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Iraq
16, 273 Deaths Reported in Iraq in 2006
2007-01-02
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Government officials reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger than an independent Associated Press count for the year by more than 2,500. The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers were killed in the violence that raged in the country last year.

The Associated Press accounting, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths. The United Nations has said as many as 100 Iraqis die violently each day, which translates into 36,500 deaths annually.
You can accept any of the three published figures: 13,000, 16,000, 36,000. Multiply by three and somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000 civilians, soldiers and police have died since the invasion. These have died from all violent causes, and let's do remember the jihadis, sectarians and Ba'athists who've killed the greater number of people. That's 30 to 100 per day in a country of 24 million people.

Not 600,000, as the Lancet claimed in a terribly shoddy article from October. Not the 600,000 as claimed by Johns Hopkins 'investigator' Gilbert Burnham, known for his far-left views and, let's say, unimpressive methodologies. Dr. Burnham won't be held accountable for this paper; if anything he'll be praised for getting a 'high-impact' publication. Shame.
Posted by:Steve White

#5  This figure doesn't seem to include those the Coalition and Iraqi military kills. Just the US military has been reported to have killed over 50,000 in 3 years and their relatives are unlikely to report it and attract governmental attention. That's greater than the total civilians, police and soldiers reported by the Iraqi government.
Posted by: ed   2007-01-02 12:55  

#4  And of the 16,000 dead, the terrorist insurgents are responsible for about 95%.

The remaining dead are dead terrs. Throw in the occasional innocent bystanders to round out the remaining, what, 2 percent?
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden   2007-01-02 09:52  

#3  Hmph. The late, unlamented butcher of Baghdad generated 3,000 dead people a month, and this flunkies contribute a great deal to that number.

AP shows their innumeracy by taking a PEAK number ("as many as 100 Iraqis die violently each day") and treating it as an AVERAGE. The AVERAGE is 44-45 per day.
Posted by: Ptah   2007-01-02 08:16  

#2  So does this mean the AP accepts the 16,273? Or that they reject the 600,000?

Or how 'bout this conclusion: The 600,000 is accurate, which means 2006 was waaaay below average and a huge improvement.
Posted by: Bobby   2007-01-02 06:17  

#1  And academic morons like Juan Cole, who learned Arabic during his 6 years in Cairo, continue to spread atrocity propaganda that runs counter to what they read in the Iraq media.

I would strip tenure from any professor who uses acadmic title in order to advance a terrorist agenda. And people like Cole are brain dead if they think that their Marxist agenda would be advanced in an Islamofascist Iraq.
Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550   2007-01-02 01:19  

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