According to an estimate made by Johns Hopkins researchers, published at The Lancet, “…as of July, 2006, there have been 654,965 excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2.5% of the population in the study area”. Dr. Gilbert Burnham, lead author from Bloomberg School of Public Health, says, "To put these numbers in context, deaths are occurring in Iraq now at a rate more than three times that from before the invasion of March 2003".
Whereas the U.S. Department of Defense says at least 2,754 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq.
Therefore, we have a ‘War on Terror’ waged against Iraq on the pretext that (1) it possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, which were never found; (2) were responsible for 9/11 when none of the hijackers were Iraqi; (3) had links with Al Qaida, which is unproven. For 3,000 killed in 9/11, America kills 650,000 Iraqis waging a war on certain guesses and hunches that turn out to be untrue.
Iraqis of course do not take this well. No population on this planet would take this well.
These are excerpts from Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily of Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency:
Ahmad, a local doctor in Ramadi, a town in Iraq, tells IPS, "This city has been facing the worst of the American terror and destruction for more than two years now, and the world is silent." According to him, US forces destroy the infrastructure and cut the water and electricity "for days and even weeks is routine reaction to the resistance… Guys of the resistance do not need water and electricity, it's the families that are being harmed, and their lives which are at stake."
According to a local tribal chief, Nawaf, the civilians are being punished for the resistance. He says, the US forces “have the bad habit of cutting all of the essential services after every attack. They said they came to liberate us, but look at the slow death they are giving us every day."
According to a local tribal chief, Nawaf, the civilians are being punished for the resistance. He says, the US forces “have the bad habit of cutting all of the essential services after every attack. They said they came to liberate us, but look at the slow death they are giving us every day."
These actions actually make Iraqis more strong in their support for the resistance. According to, Abu Juma'a, a local tribal leader, "…if they think they will make us kneel by these criminal acts, they are wrong. If they increase the pressure, the resistance will increase the reaction. We see this pattern repeated so often now."
The local police force raised by US is not cooperating either. A police lieutenant told IPS, "Now 90 percent of the force has decided to quit rather than kill our brothers or get killed by them for the wishes of the Americans."
In another report from the same authors reporting from a school in Iraq:
IPS reports: The children are growing up in occupied Iraq - and they are resisting it.
According to an 11-year-old Mustafa, "Americans are bad… They killed my family." Another kid cries, “God will send all Americans to hellfire."
The teacher in the classroom, Shyamaa told IPS, "How can we teach them forgiveness when they see Americans killing their family members every day… Words cannot cover the stream of blood and these signs of destruction, and words cannot hide the daily raids they see."
Outside the school, a man boasts of his son, "I am proud that he is a hero fighting these Americans. And they used to talk to us about our human rights."
A farmer told IPS, "They keep asking us to hand over resistance fighters to them, so that they can torture them in Abu Ghraib, Falcon base, Baghdad airport and other detention centers."
The authors believe that the resistance fighters are gaining support, far from being handed over.
As it is, the Iraq war is the biggest blunder that the US has made in the recent past. Further actions will only aggravate and antagonise. God alone knows what the long term consequences shall be.
ReplyDeleteThis is too bad, no wonder freedom fighters(terrorists) are after them !
ReplyDeleteIs this number correct? Thats a very big number.
ReplyDeleteHow we wish that Kargil was fought more intelligently and some coordination between air force and army. yes its easy to comment on things post the event...still..
When we saw the air force chief recently on tv saying exactly this - about lack of coordination between army and airforce.. it brought back this thought.
There were more than 500 soldiers dead .. if am not mistaken, in a fight against some half baked militarymen and locals sitting on top of mountains... thats far too many.
Anyways... we salute our military.. one of the institutions that is well preserved largely.
apun ka desh:
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if these numbers are right. It is a study done by researchers at Johns Hopkins. It is an estimate. It is not an actual figure. Have a look at the site mentioned in the article. It will give details on how this study was done.
White House has discarded this study.
The US had this false pretext of attacking Iraq:
ReplyDelete"pretext that (1) it possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, which were never found; (2) were responsible for 9/11 when none of the hijackers were Iraqi; (3) had links with Al Qaida...."
Half the world knows that US wanted control of the Oil resources in Iraq. The so called WMD, 9/11 are just lame and blind excuses taken up by them to see through their purpose....
@Sujai:
ReplyDeleteIt is not a surprise that White house had discarded that the study by people at John Hopkins.
A great site - breath of fresh air!
ReplyDeleteSomnath
Sujai:
ReplyDeleteYou have a pretty interesting blog - I don't agree 100% with all your views but I do agree with most of them!
Now, coming to this post about casualties in the Iraq war - one point that many people fail to take note of is that more than 80% of the deaths and bloodshed that we see in Iraq on an ongoing basis is not the work of the US. Neither is it because of Iraqi insurgents fighting the American army.
Most of it is domestic Muslim-on-Muslim violence! Such as Sunnis bombing Shia places of worship, butchering entire villages, and so on. And the worst part is the tendency of the 'Jihadis' to detonate themselves in marketplaces and similar places!
When your country is invaded by a foreign power, it is natural for a resistance movement to form. The occupied territories fought underground battles against Germany in WW2, the Vietnamese did the same to Americans, and so on - history is replete with examples.
But nowhere have I seen violence of this level directed at the civilian population by the 'insurgents'. Also, one would expect that a common foe (occupying power) would unite various sects and tribes within the country - yet we see that most violence is the result of inter sect and inter clan fights!
Any thoughts?