[Shadow_Group] FALLUJAH DOES NOT ADD UP

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http://www.livejournal.com/users/_eric_m_/164395.html

Eric M (_eric_m_) wrote,@ 2004-11-14 14:10:00

 
Right Wing Media ignore civilian casualties
Hang on, I'm about to go all mathematic on your ass. Our media is failing us again: 

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) ... Between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed in the week-long assault, Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler said. The American death toll rose to 31, with six Iraqi forces also reported killed. Nearly 300 Americans have been wounded, Sattler said. ... Sattler said the military had about 1,000 people in custody and expected as many as 700 would be released after interrogation. ... It's unclear how many civilians have been killed or wounded in the airstrikes or heavy ground battles that have gripped the city. Military officials said at least 14 civilians were wounded.

OK, let's do the math on this:

If the number of Americans killed is 31, and the number of Americans wounded is 300, then there were about ten American soldiers wounded for every one killed. 

If Iraqi "insurgents" show the same killed vs. wounded ratio, and about 1,500 of them have been killed, then we'd expect 15,000 of them to be wounded.

If of the 1,000 detainees we can expect 700 of them to be released as innocent civilians, that means our ability to discern an Iraqi "insurgent" from a civilian is only effective about 30% of the time. 70% of the Iraqis we identify as "insurgents" turn out to be innocent civilians, free to go, sorry about that.

So, if our ability to discern Iraqi insurgents from ciivilians fails 70% of the time, and 1,500 have been killed and 15,000 wounded, then we just killed somewhere around 1,050 civilians and wounded somewhere around 10,500.

To make matters worse, we're forcing Iraqi refugees back into the combat zone, which just happens to be a violation of those same Geneva Conventions that our Abu Graib defending "Justice" Department finds "quaint" and "obsolete." And when we aren't occupying hospitals or bombing them to the ground, we're holding up the Red Crescent's aid convoys so they can't help the civilians. 

And the best our media can do is parrot the official US military line that "at least 14 civilians" have been injured?

I'm calling bullshit on that. When your estimated number of civilians wounded is only slightly higher than the number of "children under ten that have been injured in Fallujah within the last week that I can find a picture of with a 10-second google search," then you've failed.

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: The reason that two-year old boy's left leg happens to be so tastefully cropped out of the picture above? Because what used to be his leg is now just a mangled lump of meat.







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