How many deaths ...

[Moiraine]

In the papers, even the French ones, I can read a daily tally of the numbers of US and allied soldiers being killed or injured, but I can't see anywhere how many Iraqi people have been killed or injured.

I don't like the one-sided information - so tell me if you know.

[Melusine]

I really don't think we can know the exact number on either side, Moiraine. Like I mentioned in other posts, both sides benefit from a certain level of propaganda in the news for strategic reasons. If we report that there are Iraqi high-ups considering surrender, it will lower the morale of the Iraqi military and might make it easier to get them to surrender peacefully. If the Iraqi media reports high death counts of Iraqi civilians, or maybe false info about how far the Allied Forces are from Bagdad, they hope to convince people to fight for their country more fiercely.

But that said, the last thing I heard on the news today (and I've had it turned off for several hours now, after three days of frequent and very depressing watching) is that there are several hundred wounded and I think 200 dead.
But I don't know how accurate that is.

All I do is hope and pray that there are as few civillians killed as possible... because every single one of them that dies is one the Allied Forces failed to liberate... except in a morbid literal sense.

[ 03-23-2003, 05:22 PM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[wellard]

Forgetting if we can the "one live lost is one to many" the reports from Iraq giving the number of civilian casualties from Baghdad after all that bombing have been IMO extremely low. So thumbs up to the new GPS guided missiles and to the military intelligence [img]graemlins/confused5.gif[/img] that have planned the targets.

[John D Harris]

Last I heard there was one Iraqi civilian death (IRC), 200+ wounded from (Iraqi news).

[ 03-23-2003, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: John D Harris ]

[Reeka]

I heard the same thing on CNN, John. At last 200 wounded and 1 Iraqi death. That does say something about the precision bombing-----remarkable when you think about it.

[Azred]

This is an armed military action. A war, with lots of guns, missiles, grenades, bombs, etc. being used on both sides. An exact body count is not needed to know that many people are suffering and, yes, being killed. Did you expect anything else?
Maybe that sounds a little callous. Oh, well. I never said I was perfect. Let's just hope the body count remains a low as possible.

[Iron_Ranger]

1 Iraqi death? Holy smoke (no pun intended)! An Iraqi offical said the body count was 250, so you know its lower than that...Even if he was telling the truth, 250 isnt too bad, considering it is a war after all.

[Ronn_Bman]

The one Iraqi death would have to be from the actual Baghdad precision bombing attacks, if the report can be considered accurate, not from the entire conflict.

[Aelia Jusa]

IR, the official may have been talking about the total deaths, not just civilians. I've repeatedly heard 3 civilians dead in bombings, but many more injured from shrapnel. Soldiers, I think the 200 figure might be about right. I read in the paper this morning that approximately 100 died in Basra overnight (my night) plus there's been sporadic casualties elsewhere from the beginning.

I totally understand where you're coming from though Moraine. In the Sunday paper there was a story about some of the Coalition casualties, stuff about their families and so on. Nearby was a story with the headline 'SAS kills dozens of Iraqis'

Originally posted by wellard: Forgetting if we can the "one live lost is one to many" the reports from Iraq giving the number of civilian casualties from Baghdad after all that bombing have been IMO extremely low. So thumbs up to the new GPS guided missiles and to the military intelligence [img]graemlins/confused5.gif[/img] that have planned the targets.

The precision that they're achieving is a very fortunate thing. I heard a day or so ago that the air raid sirens are going off later and later, sometimes not even starting now until the bombing has actually begun because the Iraqi radar systems and so forth have been knocked out so well. Obviously a very necessary thing with the objective of targeting specific people who we'd rather didn't have early warning, but not if the bombs are wayward and civilians don't have a chance to take cover.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Azred: This is an armed military action. A war, with lots of guns, missiles, grenades, bombs, etc. being used on both sides. An exact body count is not needed to know that many people are suffering and, yes, being killed. Did you expect anything else? Maybe that sounds a little callous. Oh, well. I never said I was perfect. Let's just hope the body count remains a low as possible.

You got that right. Personally I believe there are no inocents in a combat zone. If we make war humane, less bloody how many more disputs will be settled by war? When we enter War it should be as ruthless and as leathal as possible to kill the enemy so there less of them to kill us.