by Brendan Lalor
As NewsDay (3 Aug 2004) reports the death of the 1,000th “member of the U.S. military to die in battle since the World Trade Center attack,” Al Jazeera (31 July 2004) reports that 37,000 civilians were killed between the invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, and October of the same year. (This figure is significantly higher than the 11,000-13,000 documented by the Iraq Body Count Project, which “puts accuracy ahead of speed.”)
As James Conachy points out on the World Socialist Web Site
According to figures released last year by the US military, some 800 cruise missiles, more than 18,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles, and some 9,000 ?dumb? bombs were unleashed on Iraq during the invasion. At least 1,200 cluster bombs were dropped, each releasing dozens of small grenade-like bomblets. A-10 ?Warthog? ground-support aircraft fired an estimated 300,000 rounds from their 30mm cannons?many of which are believed to have been manufactured from depleted uranium (DU). Tens of thousands of tank and ground artillery rounds, including DU rounds, and vast numbers of machine-gun and small-arms munitions were also expended. (“Survey claims 37,000 Iraqi civilians killed in first seven months of war,” 5 Aug 2004)
Neither group’s figures include Iraqi military casualties.
