Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Il Gazzettino del Camposanto #2 (Iraq 2003: Documenti)

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/061503F.shtml
War may have killed 10,000 civilians, researchers say
    Simon Jeffery
    The Guardian
    Friday 13 June 2003
    At least 5,000 civilians may have been killed during the invasion of
Iraq, an independent research group has claimed. As more evidence is
collated, it says, the figure could reach 10,000.
Iraq Body Count (IBC), a volunteer group of British and US academics and
researchers, compiled statistics on civilian casualties from media reports
and estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 civilians died in the conflict.
    Its latest report compares those figures with 14 other counts, most of
them taken in Iraq, which, it says, bear out its findings.
    Researchers from several groups have visited hospitals and mortuaries in
Iraq and interviewed relatives of the dead; some are conducting surveys in
the main cities.
    Three completed studies suggest that between 1,700 and 2,356 civilians
died in the battle for Baghdad alone.
    John Sloboda, professor of psychology at Keele University and an IBC
report author, said the studies in Iraq backed up his group's figures. "One
of the things we have been criticised for is quoting journalists who are
quoting other people. But what we are now finding is that whenever the teams
go into Iraq and do a detailed check of the data we had through the press,
not only is our data accurate but [it is] often on the low side.
    "The totality is now producing an unassailable sense that there were a
hell of a lot of civilian deaths in Iraq."
    A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said he had not seen anything to
substantiate the report's figures. "During the conflict we took great pains
to minimise casualties among civilians. We targeted [the] military. So it is
very difficult for us to give any guidance or credence to a set of figures
that suggest there was x number of civilian casualties."
    IBC's total includes a figure of at least 3,240 civilian deaths
published this week by the Associated Press news agency, which was based on
a survey of 60 Iraqi hospitals from March 20 to April 20, when the fighting
was declining. But many other bodies were either buried quickly in line with
Islamic custom or lost under rubble.
    Prof Sloboda said there was nothing in principle to stop a total count
being made using forensic science methods similar to those used to calculate
the death toll from the September 11 attack: it was a question of political
will and resources.
    He said even an incomplete record of civilian deaths was worth
compiling, to assist in paying reparations and in assessing the claim before
the war that there would be few civilian casualties.
    Lieutenant Colonel James Cassella, a US defence department spokesman,
said the Pentagon had not counted civilian deaths because its efforts had
been focused on defeating enemy forces rather than aiming at civilians.
    He said that under international law the US was not liable to pay
compensation for "injuries or damage occurring during lawful combat
operations".
    The Iraqi authorities estimated that 2,278 civilians died in the 1991
Gulf war.

 died in the battle for Baghdad alone.
[...]
Molto chiaro per una armata Brancaleone che fa fiducia anche su armi di
precisione chirurgica.
A tal riguardo , infatti, mi son sempre chiesto perche` le chiamano cosi` :
Quando funzionano bene , centrano il bersaglio nel raggio di 6 metri , poi
pero` fanno un cratere di 60 metri di diametro e una distruzione totale in
300 metri ..........che chirurgia e` questa ? un appendicectomia fatta con
la motosega ?
Tra le vittime poi ci sono anche quelle potenziali che saranno a venire per
le "clusterbomb" e quelle lente per cancro da uranio impoverito e quelle per
colera dei bambini.
Grazie al cielo , poi , la guerra e` finita alla svelta , per fortuna dei
superstiti , perche` se non fosse stato cosi`, era prevista la
"sperimentazione" ( in situ - come su Hiroshima ) della superbomba MOAB ,
che ha la stesa capacita` di distruzione di vite umane di quella sganciata
sopra quella citta` , ma non e` nucleare ; un cinico bypass alla bomba al
neutrino che salva tutto cio` che e` materiale e elimina tutto cio` che e`
vivente.
Ciao
Giano

when the fighting was declining.
Il che non ci dice le cause del loro decesso :)
-Stefano