U.S. invasion responsible for deaths
of over 250,000 civilians in Iraq

From Information Clearing House courtesy of BuzzFlash:

New studies make the Bush administration's "liberation" argument for a 'pre-emptive' war against Iraq seem questionable.

The invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by U.S.-led coalition forces has been responsible for the death of at least 150,000 civilians (not including certain of Iraq), reveals a compilitation of scientific studies and corroborated eyewitness testimonies.

The majority of these deaths, which are in addition those normally expected from natural causes, illness and accidents, have been among women and children, documents a well-researched study, that had been released by The Lancet Medical Journal.

And

That estimate excludes Falluja, a hotspot for violence. If the data from this town is included, the compiled studies point to about 250,000 excess deaths since the outbreak of the U.S.-led war.

Click here for the rest.

I think these study results were actually released sometime last year--I think I even posted a link to an article about it here at Real Art. Nonetheless, BuzzFlash has picked it up now, and I think it's definitely worth posting again, especially because the Pentagon claims to not even be counting civilian casualties. Lord knows, the numbers have only gone up in the months since the study was done. It's kind of a drag that most of the discussion here in the US is pretty much in terms of American deaths only, at least as far as numbers are concerned. Granted, all deaths coming out of the occupation are horrible, but the Iraqi people aren't volunteers; they didn't sign up for this, and our government is killing them. On a massive scale.

I can't think of a single argument that would even come close to justifying this kind of slaughter.

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