A recently published study by The Lancet has made a lot of news by claiming a total civilian casualty count of over 650,000 deaths in Iraq over the past three and a half years.
Claim:
(i.) This study constitutes a deliberate and blatantly clear misrepresentation of civilian death in Iraq.
(ii.) As such, this study's agency is the death of innocent civilians towards political ends.
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Consider Japan, 1943-1945:
~600,000 civilian casualties, the product of
- the only two wartime nuclear bombings in human history
- deliberate (and indiscriminate) firebombing campaigns against poorly built, wooden civilian targets
- attacks against civilian infrastructure with vectors far less precise than modern guided bombing
- loss of aforementioned infrastructure (i.e. sanitation, medical, et al effects)
- massive extended ground warfare in Okinawa (~100,000 casualties) and elsewhere.
...
Important note: the Lancet claim is more than an order of magnitude higher than the nearest (mildly credible) report. Sort of like measuring the length of your hand to be a meter long, and not after its been steamrolled.
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Final note: deliberately misrepresenting civilian death as a means of 'advocacy' for the departed is neither just nor merciful. It is a transparent act of rivalry that subjects the death of thousands to the temporary goals of the self-righteous bystanders.
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