LAT: Iraq death tolls, statistics contorted by both U.S. and Iraqi sources

[DeepModem Mom]

NEWS ANALYSIS
Why the Numbers Don't Add Up in Iraq
The Pentagon's fondness for secrecy along with partisan agendas in Baghdad often lead to contortions with death tolls and other details.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer
September 10, 2006

....In the volatile atmosphere of today's Iraq, numbers can lie and statistics can be notional, be they from U.S. or Iraqi sources.

Government agencies here rarely keep reliable statistics. Fear and partisan agendas sway Iraqi officials, making them reluctant to divulge what little data they collect. The U.S. military's fondness for secrecy tends to clash with the brass' demands for "metrics" to quantify any progress.

This tension often leads to curious contortions of numbers and nomenclature.

During weekly news briefings deep inside barricaded compounds, commanders regularly display slick charts, multicolored bar graphs and PowerPoint presentations, all heralding good news.

"One more indicator that operations are in fact reducing the amount of attacks on civilians is shown here on this graph," (Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad) assured reporters the other day, pointing to a bar chart dutifully placed on an easel by a stone-faced uniformed subordinate. But all the numbers had been carefully scrubbed. They were classified....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-spin10sep10,0,5343212.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[snappyturtle]

1. Remember: There's a reason

we don't get to see the coffins coming back into the U.S. I read a report last week that our troop death total is 12,000....they don't count those who die in transport or those who die in hospitals outside of Iraq. Did anyone else read this?

[Ice4Clark]

2. What report are you talking about?

Do you have a link?

[snappyturtle]

3. No, I don't have the link...

but I'll try to find it again!

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ice4Clark]

5. Thanks

I emailed to ask for a copy of the original DoD Supplementary Casualty lists. I'll post back here if I get anything.

[struggle4progress]

6. .. There is no official estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians ..

.. who have died since the outbreak of the war in Iraq. Human rights groups say the occupying powers have failed in their duty to catalogue the deaths, giving the impression that ordinary Iraqis' lives are worth less than those of their soldiers for whom detailed statistics are available. However, the Pentagon spokesman said "there is no accurate way to validate the estimates of civilian casualties by this or any other organisation" ...

Iraq death toll 'soared post-war'
Last Updated: Friday, 29 October, 2004, 16:09 GMT 17:09 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3962969.stm

Estimating civilian deaths in Iraq – six surveys
By Nicolas J S Davies
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Mar 29, 2006, 00:35

.. Iraq Body Count’s database is not intended as an estimate of total deaths. Its methodology is to record only war-related violent deaths that are reported by at least two approved international media sources ..

Six months after the invasion, an Iraqi group called the People’s Kifah mobilized hundreds of academics and volunteers who “spoke and coordinated with grave-diggers across Iraq, obtained information from hospitals and spoke to thousands of witnesses who saw incidents in which Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. fire.” Unfortunately they were forced to abandon the project when one of their researchers, Ramzi Musa Ahmad, was seized by Kurdish militiamen, reportedly handed over to U.S. forces, and never seen again. However, after only a month or two’s work, the People’s Kifah had already gathered evidence of at least 37,000 violent civilian deaths by October 2003 ..

BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson reported on another Health Ministry report that covered the six months from July 1, 2004, to January 1, 2005. This report cited 2,041 civilians killed by U.S. and allied forces versus 1,233 by “insurgents.” Then something strange but sadly predictable happened. The Iraqi Health Minister’s office contacted the BBC and claimed that the figures had been misinterpreted; the BBC eventually issued a retraction; and details of deaths caused by coalition forces have been notably absent from subsequent Health Ministry reports ..

Iraqiyun is an Iraqi humanitarian group headed by Dr. Hatim Al-Alwani and affiliated with the political party of Interim President Ghazi Al-Yawir. It released its report on July 12, 2005, making it the most recent survey to date. It counted 128,000 actual violent deaths, of whom 55 percent were women and children under the age of 12. The report specified that it included only confirmed deaths reported to relatives, omitting the large numbers of people who have simply disappeared without trace amid the violence and chaos ..

http://www.onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_643.shtml

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Thanks for this link, struggle4progress. nt