Deaths of Iraqis have soared to 100,000 above normal

From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU)
Date: Sat Oct 30 2004 - 03:07:36 EDT


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6647161   LONDON (Reuters) - Deaths of Iraqis have soared to 100,000 above normal
since the Iraq war mainly due violence and many of the victims have been
women and children, public health experts from the United States said Thursday.

"Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess
deaths, or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq," researchers
from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland
said in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal.

"Violence accounted for most of the excess death and air strikes from
(U.S.-led) coalition forces accounted for the most violent deaths," the
report added.

The new figures, based on surveys done by the researchers in Iraq, are much
higher than earlier estimates based on think tank and media sources which
put the Iraqi civilian death toll at up to 16,053 and military fatalities
as high as 6,370.

By comparison 848 U.S. military were killed in combat or attacks and
another 258 died in accidents or incidents not related to fighting,
according to the Pentagon.

"The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58
times higher than in the period before the war," Les Roberts and his
colleagues said in the report which compared Iraqi deaths during 14.6
months before the invasion and the 17.8 months after it.

He added that violent deaths were widespread and were mainly attributed to
coalition forces.

"Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and
children," Roberts added.

the full article can be found at the Lancet (requires free registration)
http://www.thelancet.com/journal/vol364/iss9445/early_online_publication


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