From: MaxPlumm@aol.com
Date: Fri May 09 2003 - 02:33:48 MDT
Amara wrote:
>> http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
>> (~2500 Iraqi civilians died)
Lee Daniel Crocker:
>That figure is not anywhere close to reality (not that you'd
>expect a site named "bodycount" to care about the truth anyway).
>The data is still being collected, but it looks like even
>military casualties of the war may be as low as 5,000, and
>civilians in the hundreds.
Sorry, but I'm extremely skeptical. That number would barely
cover the number of civilians killed by cluster bombs alone,
according to this editorial:
-----------------------------------------------------------
"How Many Civilians Were Killed By Cluster Bombs?
The Pentagon says 1: Iraq Body Count says at least 200.
I would think that the extropians list of all places would appreciate
a systematic and as comprehensive and unbiased as possible approach to
gathering information on a subject. In this case, the subject is the
number of Iraqi civilians who died in the Iraq War.
-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/background.htm#methods
Methodology
from that web page:
The IRAQ BODY COUNT Project
"This is a Human Security project to establish an independent and
comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in
Iraq resulting directly from military actions by the USA and its
allies in 2003. Results and totals are continually updated and made
immediately available on this page and on various IBC counters which
may be freely displayed on any website, where they will be
automatically updated without further intervention. Casualty figures
are derived from a comprehensive survey of online media reports.
Where these sources report differing figures, the range (a minimum
and a maximum) are given. All results are independently reviewed and
error-checked by at least three members of the Iraq Body Count
project team before publication."
"The project takes as its starting point and builds upon the earlier
work of Professor Marc Herold who has produced the most
comprehensive tabulation of civilian deaths in the war on
Afghanistan from October 2001 to the present, and the methodology
has been designed in close consultation with him."
In the interest of more balanced discussion, two articles that question
Herold's methods:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/565otmps.asp
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-2-48-182.jsp
Regards,
Max Plumm
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