civilian casualties at Brave New Films

Trailer: Letters from Beirut: the War of 33

2008-12-02T16:55:53Z

Letters From Beirut is an intimate, personal and powerful telling of the story of the 2006 war in Lebanon. A series of letters written by Hanady Salman - a mother living through the war in Beirut - carve a narrative arc through the intense and haunting images of conflict. She tells the stories of her family and the people she lives the war with -- the refugees, the wounded, and the everyday Lebanese, struggling to maintain their sanity and their humanity during a time of war. Letters From Beirut is more than a document of a particular historical experience. What emerges is a universal story -- a complex picture of love, pain, resistance and survival in the face of uncertainty and violence.

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New Survey Estimates 1.2 MILLION Iraqi Civilians Liberated From Life Since 2003

2008-01-12T20:23:01Z

Two weeks ago, a British polling agency called ORB released the results of a survey that estimated that approximately 1.2 MILLION Iraqi civilians have been killed since the Iraq Clusterfuck began in 2003. Tina Susman of the LA Times writes:

According to the ORB poll, a survey of 1,461 adults suggested that the total number slain during more than four years of war was more than 1.2 million.
ORB said it drew its conclusion from responses to the question about those living under one roof: "How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003?"
Based on Iraq's estimated number of households -- 4,050,597 -- it said the 1.2 million figure was reasonable.
There was no way to verify the number, because the government does not provide a full count of civilian deaths. Neither does the U.S. military.
-snip-
ORB said its poll had a margin of error of 2.4%. According to its findings, nearly one in two households in Baghdad had lost at least one member to war-related violence, and 22% of households nationwide had suffered at least one death. It said 48% of the victims were shot to death and 20% died as a result of car bombs, with other explosions and military bombardments blamed for most of the other fatalities.

(the original article is unlinkable, so you'll have to google it if you want to read the whole thing)

Iraq’s population is approximately 27 million. According to ORB’s poll, that means the Iraq war has killed over 4.4% of Iraq’s population. The population of the United States is approximately 300 million. If 4.4% of the US population died, that would equal 13.3 MILLION DEAD AMERICAN CIVILIANS.

The Bush administration and its associated trolls would claim that the 1.2 million estimate is ridiculously high and a gross exaggeration. However, since neither the Bush administration nor the Iraq government bothers to count civilian deaths, I have no idea what this claim would be based on.

But because I’m such a nice guy, here’s what I’ll do — I’ll spot you ONE MILLION dead Iraqi civilians.

TPMtv: Iraq By the Numbers

2008-10-25T03:29:23Z

As we gear up for the big 'Surge' debate, we look at the various administration mouthpieces parroting 'surge' success numbers that appear to be directly contradicted by the statistics actually coming out of Iraq. The bamboozlement is so brazen even Wolf Blitzer is calling them on it.

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TPMtv: Fact Check: Romney vs. Obama

2008-10-25T15:30:35Z

Mitt Romney recently attacked Barack Obama over his comments regarding the war in Afghanistan and the need for more troops on the ground, so as to reduce the reliance on air raids that have often resulted in Afghan civilian casualties. Romney called Obama's comments "outrageous" and "a suggestion that somehow our troops are not noble and dignified." But even a quick glance at the realities of the situation in Afghanistan shows that Romney has remarkably little understanding of the facts.

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TPMtv: A Chat with Afghan Ambassador Jawad, Part II

2008-10-14T11:26:14Z

In Part II of TPM's interview with Said Jawad, the Afghan Ambassador to the United States, we delve into more controversial territory, including Afghanistan's relationship with Pakistan and Iran, the question of U.S. torture on Afghan soil, and the narcotrafficking allegations made against the President's brother.

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Les Roberts - Measuring Deaths in Iraq, 2004

2008-10-20T21:30:07Z

Les Roberts speaks on the methodology behind the study published in the Lancet - Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey.

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