.
DA: good point
Careful! The study is widely quoted as saying that only 31% were killed by coalition forces. So, if you accept this study's numbers, you must accept that Muslims have killed over 400,000 of each other since 2003! Sobering, very sobering.
- A Salafi in worship, a Sufi in society, a Secularist in government.
Omar,
I do realize the the statistic is not just a "troops have killed" one, nor am I a "blame the USA and Israel alwats" dude. That being said, though, teh deaths due to sectarian violence are still an American issue because they were at least partly caused by the invasion.Also, the knee-jerk neocon response bothers me a lot "The numbers must be false even though I haven't looked at the study". We know from internal pentagon memos that the military has under-reported the numbers of dead US troops, so it seems reasonable that the statistics of dead Iraqis may be skewed as well.
The Guardian has an interesting discussion of the possibilities of error in the study at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1925588,00.html