[lit-ideas] Re: Civilian casualties in Iraq
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 06 Feb 2006 04:58:44 -0500
Lawrence writes: Blaming the US for the total is
not justified in my view because included are
insurgent-caused killings and breakdowns in civil
order.
Here's the Newsweek article, cited earlier,
addressing the iraqbodycount.org figure:
In fact, a fair reading of the report's own data
could support a completely contrary conclusion.
Were it not for the insurgents, there would
scarcely be much of a civilian death toll in Iraq
now. A few isolated cases, yes, but nothing like
the 8,000 civilians the Iraqi government says have
died so far in 2005 from insurgent attacks.
Fully 30 percent of the civilian fatalities Iraq
Body Count records took place prior to May 1,
2003, when U.S. troops were actively engaged in
the invasion and in subduing remnants of Saddam's
army. During that military campaign, large
numbers of Saddam Fedayeen and other irregular
forces fought back from the cover of civilian
dress, a violation of the laws and customs of
warfare.
Those who died were inevitably declared civilians
by their loved ones. And such forces in most
places represented the bulk of the resistance
against the invasion; the uniformed Iraqi military
for the most part deserted and fled. And Saddam's
forces, both uniformed and not, systematically
took refuge in schools, mosques, hospitals, and
civilian neighborhoods, using those places as
firebasesâa guarantee that civilians would be
killed in the process. In many places, coalition
troops held their fire and slowed their advance
for fear of causing greater civilian loss of life.
In all, 6,616 civilian fatalities are listed by
the report. Even if you make the dubious
assumption that all of them were truly civilians,
it is not surprising that so many died. Given the
tactics of the enemy, it's surprising that so few did.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8679662/site/newsweek/
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