By: Remi Kanazi
The Iraqi Body Count (IBC) claims between 27,000 and 30,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the start of the war. In mid-December George Bush gave an estimate on the Iraqi death count for the first time, “I would say 30,000 more or less have died.”
In a new report released by IBC, during the first two years of the war 20 percent of civilian deaths were women and children.
Additionally, U.S. forces accounted for 37 percent of civilian deaths, while insurgents accounted for only 9 percent of civilian deaths. Affirming the contention of lawlessness, “post-invasion criminal violence,” attributed to 36 percent of the civilian death toll. The numbers by IBC are thought to be conservative. Last year’s Lancet report estimated that 98,000 or more “excess deaths” of Iraqis may have occurred since the start of the U.S. invasion.
Anguish and anger resonate within each Iraqi community. In October the British newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph, released information from a survey administered by the Iraqi university team which found that 45 percent of Iraqis support attacks on foreign troops.
It is not just a case of Sunni resistance—which make up only 20 percent of the population. There is a strong support for violence against foreign forces and the numbers are strengthening. Added to the growing unease in the Shia community in the South, it is apparent why aggression is effectively taken out against U.S. forces and interests.
The primary focus of the U.S. involvement in Iraq should be on the basic necessities of Iraqi society. Proper sewage and access to clean water are essential. The Ministry of Public Works believes that it may cost up to 10 billion dollars for Iraqis to access clean water. According to the website CorpWatch in April of 2005, the U.S. cut the funding for water projects in Iraq from 4.3 billion to 2.3 billion—“with further cuts planned for the future.” Those “further cuts” were another 1.1 billion dollars. The Corvallis Gazette Times stated, “Three of the four major clean-water projects were cancelled.”
The reconstruction of water facilities is vital in delivering clean water to the 80 percent of families in rural areas that use unsafe drinking water. The postwar sewage systems must also be reconstructed, which according to the UN report, “seeps to the ground and contaminates drinking water systems.”
The UN development agency conducted a study, entitled Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004. The study found that 23 percent of children in Iraq suffer from chronic malnutrition, while 9 percent of Iraqi children experienced diarrhea, a leading “childhood killer”.
Stability cannot be achieved without confronting basic health concerns. The U.S. government spent more than 200 billion in Iraq, yet it continues to slash funding on projects that will further devastate the Iraqi society.