Failure to Count Iraqi Casualties Is Irresponsible, Say Experts, BMJ

[struggle4progress]

11 Mar 2005

An international group of public health experts has accused the British and American governments of being "wholly irresponsible" over their failure to count Iraqi casualties.

In a statement published online by the BMJ today, 24 experts from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Spain, Italy and Australia call for an independent inquiry into Iraqi war-related casualties. "We believe that the joint US/UK failure to make any effort to monitor Iraqi casualties is, from a public health perspective, wholly irresponsible," they write.

They argue that the British government's reliance on Iraqi Ministry of Health figures is "unacceptable." These figures "are likely seriously to underestimate casualties," since they do not take into account deaths during the first 12 months since the invasion, only include violent deaths reported through the health system, and they do not allow for reliable attribution between different causes of death and injury.

The inadequacy of the current US/UK policy was highlighted when the Lancet published research suggesting that Iraq had suffered around 100,000 excess deaths since the 2003 invasion, but the UK government rejected this survey as unreliable. <snip>

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=21077


Physicians condemn failure to count Iraq casualties
By Fiona Symon
Published: March 11 2005 10:21 | Last updated: March 11 2005 10:21

The US and Britain should to set up a commission to assess the number of civilian casualties in Iraq, an international group of doctors said in a statement on Friday.

"We believe that the joint US/UK failure to make any effort to monitor Iraqi casualties, is from a public health perspective, wholly irresponsible," the doctors said in a statement on the British Medical Journal's Web site. <snip>

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/52ae1494-9216-11d9-bca5-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=c1a5b968-e1ed-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html

[Somawas]

1. I don't believe it for a moment.

I think the Pentagon knows the count, how they died, where, and has an age breakdown, too. They're just not telling.

[Erika]

2. Keep track of daily happenings

at www.icasualties.org

[DELUSIONAL]

3. and bushie says:

"Oh shut up -- go away. Na Na Na -- I can't hear you." While covering his ears with his hands.

More likely his handlers won't read him this bit of news.

The reason why the victims aren't counted -- racism.