Telepolis has picked up on reporting in the New York Times and the Washington Post on a new study released by Johns Hopkins University that estimates post-invasion civilian deaths in Iraq at 650,000 – more than 20 times the amount cited by President Bush last spring. The study was performed by a team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists using statistical methodologies employed during natural disasters to estimate casualties.
"The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq’s mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war.
Of the total 655,000 estimated "excess deaths," 601,000 resulted from violence and the rest from disease and other causes, according to the study. This is about 500 unexpected violent deaths per day throughout the country."
"Gunshot wounds caused 56 percent of violent deaths, with car bombs and other explosions causing 14 percent, according to the survey results. Of the violent deaths that occurred after the invasion, 31 percent were caused by coalition forces or airstrikes, the respondents said."
Reading the summary of this new study brings to mind this poem by Sara Littlecrow-Russell from The Secret Powers of Naming.
Apology to the WaspsTerrorized by your stings,
I took out biochemical weapons
And blasted your nest
Like it was a third world country.I was the United States Air Force.
It felt good to be so powerful
Until I saw your family
Trailing shredded wings,
Staggering on disintegrating legs,
Trying desperately to save the eggs
You had stung to protect.
