Iraqi death toll spirals upwards

[paineinthearse]

IRAQ BODY COUNT Press Releases

PR11: Thursday 17th March 2005

Iraqi death toll spirals upwards; elections followed by increase in civilian casualties

On the 2nd anniversary of the Coalition invasion of Iraq, media-reported civilian deaths are approaching 20,000, and the death-rate is spiralling upwards.

Data provided on the http://www.iraqbodycount.net website show that, far from abating, the monthly death rate in 2005 continues to rise, and that the number of media-reported incidents involving the deaths of civilians and captives in the three months to March 2005 <376> is more than double the number for the same months a year ago <140>. April and November 2004 show the highest civilian death totals since the end of the "invasion phase", and result from the two US assaults on Falluja.

Particularly disturbing is that the death rate has increased since the January 31st elections. The reported death toll for February 2005 was 606. This is a significantly higher total than for January, which claimed 447 lives. These figures decisively rebut the claim that elections would lessen the intensity of the insurgency – an insurgency whose stated aim of US military withdrawal was not on the election agenda.

The table below shows provisional figures for each month since May 2003, when President Bush declared an end to "formal hostilities". Also provided in the table is the number of separately reported incidents, month by month.

Iraq Body Count spokesman John Sloboda said "These emerging figures speak for themselves. The Iraqi people have suffered increasingly from the policies of governments who still refuse to either comprehensively assess or accept responsibility for the casualties that have resulted from their actions. In the absence of an official assessment, our researchers have now begun an intensive process of analysing all the original press and media stories, extracting more specific information about both victims and perpetrators in order to reveal in as much detail as possible what can be known about the nature, cause and distribution of civilian casualties in the first two years of this conflict. Today's data are the first fruits of this work, whose full results will be made publicly available in July, at the start of Britain's presidency of the EU and the G8."

Table: Minimum and maximum media-reported civilian deaths May 2003 – February 2005. Source: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/database (as of 10:00 GMT Thursday 17th March 2005)

Month Reported Deaths
(min-max) Separate Reported Incidents

May 2003 453-497 17

June 2003 510-538 25

July 2003 559-595 25

August 2003 591-621 21

September 2003 495-509 33

October 2003 430-450 39

November 2003 408-430 46

December 2003 474-491 51

January 2004 512-528 52

February 2004 530-545 37

March 2004 887-918 71

April 2004 1137-1193 42

May 2004 216-236 60

June 2004 307-338 52

July 2004 273-282 80

August 2004 365-407 83

September 2004 464-504 71

October 2004 356-376 68

November 2004 951-1076 84

December 2004 395-414 100

January 2005 421-447 140

February 2005 554-606 136


Press Contacts: John Sloboda [e-mail]
Hamit Dardagan [e-mail]

http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

[kansasblue]

1. A graph/image of that would be helpful