Civilian Deaths In Iraq

It takes a foreign newspaper La Razon - FROM BOLIVIA OF ALL PLACES - to get information that should be front-page news in the U.S. This study, done by two orgs called "Irak Body County" and ''Oxford Research Group' says that there have been 24,865 civilian deaths, from the 20th of March of 03 to March of 05. It bases the count on 10,000 press summaries published during that time-period. It also attributes 37 percent of the deaths to American or Coalition forces. So much for "collateral damage"! It does say the insurgents are responsible for 9.5, with another 36 percent attributed to 'criminal acts' subsequent to the invasion.

Hey, there are obvious holes to punch in this kind of 'study', including some apparent bias, and a whole category of 'criminal action' that seems kind of vague. But then again, the American media does not routinely give accounts of all the Iraqi civilians who routinely get killed at checkpoints by nervous G.I.'s, or who die when their houses get flattened by artillery fire or bombs. Until the government steps up and shows this side of the conflict and the U.S. media reports it like it should, I have no reason to dispute figures given out by groups like this. Its only when the likes of Al Jazeera, make all sorts of claims about 100,000 killed, that I might cite this study to disprove that.

War is ugly and brutal, but if you are sending kids to fight a war, the public deserves to see everything, including the humanitarian cost. The U.S.'s enemies will show the world anyway, at least the citizens of this country should be equally informed.

El estudio, basado en 10.000 informaciones de prensa publicadas desde esa fecha, cifra en 24.865 los civiles muertos, casi todos a consecuencia directa de la violencia, entre el 20 de marzo del 2003 y el 20 de marzo del 2005.

Sus autores son académicos y pacifistas agrupados en el “Irak Body Count” y el “Oxford Research Group” y señalan que en el segundo año de la guerra murieron casi el doble de civiles.

Algo más de un 37 por ciento de las muertes de civiles las atribuye el informe a la coalición dirigida por EEUU, mientras que las que califica de “fuerzas anti-ocupación” son responsables de un 9,5 por ciento. Un 36 por ciento del total es atribuido a delitos de tipo criminal cometidos tras la invasión. La responsabilidad de los ejércitos de la coalición en las muertes de civiles es, sin embargo, muy desigual, y así el estudio atribuye a las fuerzas estadounidenses un 98,5 por ciento del total de muertes.