The US-UK are responsible for the deaths of over three million Iraqis

In the article below Robert Naiman starts counting the death of Iraqi civilians from March 2003 onwards, he does not count the Iraqi civilians who died during the 'First Gulf War' and during the twelve years of the criminal blockade which was imposed on the Iraqi people by the US-UK and their accomplices.

Between 1991 and 2003 (First War of aggression+ blockade) two million Iraqi civilians have died and over one million Iraqi civilians have died since the March 2003 illegal war of aggression on Iraq.

But even when the Anglo-Saxon troops will leave Iraq the Iraqi people will continue to die of DEPLETED URANIUM POISONING for many centuries. Iraqi soil, water and air have been contaminated by the greatest war criminals in human history: the U.S, UK and Australian leaders.



Published on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
Is the U.S. Responsible for the Death of Nearly a Million Iraqis?
by Robert Naiman


This week and next the Senate is considering amendments to the FY 2008 authorization for the Pentagon, an authorization that includes more money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the proposed amendments would try to force the Bush Administration to end the Iraq war. A few more Senate Republicans have rhetorically broken ranks with the Administration, and the question of the hour is whether they will put their votes where their mouths are and vote for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops or other measures that would force the Administration to move towards ending the war.

This week, the Congressional Research Service put the financial cost of the war in Iraq at $10 billion a month. The New York Times editorialized that “It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.”
A key question is missing from this debate. How many Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion? The New York Times editorial is silent on this matter.

In a scientific study published last fall in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, researchers from Johns Hopkins estimated that 650,000 Iraqis had died because of our government’s invasion of their country. The survey that produced that estimate was completed in July, 2006. That was a year ago.

Unfortunately, despite the calls of the Lancet authors for other studies, there has been no systematic effort to update these results.
Just Foreign Policy has attempted to update the Lancet estimate in the best way we know. We have extrapolated from the Lancet estimate, using the trend provided by the tally of Iraqi deaths reported in Western media compiled by Iraq Body Count. Our current estimate is that 974,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion. The web counter and fuller explanation are here.

The Iraqi death toll resulting from the U.S. invasion is a key fact. We cannot make intelligent and moral choices about U.S. foreign policy while ignoring such a key fact. It has implications for our choices in Iraq, for our choices in dealing with Iran, for our choices about the size of the U.S. military (for why do our leaders want to expand the U.S. military, except to have the capacity to invade other countries?)

The exact toll will never be known. But this is no reason not to attempt to know what the best estimate is. We also don’t know many other key facts with certainty. We don’t know how many people live in the U.S. The census department creates an estimate, and this estimate is the basis of policy.

The Johns Hopkins researchers used the methods accepted all over the world to estimate deaths in the wake of war and natural disasters. The United Nations, for example, uses them to plan famine relief. Even the Bush administration relies on them when it accuses Sudan of genocide in Darfur. At present, this represents the best information we have.
As Congress considers legislative efforts to end the war, best estimates of the Iraqi death toll must be part of the debate.

Robert Naiman is Senior Policy Analyst and National Coordinator at Just Foreign Policy.

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/11/2454/


My e-mail to The Guardian
reader@guardian.co.uk; siobhain.butterworth@guardian.co.uk


Subject: The Iraq Body Count figures do not reflect the reality. Importance : Haute

To: Siobhain Butterworth, The Guardian Readers’ Editor
CC. James Sturcke
CC. George Monbiot
CC. Media Lens
CC. Les Roberts

Dear Siobhain Butterworth,

Re: US House calls for Iraq pullout by spring, by James Sturcke and agencies
Friday July 13, 2007

In the above mentioned article James Sturcke writes: "There have also been around 70,000 Iraqi civilian deaths as a result of the military action by the US and its allies, according to the Iraq Body Count website."

The Iraq Body Count figures do not reflect the reality.

It is estimated that between 1991 and 2003 (First War of aggression+ blockade) nearly two million Iraqi civilians have died and that over one million Iraqi civilians have died since the March 2003 illegal war of aggression on Iraq.

It is clear that while Iraq is occupied the number of Iraqi deaths will continue to rise. Besides, even when the Anglo-Saxon troops will leave Iraq the Iraqi people will continue to die of DEPLETED URANIUM poisoning for many centuries. Iraqi soil, water and air have been contaminated by the greatest war criminals in human history: the U.S, UK and Australian leaders.

Please stop misinforming your readers and use more reliable sources such as the Lancet when reporting the deaths of Iraqi civilians killed by the Anglo-Saxon aggressors.

Yours truly,

Merry Fitzgerald
Committee for the Defense of the Iraqi Turkmen Rights - Belgium