WP,pg1: In Iraqi ER...Rush of Patients Hints at High Civilian Death Toll

[DeepModem Mom]

In an Iraqi ER, Doctors Attend to Disaster
Rush of Patients Hints at High Civilian Death Toll
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 12, 2004; Page A01


....(Luai) Rubaie, a stocky man with a gentle face, displayed both the detachment of a physician and the anguish of a man whose country seems cursed by far too frequent deaths. Figures on civilians killed in the relentless violence in Baghdad and other restive regions are hard to come by, however. A report last month in Lancet, a British medical journal, said that at least 100,000 Iraqis may have been killed since the U.S. invasion in March 2003. A research group called Iraq Body Count put the number at a fraction of that -- probably 14,600 to 16,800.

The numbers vary widely for a reason: lack of information. The Lancet study based its numbers on a survey of 33 neighborhoods in Iraq; Iraq Body Count relies on media reports. For months, an authoritative account was provided by the Iraqi Health Ministry, but it quit publicizing the toll in the fall. It reported 3,853 civilians killed from April 5 to Oct. 5.

Rubaie knows the numbers only at Yarmouk, one of Baghdad's largest hospitals, located in a neighborhood with its own share of kidnappings, shootings, car bombings and armed clashes. He sees maybe 100 cases a day, twice as many as before the invasion in March 2003. Back then, he estimated, one in 1,000 was a victim of gunfire. Now half the cases are the consequence of the city's strife.

"It's a museeba," Rubaie said -- a disaster....

**

There is a sentiment often voiced in Iraq: the idea of a people left without a choice. Some Iraqis remark that, before the war, they were trapped between an America they mistrusted and a leader they despised. During the war, their fate was out of their hands. Now, they often say they feel powerless as U.S. forces and the insurgents battle for an uncertain future....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57665-2004Dec11?language=printer

[mattclearing]

1. Almost sounds critical of the Bush war.

The editors must be on vacation this weekend.

[NJCher]

2. at least a story about the horrors visited on the Iraqi people

Every American should have to read this account.

Thank God for the protest today. It will give me an outlet for my rage over these criminals who have taken over our government.


Cher

[burrowowl]

3. Between a rock and a hard place

"Khadir shook his head. "If they were an honorable resistance, I would join them," he said. "All they're doing is giving the Americans a justification to stay here. If they weren't here, the country would settle down and the Americans would leave."

[booksenkatz]

4. Sorry, but we Americans ain't leavin'

Peace or no peace, insurgents or no insurgents -- we're there for the long haul. When the oil is gone... then we're outta there. Iraq is our toilet paper. We'll let them know when we're ready to flush.

[riverwalker]

5. Iraqi physicians

I have read so many stories of tireless, unpaid physicians, surgeons, and nurses of Iraq trying desperately to help their people. They should recieve a Nobel for their efforts. The hospitals are not stocked with supplies, are primitive, and overwhelmed with victims of "liberation". At one time, the medical system of Iraq was the most modern and skilled in the Middle East. Imagine trying to treat thousands of victims of trauma, gunshots and massive burns without even basic supplies. Watching the children of your country being slaughtered, the unimaginable suffering and sorrow they have seen.
These doctors are the real heros in this mess.