Bush estimates 30,000 Iraqis killed in war (1 Viewer)

[scottyz]

PHILADELPHIA - In a rare, unscripted moment,
President Bush on Monday estimated 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war, the first time he has publicly acknowledged the high price Iraqis have paid in the push for democracy.

In the midst of a campaign to win support for the unpopular war, Bush unexpectedly invited questions from the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia after a speech asserting that
Iraq was making progress despite violence, flawed elections and other setbacks.

He immediately was challenged about the number of Iraqis who have lost their lives since the beginning of the war.

"I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis," Bush said. "We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq."

The U.S. military does not release its tally of Iraqi dead, but there is some consensus from outside experts that roughly 30,000 is a credible number. White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush was not giving an official figure but simply repeating public estimates.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051213/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

I've seen estimates ranging from 20,000 to over a 100,000. I wonder what the official figure is. I also wonder if his number represents the total number deaths in Iraq or just civilian deaths.

 

[Bergslagstroll]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051213/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

I've seen estimates ranging from 20,000 to over a 100,000. I wonder what the official figure is. I also wonder if his number represents the total number deaths in Iraq or just civilian deaths.

Well I think the american stand point was that the american military don't do bodycounts, and there are no other source for official numbers. But know Bush seem to think it's 30000, but also wonder if it's only civilians.

But Iraq bodycount collect the total number of dead reported in media and that is between 27383 and 30892 dead. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

And also a indipendent group estimated that the direct and indirects death because of Iraqwar as high as 100000 from a scientif survey with 1000 Iraqies as respondents 2004. But this study have been critized. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/29/i...tml?ex=1134622800&en=956f52254721ae1c&ei=5070

But the basic problem is that the invasion force didn't want to collect the number of civilians killed. Therefor you can only estimate how many that have getting killed. Like for example that Iraq Body count don't report the deaths from increased crime rates. Also alot of civilian deaths don't become reported by the media.

 

[argexpat]

The obvious follow-up question should have been: Do you think those deaths were worth it?

 

[tecoyah]

The obvious follow-up question should have been: Do you think those deaths were worth it?

Well Now....Bush puts on his Clinton Mask....I suppose that depends on how you define the word..."IT"