From Reuters via the New York Times:
LONDON (Reuters) - More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.
That's not counting the wounded, some of them with severe injuries, like our own wounded. That's not counting those living in Iraq in conditions of danger and hardship. That's not counting those who fled the country and are living in refugee camps. What a terrible tragedy for Iraq.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Thanks to Holden at First Draft for the link.
Lord, have mercy.
ReplyDeleteChrist, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Are there estimates of how many Iraqis died in consequence of Saddam Hussein's activities? Wonder how he & George W stack up against one another in the "mine's bigger than yours" ratings.
ReplyDeleteA piece by Alexander Cockburn, published in 2005 in the LA Times, quotes a figure of 300,000 victims of Saddam. So I guess that it really is true that we're winning the war.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.commondreams.org/views05/1217-29.htm
This likely does not even include the numbers killed by the Iraqi's themselves: Homos, heretics, et al...
ReplyDeletePlus, the many displaced, many our brothers and sisters.
Lapin, I don't believe that there are definitive numbers, so far as I can see. Many casualties occurred after the first Gulf War, when the US encouraged uprisings and then gave no help to the rebels. I have heard the number 300,000, too.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article by John Burns of the NYT, written just before the beginning of the present Iraq War. There's no doubt that Saddam was cruel and brutal killer, but the numbers he is responsible for having killed are still fuzzy. Burns seems to be trying to make the case that Saddam's cruelty was enough reason to go to war. I wonder what he thinks today.
We can't forget who armed Saddam during the Iraq-Iran war.
Lindy, you are right. The present numbers could well be higher than the study shows.
And it really doesn't matter who killed whom. The fact is there'd be far less dying (and more running water, electricty, schools and hospitals) if we'd never gone in there.
ReplyDeletePJ, dead is dead, right?
ReplyDelete