International group of doctors blast official toll of Iraqi civilian dead

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050311/wl_mideast_afp/iraqtollcivilians&cid=1514&ncid=1473

PARIS (AFP) - A group of top public-health physicians has branded the official toll of civilian dead from the Iraqi war as a serious underestimate and demanded an independent probe to establish the full casualty figures.


Their statement is published this Saturday in the weekly British Medical Journal (BMJ) as the second anniversary of the war looms on March 20.


It marks a fresh attempt by medical campaigners to establish the number of Iraqi civilian casualties after a rough estimate of 100,000 dead, made by epidemiologists last October, was brushed aside by the British government.


"Monitoring casualties is a humanitarian imperative," the statement said.


"Understanding the causes of death is a core public-health responsibility, nationally and internationally.


"Yet neither the public, nor we as public-health professionals, are able to obtain validated, reliable information about the extent of mortality and morbidity since the invasion of Iraq."

more

I have read Hitler was not very keen on keeping track of those he murdered either.

[tuvor]

1. What took 'em so long? n/t

[UpInArms]

16. What was it that Tommy Franks said?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/03/MN98747.DTL

excerpt:

"We don't do body counts," Gen. Tommy Franks, who directed the Iraq invasion, has said.

In his speech aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, President Bush saluted a U.S. military operation that he said went out of its way to protect Iraqi civilians. "With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians. No device of man can remove the tragedy from war, yet it is a great advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent," he said.

The historical reluctance to estimate civilian or even military losses stems from a widespread belief that it would be all but impossible to separate casualties caused by American action from those caused by the enemy. As for military losses, the military's bitter experience with charges of inflated body counts during the Vietnam War has soured the Pentagon on even offering estimates of enemy killed, missing or wounded.

...more...

[alittlelark]

2. uh, yeah..... OK....... glad they 'got it"

too bad they are soooooooooooo late.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Brown people don't count in the Bush/Blair universe

We might as well put magnetic ribbons in our cars saying "Support the Waffen SS!"

[magellan]

4. No time to count the dead

We're too busy sharing our values.

[NNN0LHI]

5. The Vatican kept their mouths shut when Hitler was killing people too

I thought they learned their lesson from that? Why are they are not saying anything again this time? The phony fuckers. They make me sick to my stomach. I will never forget their silence here. Neither will my children or their children. Catholic charities my ass. Its all nothing but a front for organized crime as far as I can tell.

Don

[bahrbearian]

9. They are working out a deal with Chimpy, " We'll overlook your

war crimes if you stop the pedophile law suits.

[Bridget Burke]

14. The Vatican opposed the invasion of Iraq.

Did you miss the news stories?

Also, what does the Vatican have to do with this thread?

[TexasLawyer]

6. “We don’t do body counts”

General Tommy Franks, US Central Command

The Lancet study estimates 100,000 Iraqi deaths-- and that was calculated BEFORE Fallujah. Anyone who thinks the "war on terror" will be a net benefit to the Iraqis is delusional.

[Hissyspit]

7. Nominated n/t

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. The United States started it's ME Genocide in GW1, DU is its Gas Chambers

.
.
.

Depleted Uranium has been poisoning the food, water and land ever since the US broke the International ban of its usage in GW1.

Every bomb, bullet or other munition containing DU kills or maims, whether it hits anyone or not . .

And with a half-life of billions of years . . .

"Mission Accomplished" indeed . . .

Hitler was an amateur compared to what the US Military has been getting away with since GW1

Hitler's carnage ended with the end of Hitler

The USA's genocide will continue for generations after the weapons are silenced

Some legacy

(sigh)

[bpilgrim]

10. fallujah == our Nanking

our ME policy == GEACPS (Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere)



Japanese aircraft bombed south Shanghai Station Aug.28,1937.
About 200 people in the waiting room were dead or wounded by the bombing. A crying baby was left alone after the bombing. - Life Oct. 4, 1937

peace

[truthisfreedom]

11. i just noticed that the word validated is the origin of 'vetted.' what a

sloppy bastardization of the English language. bushco dumbs down everything in an effort to short-circuit both truth and humanity. validated implies science. vetted implies some crony taking the paperwork away and telling everyone to shut up if they know what's good for them.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. In a similar line of thought, have you noticed that the Germans killed....

...in the Dresden fire-bombing by the Allies has been revised downward on a steady basis since Georgie-porgie was selected in December 2000?

The number of those killed in Dresden used to be more than 100,000, a number which included the city's normal inhabitants, units of the German military, and thousands of other Germans taking refuge in Dresden while fleeing the advancing Allies.

Now the number has dropped to around 35,000 in a series of revisionist history articles. Looks like Hitler was not the only one that refused to accept responsibility for the people killed during WWII.

[SoCalDem]

13. This just means that during the NEXT Iraq war there will be more

"Saddam-killed-his-own-people" graves to be found..

There's no way that our military is ignorant of the casualties. If for no other reason than to brag about the "bang-for-the-buck" the fabulous weapons achieve.

The are embarrassed to let the rest of the world know how many innocent lives have been lost..

[bushisanidiot]

15. AWOL Bush's war against an unarmed country is nothing but pure evil.

they did nothing to us and now 100,000 innocent iraqi's are dead. and who cares? not mr. "we don't do body counts" rumsfeld.

the repukes who voted AWOL Bush back into office have no idea how many terrorists they have helped to create.

[emad]

17. Physicians condemn failure to count Iraq casualties

FT
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.

The appeal coincided with a warning from Kofi Annan, UN secretary general, that Iraq's new government needs to act fast to stem the violence that has risen again to pre-election levels after a brief lull.

Both the scale and sophistication of attacks are on the rise, worrying signs as Iraq's new leaders prepare to take power, Mr Annan said in a report on Friday.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/52ae1494-9216-11d9-bca5-00000e2511c8.html

[Protagoras]

18. But if we honestly count those bodies

people would realize that this wasn't a bloodless bringing of Democracy...and that wouldn't be good for the Sheeple to know.

After all, if we were indiscriminatly slaughtering civilians that might make us look like the er...bad guys?

[leesa]

19. Freedom isn't free.

[Roland99]

20. "Monitoring casualties is a humanitarian imperative," the statement said.

That says it all right there.

To do so otherwise denigrates those killed.