Veteran Reporter Says 3,000-4,000 Iraqis Killed Every Month

[Clara T]

Veteran reporter says 3,000-4,000 Iraqis killed every month

MADRID, Jan 18, 2006 (PG) - Between 3,000 and 4,000 Iraqis are killed every month, rendering "ridiculous" US President George W. Bush's estimate of about 30,000 civilian casualties since the start of the war, veteran British journalist Robert Fisk said Wednesday.

The figures were compiled during several recent trips to the country occupied since March 2003 by US-led forces, The Independent newspaper's Beirut-based correspondent told a news conference in Madrid where he was promoting his book "The Great War for Civilisation".

The casualty rate meant up to 48,000 Iraqis a year were dying in the conflict, "the figure of 30,000 plus is ridiculous", Fisk said, adding that the West did not care about Iraqi deaths.

Bush quoted the figure in the lead-up to Iraq's general election in December. The White House later made clear it was not an official government estimate but was based on media reports.


http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=5971

[Zhade]

1. K/R

NT!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. "the figure of 30,000 plus is ridiculous",

Agreed.

Too low.

[54anickel]

3. Well, Shrub did add "plus"....eom

[MnFats]

7. 'plus' to dubya means three or four times the figure quoted....

....they always get their search warrants, too.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

4. So . . . I guess he's okay with . . .

. . . 30,000 or so. As long as they have brown skin.

What a bastard he is. He relishes the role of "Destroyer-in-Chief".

[anitar1]

5. I have great respect for Fisk, and am glad to have the true figures.

n/t

[f-bush]

6. Most honest estimates put the number at closer to 100,000

[flyarm]

8. way more than that not this christmas but those numbers of 100,000

were being told by the international people a year ago christmas!!

[EFerrari]

10. That figure came from an article in The Lancet and must

be a year old by now. And, of course, it was pretty much blacked out in the corporate media.

[f-bush]

13. You're absolutely right

I was trying to be conservative with the number so that I can't be accused of over reaching.

When I lead vigils in our community that is the figure that I use right now.

I suspect that we barely know the sad reality of what is happening over there. My guess is that the US is trying to commit genocide in Iraq because we want that space and land for our own nefarious uses.

[Raster]

9. "...they hate us for our freedoms."

Bullshit

they hate us 'cause we're killing their children and destroying their country.

[rodeodance]

11. te he--"based on media: reports says BushCo.

..Bush quoted the figure in the lead-up to Iraq's general election in December. The White House later made clear it was not an official government estimate but was based on media reports.

[enigma000]

12. Who is doing the killing? n/t

[greiner3]

14. I saw the video where numb nuts threw that number around;

He had no clue and I'm half surprised that b*** knew a number that high.

[American liberal]

15. The report published by The Lancet last year was legit.

And at THAT time, it was about 100,000. I suspect it's closer to 150,000 by now. The guy who headed up the study did a door-to-door census in several cities in Iraq (not including Falluja, if I remember correctly) and interviewed people, used valid statistical techniques to extrapolate the data to the entire population. I heard a report on NPR about how the Lancet study was conducted, and based on my lay understanding as a medical editor, it sounded quite legit. That, and Fisk's pronouncement convinces me that 30,000 is waaaaaaaaaaaay low. No doubt the propaganda machine wants the perception to be low so that people don't start coming back saying that Bush is responsible for more civilian deaths than Hussein...

[Clara T]

16. kick for truth