Tony Hatfield's Retired Ramblings

Could Saddam have done Better?

In June if this year, one of my first postings was entitled “ Who’s Counting?” I quoted the civilian deaths in Iraq from the independent Iraq Body count site . As the Coalition “do not do body counts”, this site was the only one where the accuracy of the Coalition's pin point bombing can be gauged. By June, the total civilian deaths were about 11,ooo. But this week's Lancet shows just how conservative these figures were. “Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100000 excess deaths, or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most violent deaths. We have shown that collection of public-health information is possible even during periods of extreme violence." You can download the Report in full from the Lancet's Website ( registration required) http://image.thelancet.com/extras/04art10342web.pdf Saddam with all his state terror would have been hard pressed to exterminate 100,000 in 24 months. Does anybody apart from Blair, who is now a basket case, really think those 100,000 are grateful for this illegal intervention? Cheers t

posted by Tony @ Friday, October 29, 2004