Aid worker uncovered America’s secret tally of Iraqi civilian deaths
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
20 April 2005
This is an edited extract of an article written by Marla Ruzicka a week before her death:
In my two years in Iraq, the one question I am asked the most is: “How many Iraqi civilians have been killed by American forces?” The American public has a right to know how many Iraqis have lost their lives since the start of the war and as hostilities continue.
In a news conference at Bagram air base in Afghanistan in March 2002, General Tommy Franks said: “We don’t do body counts.” His words outraged the Arab world.
During the Iraq war, as US troops pushed toward Baghdad, counting civilian casualties was not a priority for the military. Since 1 May 2003, when President Bush declared major combat operations over and the US military moved into “stability operations”, most units began to keep track of civilians killed at checkpoints or during patrols by US soldiers.
Here in Baghdad, a brigadier general explained to me that it is standard procedure for US troops to file a spot report when they shoot a non-combatant. It is in the military’s interest to release these statistics.
A number is important not only to quantify the cost of war, but as a reminder of those whose dreams will never be realised in a free and democratic Iraq.
UK citisens want to know. Why not Americans?