"There have also been around 70,000 Iraqi civilian deaths as a result of the military action by the US and its allies, according to the Iraq Body Count website."According to the Iraq body count web site its figures are derived "from a comprehensive survey of online media reports from recognized sources" i.e. the mainstream media, making it far from a reliable source for estimation of US-inflicted deaths in Iraq.
The negligence of the Guardian newspaper in this matter is all the more deplorable given that in September 2006, the prestigious medical journal 'The Lancet' published a paper which used much more rigorous scientific methods to estimate that at least 655,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the US invasion of Iraq.
Today, we are asking readers of Signs of the Times to email the Guardian and highlight this clear lack of responsible journalism on a most important issue. Below is a sample email that you can use as a guide (with links embedded). We would however ask readers to write the email to the Guardian in their own words.
Email to:
Siobhain.Butterworth@guardian.co.uk
cc: reader@guardian.co.uk
Sample Email:
Dear Siobhain Butterworth, Guardian Readers Editor,
In the Guardian article of July 13th 2007 "US House calls for Iraq pullout by spring", the Guardian's James Sturke wrote:
"There have also been around 70,000 Iraqi civilian deaths as a result of the military action by the US and its allies, according to the Iraq Body Count website."The Iraq body count website states that it derives its figures from "a comprehensive survey of online media reports from recognized sources."
Can you please explain why the Guardian accepts the Iraq body count web site as a source of US-inflicted deaths in Iraq when a scientific study was published last Autumn in the prestigious medical journal 'The Lancet', where researchers from John Hopkins University, using much more rigorous and scientific techniques, estimated that the number of Iraqi deaths as a result of the US government's invasion of Iraq was at least 655,000?
The survey that produced that estimate was completed in July, 2006.
Unfortunately, despite calls from the Lancet authors for other studies, there has been no systematic effort to update these results.
The members of Just Foreign Policy - an independent and non-partisan mass membership organization dedicated to reforming U.S. foreign policy through coordinating the broad majority of Americans to advocate their interests and values, which includes members of Congress and US academics - has attempted to update the Lancet estimate and have extrapolated from the Lancet study. Their current estimate is that 974,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion.
See the link below for details.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
Regards
The "debate" is purely a show. The Congress is united in its goal of prolonging the so-called "wars" as long as their masters direct them to do so. This will keep unlimited public money flowing, with hardly more opposition than there is now, into the coffers of the folks at the top of our social pyramid scheme. As public support for the slaughter drops, count the increasing use of the words "Al Qaeda" that come out of your favorite newscast.
I recently learned that Lyndon Johnson knew and said so in 1966 (!) that Vietnam absolutely could not be won militarily. At that time, 95% of the Americans killed in the war, and millions of Vietnamese, WERE STILL ALIVE. The "war" went on for nine more years and 53,000 more US soldiers and millions of SE Asians died, and all the players in government already knew that's exactly what would happen. Iraq looks like a replay in that respect.