Monday, November 15, 2004

Strategy Maximizes Iraqi Civilian Deaths

The Japan Times Online

This article references the previously mentioned Lancet study on Iraqi deaths, and places the blame for the vast bulk of civilian deaths in Iraq (84%) squarely on coalition forces' tactics. Also mentioned is the speedy, clean, and surgically-precise invasion of Fallujah, though not in those terms.

An excerpt:

By far the largest number of deaths have been in the Fallujah area, which had been subjected to intense aerial bombardment by coalition forces before U.S. Marines moved in to retake the area from insurgents last week. However, the survey team decided that Fallujah was an "outlier" -- a case too unrepresentative to be included in the survey results. If the death rate from Fallujah had been included in the calculation, the "excess death" total would be closer to 200,000.

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