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"The Iraq War, launched in 2003 – resulting in over 100,000 deaths" Isn't this an extreme low-ball estimate?

by 01284a7e 10mo ago

pjc50 10mo ago
The Lancet had numbers around 600k, but that included the wider context of deaths due to the temporary collapse of society, medical services, electricity supplies, ongoing violence and insurgency, and so on. The long consequence of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions was providing Russia with a pretext for its own interventions, from the various caucasus states to Syria to Ukraine.
padjo 10mo ago
Not really, it’s the lower end of what we can be confident about from direct evidence per things like the Iraq body count project. There are statistical estimates that are higher but they have very large error bars. Over 100k is completely defendable and plenty high that any reasonable person should be horrified by it!
griffzhowl 10mo ago
Yes, it's on the low end of estimates and corresponds most closely to the US military's Iraq war logs that were leaked by Wikileaks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Tables https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Tab... Still, "over 100,000" is technically correct if it's more than 100,000. Since this subject isn't the main point of the article and the Iraq war is generally acknowledged to have been disastrous, I suppose he chose a safe figure so as not to derail the article with disputed estimates at the outset.
igravious 10mo ago
There's a pretty famous website that tracks Iraqi civilian deaths: Documented civilian deaths from violence 187,499 – 211,046 Further analysis of the WikiLeaks' Iraq War Logs may add 10,000 civilian deaths. as of today https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/ https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
SanjayMehta 10mo ago
Indeed it is. Madeline Albright admitted in an interview that at least 500,000 children died but "it was worth it." The total toll must have been much higher. [0]https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/27/im-iraqi-and-i-remember-madeleine-albright-who-she-truly-was https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/27/im-iraqi-and-i...
aa-jv 10mo ago
Yes, it is a very low-ball estimate. The more accurate estimate is that Iraq lost 5% of its population, and in many areas, Iraq continues to lose babies born with birth defects due to the use of depleted uranium. https://psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/body-count.pdf https://psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/body-count.pdf Note that this report was filed in 2010, and the fatalities have continued since then.

"The Iraq War, launched in 2003 – resulting in over 100,000 deaths" Isn't this an extreme low-ball estimate?

pjc50 10mo ago

The Lancet had numbers around 600k, but that included the wider context of deaths due to the temporary collapse of society, medical services, electricity supplies, ongoing violence and insurgency, and so on. The long consequence of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions was providing Russia with a pretext for its own interventions, from the various caucasus states to Syria to Ukraine.

padjo 10mo ago

Not really, it’s the lower end of what we can be confident about from direct evidence per things like the Iraq body count project. There are statistical estimates that are higher but they have very large error bars. Over 100k is completely defendable and plenty high that any reasonable person should be horrified by it!

griffzhowl 10mo ago

Yes, it's on the low end of estimates and corresponds most closely to the US military's Iraq war logs that were leaked by Wikileaks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Tables https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Tab... Still, "over 100,000" is technically correct if it's more than 100,000. Since this subject isn't the main point of the article and the Iraq war is generally acknowledged to have been disastrous, I suppose he chose a safe figure so as not to derail the article with disputed estimates at the outset.

igravious 10mo ago

There's a pretty famous website that tracks Iraqi civilian deaths: Documented civilian deaths from violence 187,499 – 211,046 Further analysis of the WikiLeaks' Iraq War Logs may add 10,000 civilian deaths. as of today https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/ https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

SanjayMehta 10mo ago

Indeed it is. Madeline Albright admitted in an interview that at least 500,000 children died but "it was worth it." The total toll must have been much higher. [0]https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/27/im-iraqi-and-i-remember-madeleine-albright-who-she-truly-was https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/27/im-iraqi-and-i...

aa-jv 10mo ago

Yes, it is a very low-ball estimate. The more accurate estimate is that Iraq lost 5% of its population, and in many areas, Iraq continues to lose babies born with birth defects due to the use of depleted uranium. https://psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/body-count.pdf https://psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/body-count.pdf Note that this report was filed in 2010, and the fatalities have continued since then.