War Crimes on a Massive Scale: Study estimates 655,000 Iraqi deaths since war began

By RJ Schinner, 10/12/06

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655,000

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War Crimes on a massive scale carried out by your government in your name

A recent study revealed that an estimated 655,000 Iraqi people have been killed since the Bush regime launched its war, with over 90% of those deaths being caused by violence, mostly gunfire. The study was conducted by Iraqi physicians this past summer interviewing residents in various parts of the country, and was designed and overseen by epidimiologists at John Hopkins School of Public Health, with funding from the Massachusets Institute of Technology. Their previous study had estimated that in the 18 months following the invasion, 100,000 Iraqis had been killed. (See the published study on TheLancet.com.)

Fallujah after an airstrike An Iraqi child after witnessing their parents killed by US troops at a checkpoint A survivor of the Haditha massacre whose family was among the 24 people killed by US marines on Nov. 19, 2005

Think about the stories behind those 655,000 deaths. Think about the families bombed in “shock and awe”. Think about the doors kicked in by US soldiers in Fallujah and the people inside shot dead. Think about the horrifying massacres carried out by US soldiers in Haditha, Ishaqi, and Mahmoudiya, and think about the other massacres that are still covered up. Think about those gunned down for being the wrong religious sect after sectarian violence was unleashed in the aftermath of the invasion. Think about the desperate acts of devestated people in Iraq lashing out in any way they can against the occupation. Think about the detainees in military prisons tortured to death. Think about the Iraqi children who witnessed their parents gunned down at a US military checkpoint. Multiply any of those stories by 655,000 and what you have are war crimes on a massive scale carried out by your government in your name.

Bush continues to go on about liberating the people of Iraq, staying the course, and “defeating the terrorists”. All that any of this means is an ever increasing body count.

With the upcoming election and the war on everyone’s mind, the Democratic Party says nothing about the Iraqi death toll, instead criticizing Bush for mismanagement and incompetence. 655,000 deaths is not “incompetence” on Bush’s part – it is the nature of an unjust war, and to refuse to call it out as such when you’re in a position of power is outrageous and criminal. Getting a majority in Congress of people who brag that they can handle the war better than Bush will only keep the body count rising.

In a press conference Wednesday, Bush immediately went on the offensive, claiming the study was “not credible” and that “the methodology was pretty discredited” on the previous study by the same group. Of course, the Bush administration has not bothered to keep track of how many deaths it has caused in Iraq, and it wasn’t until this past December when Bush finally said anything about the number of Iraqi deaths, claiming there were only 30,000. Furthermore, Bush is by no means the authority on what constitutes a credible study, seeing as he did lie to the world about the reasons for starting a war on Iraq, and refuses to accept basic scientific facts like evolution and the causes of global warming.

This study, by employing scientific methods, in fact paints a gruesome picture of just what the Iraqi people have had to endure for the last 3 and a half years. Whether it’s at the hands of the occupying armies or the violence unleashed by the occupation, the sheer amount of deaths is simply horrifying.

655,000. The blood is on the Bush regime’s hands. And the complicity is on us if we don’t act to stop this.