Warning: this is potentially a very controversial post!
655,000 Iraqis dead since invasion, study says
The study was done by several PhD researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. It's disputed because other independent groups put the toll far lower. Groups that have these lower counts rely on media reports to total deaths, and admit these media reports probably overlook some if not most civilian casualties. This study, however, relies on a survey of a sample of over 1,800 Iraqi households for a total of over 12,000 residents. The estimate around 600,000 Iraqis have died in violence, and 31% of those deaths are attributable to coalition forces (as opposed to suicide bombers, insurgents, etc). The rest of the 55,000 deaths are due to much higher rates of heart disease and cancer among Iraqis since the war started. As a sociologist and demographer, I can tell you that the methodology of this study sounds pretty darn good as compared to how other counts are totaled.
In addition to this heartbreaking figure on deaths, we must face the facts that everyone who is anyone--American generals leading the fight in Iraq, independent observers, the international community--says Iraq has slid into a civil war. And add to THAT the fact that the CIA reports America is actually less safe from terrorist threats after invading Iraq.
These facts make me ache inside, and sometimes tears literally well up in my eyes. 600,000 deaths! Civil war! My chest feels so heavy when I think about it, and it makes me so angry! So many innocent Iraqis losing family, homes, possessions, livelihoods, safety... It is unbearable to think about, and it makes me both sad and infuriated, because it could have been avoided.
I hate the lack of accountability, not just for leaders but also for citizens who supported the invasion. I debated and argued with so many people who claimed it was "necessary" or "the right thing to do" or whatever the explanations were. I want the people who were the 60% majority of the American public who supported Bush's invasion of Iraq to feel responsible for those 600,00+ deaths. Yes, our government did this, but only with the support of so many Americans. I also want the people who voted for Bush both in 2000 AND re-elected him 2004 and now don't approve (because more than 50 percent of the popular vote went to him, and now his approval is in the low 30 percent range) to take responsibility. I hate the immaturity of saying "I told you so!" but when I look back my memories are vivid and harsh. The (literally) tens of millions of people around the world who staged protests against the invastion (in Morocco alone one demonstration drew over 1 million people, and there were protests all over the world of that magnitude). The many people who accurately predicted that however quick the invasion went, fighting would last a long time. The evidence from many countries that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. The people who asked, "What happens after we get rid of Saddam?" The people who predicted a long fight, and possible civil war. All theis evidence was not secret, but was being broadcast around the globe and around our own American scene, and so much of the government and American people chose not to look, not to listen.
I admit that now I am at a loss, as I think are most people who once were against the war. We presented evidence, we reasoned, we wrote letters, we yelled, we protested, all with one aim: Don't invade Iraq! It's an unjust, illegal war! Now I am left speechless, along with the pacifists, liberals, Democrats, and everyone else who opposed the war. What do we do now? We have created a civil war, and while I so vehemently opposed American pre-emptive action, I also believe we have a responsibility to clean up the mess we have made. Republicans criticize the Democrats for offering no good plan of their own; I think this is because there is no good plan. How do we clean up from a mess we not only opposed getting into but has now slipped into complete chaos and anarchy?
I don't want American citizens to pay for their misjudgement in supporting the war, but I do want people to take responsibility for their votes, their voices, and their arrogance in ignoring those speaking against the invasion (including not just the 40% of Americans but more or less the rest of the entire world). I want people to take so much responsibility it never happens again; that is, no one falls into following rhetoric without examining facts, evidence, international law, and international public opinion. May we never start a mess like this again, and may the American public feel the weight of the 600,000 deaths as if they were our own.
And please, please, I don't care if it's a Democrat or a Republican or a man from Mars: someone find a way to stop the death toll from rising, stop the civil war, and stop the utter destruction that is everyday life in Iraq.