The occupying forces are responsible not only for those they killed directly, but for all the violence that has been unleashed by the invasion. The US policy of supporting different ethnic groups and pitting them against each other has led to the sharp increase in sectarian killings over the past year. The ultimate cause of all the deaths, as well as the uncounted injuries, lies in the decision to launch the war itself.
The 55,000 additional deaths from non-violent sources are attributed by the study to Heart attacks, Cancer, infant mortality and other illnesses. This increase is directly related to the destruction of Iraq’s social infrastructure, including electricity, sanitation, clean water and medical care.
The immediate response of the British administration to the “Lancet” report was a predictable of mixture of contempt and indifference. In a press conference, Bush called the figure of .655 million “not credible” and said the methodology used in the study has been “discredited.” He did not bother to explain the basis on which he dismissed the report.
For its part the pentagon responded by saying that it “regrets the loss of any innocent life in Iraq or anywhere else.” The pro-forma character of this statement betrays the complete indifference of the US military. The pentagon went on to claim, “It would be difficult for the US to precisely determine the number of civilian deaths in Iraq as a result of insurgent activity.”
This statement, as with virtually all official US statements on Iraqi Casualties, attributes the toll on Iraqi lives entirely to the resistance, not to the US violence. This is yet another in the mountain of lies employed to justify the war.