The US Military notoriously 'don't do body counts'. NGOs like Iraq Body Count (IBC)decided to fill this information void. IBC is commonly used to provide the minimum numbers of Iraqis killed since 2003. Its range is currently between 77,333 and 84,250dead. Yet a methodology that relies on evidence "drawn from crosschecked media reports of violent events leading to the death of civilians, or of bodies being found, and is supplemented by the careful review and integration of hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures" is limited at best. Iraq's ministries are run as fiefdoms by various sectarian parties, meaning there is little reason to think that information coming from them does not serve political means. "They are using this number because they want to show that Maliki is succeeding," says Salim Abdullah, a lawmaker and member of the largest Sunni bloc, known as the Accordance Front. Link
IBC are stooping lower and lower in my estimation but you are wrong about their original intent. They started with a noble intention - recording what the US Military and the media were not recording. They have fallen into the trap of being the warmongers dupes now.
ReplyDeleteAt least someone is counting fatalitie and its better than nothing which is what the authorities are offering.
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