Posted on 07/19/2005 9:15:50 AM PDT by robowombat
Iraqi Civilian Casualties
According to a report released on Tuesday by the Iraq Body Count and Oxford Research Group, "nearly 25,000" Iraqi civilians have died during the war in Iraq and the subsequent insurgency. The report is being touted as "the first detailed account" of civilian casualties in Iraq, and signifies a strong departure from the "100,000" civilian deaths figure critics of the war have been citing for the past eight months. Clearly that effort was propagandized and provided a convienent tool for those opposed to the war to latch onto. That said, we certainly express remorse and sorrow for any innocent civilian killed in combat, and don't find the "25,000" figure any less comforting.
Taking a deeper look into the findings provided some answers, and in other cases introduced new questions.
Clearly Baghdad (11,264 civilian deaths) has been the hardest hit area with Fallujah (1,874 civilian deaths) being the only other city that recorded more than 1,000 civilian deaths.
According to the report, the U.S. military was the leading cause of deaths among Iraqi civilians (9,270), while insurgents are credited with killing 2,353. In a vague third category, the report attributes 8,935 of the civilian deaths on crime. One would have to question exactly how civilian deaths were judged to be the acts of insurgents or simple crime.
I strongly suspect that many of those deaths listed as acts of crime, were in fact caused by insurgents and foreign fighters determined to start a civil war. Additionally, one would have to question how many of these "civilians" were actually insurgents who no longer weilded their AK-47 when they were rolled into the emergency room. It's worth noting the gross disparity in deaths among men over 18, who made up nearly 82 percent of those killed. Unless the United States has developed a testosterone seeking missile, my guess is many of these individuals were in fact insurgents killed, but logged under "civilian" deaths.
Finally, it suffices to recall the Saddam Fedayeen using civilians as human shields during the major combat phase (when most civilian casualties took place) or shooting people who refused to fight.
It's inconcievable to accept that the U.S. military has killed four times the number of civilians that insurgents have, despite this report.
WHO cause the most of this number??
The liberals have exagerated all the bad things and turned their noses up at anything good since the war started, Why should they change now?
gans = gangs
Thus if we divide the figure of 25,000 by 41, the number of months since the US invasion of Iraq, we have less than 610 per month, a net decrease in civilian deaths of 20,180 or so SINCE the fall of Saddam.
Even taking into account that many of those who died during Saddam's bloody misrule were conscripted soldiers during the enormously bloody and stalemated Iran/Iraq war of 1980-89, those who decry the American invasion of Iraq are actually comfortable with Saddam's own killing quota of 20,000+ per month.
This hardly makes them human rights supporters, or friends of the Iraqi people. The American Military has that distinction all to itself.
'25,000 civilians' killed in Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4692589.stm
More than half of civilian deaths were caused by explosive devices
Nearly 25,000 civilians have died violently in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, a report says.
Clearly Baghdad (11,264 civilian deaths) has been the hardest.lets see... 11,262 divided by the 5million people that live in bagdad equals .00225% of the population killed to free the other .99774% of the city.
i'd say that was pretty darn good shootin on our part!!!
If you go to the site you will see that it is run by people opposed to the war. Furthermore, you will note that their number is only that of reported fatalities, cross checked with two or more independent sources. Therefore, their number is the minumum, as there are always a lot of deaths that go unreported.
What is irking is the Left's inane assertion that the U.S. is responsible for all the deaths, regardless of who caused them.
Saddam killed far more routinely and intentionally.
We try to avoid civilian casualties and take casualties as a result.
That because for the left it's all about Bush.
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