Video and Report by William Hughes, 5/10/07
One of the true horrors of the Iraqi War is the death toll of the
civilian population caught up in that conflict. In Oct., 2006, “The
Lancet,” a prestigious British Medical Journal, published a study
entitled: “The Human Cost of the War in Iraq.” One of its co-authors
was Dr. Gilbert Burnham of the Johns Hopkins U. Its stunning
conclusion: 659,965 Iraqis have died in the war as of July, 2006! On
May 8, 2007, Dr. Burnham discussed that report.
“The pillars of truth and the pillars of freedom. These are the pillars of society.” – Henrik Ibsen
Washington, D.C. – Dr. Gilbert Burnham is the co-author of the report entitled: “The Human Cost of the War in Iraq(1):
A Mortality Study (2002-2006).” (1) It was published by “The Lancet,” a
British Medical Journal, in Oct., 2006. (2) It concluded that 654,965
Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S.-led invasion on March 20,
2003, and from the subsequent occupation of that country by the
military forces of the Allied Coalition. President George W. Bush(2)
Jr., the Liar-in-Chief, dismissed it as “not a credible report.” He
insisted that only “about 30,000 Iraqis” have been killed in the war.
Nevertheless, the study on Iraqi mortality has withstood all attempts
by Right Wing ranters to debunk it. On May 8, 2007, Dr. Burnham gave a
Power Point presentation on his work. He went into considerable details
with respect to the research, practice and methodology which were
utilized in collecting the mortality data. The disaster that is Iraq,
is found in this number: 654,965!
Dr. Burnham explained: “We have to do samples. Much of public
health is all about doing surveys…There is nothing that beats [like a
national census] going out to the population and asking. That is the
“gold standard” of estimating populations, deaths and so forth…In
sampling, we have a principle called: “Sampling Proportion to
Population Size.” That means bigger places get more samples than
smaller places and in that way it is representative of the whole
country.” After elaborating on how an earlier 2004 mortality survey in
Iraq was done and its results, Dr. Burnham moved on to the relevant
2006 survey. It was conducted between May 20 and July 10, 2006. The
survey team had the assistance of eight Iraqi physicians–all trained
“in heath surveys and community medicine, all fluent in English and
Arabic.” (3)
Dr. Burnham is a professor of epidemiology and is the co-Director
of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response (CRDR) at the Johns
Hopkins U.’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. It is located in
Baltimore City. He has been associated with the school for the last 16
years. Burnham’s talk took place at Busboys & Poets, a popular
restaurant and book store, in this city. The event was sponsored by www.vineeta.org.
Brian Hennessey of that group introduced the speaker. Dr. Burnham is a
native of California, who spent six years in the U.S. military. A
medical doctor, with training in both the U.S. and the UK, he has also
worked for 16 years in Africa, and other areas, too, on the difficult
problems concerning refugees.
Continuing, Dr. Burnham said: “In the 2006 survey [with respect to
sampling]…we had 47 clusters (locations/places). We did a year of
serious thinking about how to sample…We got the best advice. And,
this is what we ended up with. We had now 40 households per cluster,
instead of 30 (in 2004 survey), and we ended up with 12,000, instead of
9,000 individuals (as in 2004)… We sampled according to where the
population was. So, there were 12 samples/clusters in Baghdad…Our
team went to the houses and they got causes of deaths, dates of deaths
and details…In 92 percent of the households, where we asked, the
family had a “death certificate.” I can’t think of another place in the
world that would produce this kind of data. But this is a great
argument [against] the people who say: “families made up the data on
deaths.” I mean the chance of people all over Iraq faking death
certificates just because a Hopkins interviewer might come is pretty
remote.”
On another front, 3,383 brave U.S. troops have also died in the
Iraqi conflict as of today’s date, about 400 of that total have
perished since the Democrats took control of the U.S. Congress. On Nov.
7, 2006, the American people voted to end the war. The timid Democrats,
however, have ignored that electoral mandate. Activist Max Obuszewski
is convinced: “The Democratic leadership wants the war to continued.”
Sadly, both of Maryland’s U.S. Senators, Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben
Cardin, fall into that category. Meanwhile, the seriously wounded
members of the U.S. military from the Iraqi War are in the tens of
thousands. The overall cost of the conflict to the taxpayers is
estimated at $2 trillion. (4) 22,000 to 35,000 troops are slated for
Iraq to fulfill the bizarre “Surge” strategy of the desperate
Bush-Cheney Gang, whose two leaders, Bush and V.P. Dick Cheney, deserve
to be impeached for violating the public trust. (5) The prime architect
of the Iraqi War was Paul Wolfowitz, a repulsive Neocon, who is
presently under fire as the CEO of the World Bank. (6)
Finally, Dr. Burnham said: “The key message to the public health
community is that “documentation” of the impact of war is really
important. And, the reason we do this is not to do: “Ain’t it awful.”
We should do it because, of all the disasters that we pick up on, none
is worst than war!” (7)
Certainly, the number 654,965 of Iraqis deaths, which has
continued to climb, since the July, 2006 survey was completed, is proof
beyond cavil of that tragic fact. These are Iraqis who are dead, who
wouldn’t be dead, but for the Bush-Cheney Gang launching the unprovoked
and pre-emptive attack on March 20, 2003. Dr. Burnham’s study should be
made mandatory reading for each member of the U.S. Congress,
particularly the Democratic leadership, which has failed to face up to
its Constitutional responsibilities with respect to ending this illegal
and immoral war.
Notes:
1. i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/10/11/human.cost.of.war.pdf
2. www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/
3. www.jhu.edu/jhumag/0207web/number.html
4. www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1681119,00.html
5. www.afterdowningstreet.org/
6. batr.net/neoconwatch/
7. A video excerpt of Dr. Gilbert H. Burnham’s presentation can be found at: www.youtube.com/watch
© William Hughes 2007.
William Hughes is the author of “Saying “No” to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes (at) comcast.net.