AP: 5,000 Iraqi Civilians Killed During U.S. Occupation

AP: 5,000 Iraqi Civilians Killed During U.S. Occupation
Tally Includes Crime, War Deaths In Iraq In Past Year

POSTED: 3:35 p.m. EDT May 23, 2004
UPDATED: 3:56 p.m. EDT May 23, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The past year since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has taken a big toll on that country's civilians.

There is no precise figure of how many have died since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, but an Associated Press survey finds that in the first 12 months of the occupation, more than 5,000 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces.

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According to statistics from morgues, the toll from both criminal and political violence is dramatically higher than violent deaths before the war.

But that doesn't mean Iraq is a more dangerous place than during Saddam's rule. Human rights workers say up to 500,000 people were murdered by Iraqi security forces during the dictator's 23 years in power.

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/3337266/detail.html

There have been many thousands more civilians killed in Iraq than 5,000. What about Fallujah, for example?

5,000 x 23 = 115,000 in Baghdad and 3 provinces.

Calculate in the rest of the country and a couple of major incidents and it could easily reach the 500,000 level.

Keo

I don't believe anything Nouri says
I'm sure we'll never find out how many were killed


The U.S. military, the occupation authority and Iraqi government agencies say they don't have the ability to track civilian deaths

"We cannot compare the situation now with how it was before," Nouri Jaber al-Nouri, inspector general of the Interior Ministry, said recently. "Iraqis used to fear everything. ... But now, despite all that is happening, we feel safe."


More than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation, an Associated Press survey found. The toll from both criminal and political violence ran dramatically higher than violent deaths before the war, according to statistics from morgues.
There are no reliable figures for places like Fallujah and Najaf that have seen surges in fighting since early April.


Indeed, there is no precise count for Iraq as a whole on how many people have been killed, nor is there a breakdown of deaths caused by the different sorts of attacks. The U.S. military, the occupation authority and Iraqi government agencies say they don't have the ability to track civilian deaths.

But the AP survey of morgues in Baghdad and the provinces of Karbala, Kirkuk and Tikrit found 5,558 violent deaths recorded from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, to April 30. Officials at morgues for three more of Iraq's 18 provinces either didn't have numbers or declined to release them.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040523_844.html