What was Saddam's death toll again. - Democratic Underground

Kutjara

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Wed Jun-21-06 02:50 AM
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What was Saddam's death toll again.

I remember back in 2003, John Burns was writing in the New York Times about 200,000 people 'disappearing into Saddam's gulags, never to reappear.' Other estimates pointed to 300,000 bodies in alleged mass graves, dotted around the country.

Now we all agree that Saddam is nobody's idea of a benevolent leader, but I'm just wondering if anyone's seen more recent (and more importantly, more reliable) figures on the damage done by his regime. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if BushCo has blown this number out of all proportion too.

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Old and In the Way

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Wed Jun-21-06 03:02 AM
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1. I think the vast majority of those deaths were part of the Iran-Iraq War

As far as I know, none of the so-called 'mass graves' of tortured Iraqis have been found (sorta like the WMD). No doubt he was a ruthless bastard who had no qualms offing his political competition and enemies....but I think it is becoming apparent that a ruthless bastard is what has kept Iraq in relative harmony and the religious/ethnic factionalism in check.

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Kutjara

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Wed Jun-21-06 03:07 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. The 200,000 figure was touted as being additional...

Edited on Wed Jun-21-06 03:08 AM by Kutjara

...to the Iran/Iraq war deaths (300k to 500k, depending on whom you believe), and was supposed to represent victims of his political oppression.

I haven't seen any recent numbers on what that figure is now believed to be. Knowing BushCo. I wouldn't be surprised if the final figure turned out to be less than the average weekend traffic deaths in LA.

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