According to Iraq Body Count, a database that has been keeping track of Iraqi civilian deaths since the invasion in 2003, the current death toll is between 91, 385 to over 99,700. And IBC believes there may be many more unreported incidents. That comes out to nearly one hundred thousand non-combatants (innocent men, women, and children) that have died due to bombs, shootings, torture, suicide attacks, etc. since the spring of 2003. The fact that these numbers are rarely spoken of by U.S. media and are virtually unknown to the U.S. public is horrendous to say the least. I do not wish to toss aside the sacrifices of our men and women in arms, but rather to educate as many as I can on the truth of the matter holistically. These numbers include those who have been killed by U.S. military, Iraqi police, and those caused by terrorist groups (who started coming into Iraq once the U.S. disbanded the Iraqi military in 2003 and neglected to replace it with any other border control).
2006 and 2007 were by far the bloodiest years for Iraqis. According to IBC's data, which draws on numerous sources for their information, in 2006 the deaths per day from gunfire and executions were approximately 56, and deaths per day from suicide bombers and vehicle attacks were approximately 16. The numbers from gunfire/execution deaths lowered in 2007 to about 40 per day while the amount of deaths by suicide bombers and vehicle attacks rose to about 21 per day. Thankfully, the numbers have decreased significantly over the past two years, but the total death toll continues to rise.
I would be curious to know where the IBC gets its information. I wouldnt consider AL Jezera an impartial or trustworthy source. They have been known to inflate civilian and US casualties for propaganda purposes. And, you would have to compare those numbers to the number of deaths during the Saddam regime. Violence between sects is pretty common, especially when the minority had control of the country through violence.
ReplyDeleteIn my limited experience in research thus far, I have come to understand that every media news network has its own views and agendas, no exceptions, which is why it is important to get every view point. Honestly, the majority of the United States media is incredibly self absorbed compared to even that our EU allies and therefore stories not covered by networks in the U.S. must be retrieved by other sources.
ReplyDeleteIBC is an organization that was begun by British and Americans in 2003 prior to the U.S. occupation. Their website explains that that they get their information from a myriad of sources, relying heavily on regional/community sources. Their numbers are conservative according to the Associate Press article I posted on the 23rd of April.
While its true that comparing the death toll numbers to the number of Iraqis who died during Saddam Hussein's regime (though we will never have accurate numbers for that) could be useful in many situations, it is not for this one. If I were conducting a research project or writing an opinion article on the state of Iraq under U.S. occupation versus the state of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, that approach would come in handy. The problem I have with that approach in this case, however, is that it has us merely focusing on comparing the present with the past. It focuses too much on hard, cold math rather than the human element. While I am a stronger supporter of the knowledge of history and the past than most people I know, it is far too easy to compare the past with the present, conclude that the current situation for Iraqis is certainly not as bad as that in past, and leave it at that. Nothing gets done. Death of innocents is disturbing and particularly horrifying on a mass scale, whether caused by governments, insurgencies, or terrorism. In order to get things done and promote healing and the prevention of further death and pain, we must not only recognize patterns and historically significant situations for what they were, but recognize our present situations for what they are and act upon them appropriately.