Minor premise: In October 2009, the Iraq Ministry of Human Rights counted, according to the Congressional Research Service:
51,675 "martyred victims," or civilians who have died and been identified, and 34,019 "bodies found," or civilians who have died but who were not identified, for a total of 85,694 civilian deaths from 2004 through 2008. This total includes only those deaths due to terrorist attacks, defined as "direct bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and forced displacement of the population." In other words, the Iraq Ministry of Human Rights does not include in its total any civilian deaths that may have been due to coalition occupation or fighting between militias within Iraq.Conclusion: IBC over-counts and its tally starts earlier than the Iraqi Ministry's. And the Ministry doesn't include inter-militia deaths, which often were "terrorist v. terrorist."
Still, doesn't that mean that at least 85 percent of civilian fatalities in Iraq were killed by terrorists, not coalition soldiers or Iraqi police? I thought so.
7 comments:
Additionally: How many did Saddam kill?
Answer: Saddam killed 300,000 of his own civilians. Incredible. That does not include those killed in the Iran-Iraq war.
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/4751,news-comment,news-politics,saddam-era-the-death-toll
Bob, you're ignoring the fact that, to an anti-war libtard, those facts exist in a vacuum. The options aren't "A" or "B".
It's only "A" or "not A".
that's where the blatant logical flaw resides.
I'm not ignorant of any relevant facts. Thanks. :-)
I presume few NOfP readers are ignorant of documentation of Saddam's victim count: USAID, BBC, New York Times, New York Times again, Iraq Mass Graves site, NOfP.
As a child during the Vietnam war, I recall the nightly news report invariably started off with a body count of US citizens killed. Then I remember stories about protest -- Kent State. Anyome else have a similar recollection?
Where was the news of the objectives, how close (or far) we were to meeting them, and what the benefits of the action would be? In this case the beneficiaries include the Iraqi's who didn't die during one of Saddams rage filled purges.
I don't watch TV today but I assume they are still leading with body counts, the reason why we even need to have this story reported here.
No, bob, they stopped with the body counts right around the time the Surge was clearly working, recognizing that the notably decreasing number wasn't good for the Democrats.
And now that Obama is around, only the really really weaselly types still care about them.
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