It is nearly the Fourth Anniversary of the illegal Anglo-American-Australian-Coalition invasion of Iraq. What has been the economic and human cost of Bush’s Iraq War?

In short, as of February 2007: (a) the accrual cost has been $2.3 TRILLION; (b) there are 3.7 million Iraqi refugees; (c) the post-invasion excess deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) total 1.0 million (ONE MILLION); (d) post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 0.6 million; (e) there were 1.7 million excess Iraqi deaths associated with the Western-imposed 1990-2003 Sanctions War; (f) there were 1.2 million under-5 year old infant deaths in the 1990-2003 Sanctions War (see:  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12261/42/ ); and (g) Coalition deaths total about 3,360. These horrifying estimates from authoritative sources are amplified and documented below.

(a) ECONOMIC COST TO USA. The accrual cost of the Iraq War (i.e. the total, long-term committed cost, not just the Congressional allocation as measured by "cost accounting") is $2.3 trillion according to the 2001 Economics Nobel Laureate US Professor Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University) and his Harvard colleague Professor Linda Bilmes (see:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15499.htm ).

(b) IRAQI REFUGEES. The number of Iraqi refugees now total 3.7 million - 2.0 million outside Iraq and 1.7 million inside Iraq – and UNHCR predicts that there will be up to 2.3 million internally displaced people within Iraq by the end of this year. (see:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1986147,00.html ).

(c) POST-INVASION IRAQI EXCESS DEATHS. In October 2006 an estimate of "655,000 post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Iraq as of July 2006" came from a top medical epidemiology research team in America's (and the World's) top Public Health Department (the Bloomberg School of Public Health) at a top US university (Johns Hopkins) and was published peer-reviewed in a top medical journal (The Lancet) and endorsed by 27 top Australian medical experts in the area (see: MWC News:  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12163/42/ ;
 http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and
 http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11293/42/ ).


Consider the following estimate from the Johns Hopkins medical scientists of "annual death rate per 1,000 of population" of 13.3 (post-invasion Iraq) as compared to (a) 5.5 (for pre-invasion Iraq after 12 years of crippling Sanctions) and (b) 4.0 (for Iraq's resource-poor but peaceful neighbours Syria and Jordan; UN Population Division data:  http://esa.un.org/unpp/ ).

The "post-invasion excess death rate/1000 of population" was 13.3 - 5.5 = 7.8 (Comparison A) or 13.3 - 4.0 = 9.3 (Comparison B). Assuming an average population of 27 million, the "post-invasion excess deaths" total (over 4 years i.e. as of February 2007) (A) 7.8 x 2,700 x 4 = 842,000 and (B) 9.3 x 2,700 x 4 = 1,004,400 i.e. ONE MILLION.

(d) POST-INVASION UNDER-5 YEAR OLD INFANT DEATHS. The post-invasion Iraqi under-5 infant deaths total 0.6 million as determined from UN Population Division data (see: ). 90% of these under-5 infant deaths have been avoidable and are due to gross Occupier violation of the Geneva Conventions (see:  http://esa.un.org/unpp/ ).

(e) SANCTIONS WAR EXCESS DEATHS (1990-2003). Excess deaths in Iraq during the 1990-2003 Sanctions War totalled 1.7 million (from UN Population Division data:  http://esa.un.org/unpp/ ).

(f) SANCTIONS WAR UNDER-5 INFANT DEATHS (1990-2003). The Iraqi under-5 infant deaths (1990-2003) totalled 1.2 million as determined from UN Population Division data (see:  http://esa.un.org/unpp/ ). 90% of these under-5 infant deaths were avoidable.

(g) POST-INVASION COALITION MILITARY DEATHS. The post-invasion Coalition military deaths total about 3,360 of whom 3,100 were American (see:  http://icasualties.org/oif/ ).

The carnage in Iraq constitutes a continuing US-driven Iraqi Genocide (Genocide as clearly defined by Article II subsections (a) -(d) of the Internationally-agreed UN Genocide Convention:  http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm ) and an Iraqi Holocaust in comparison with the World War 2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million victims and the man-made World War 2 Bengali Holocaust in British-occupied India (4 million victims).
Most of the victims have been Women and Children and the carnage is largely due to gross, war criminal Occupier violation of the Geneva Conventions which demand that Occupiers do everything within their power to keep their Conquered Subjects ALIVE (see Articles 55 and 56 in particular of the Geneva Conventions relating to civilians:  http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm ).

After 4 years of illegal, violent Occupation the post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Iraq total ONE MILLION (from UN Population Division and medical literature data as outlined above). Taken together with 1.7 million excess deaths in the 1990-2003 Sanctions War (UN Population Division) and 3.7 million Iraqi refugees (UNHCR), this constitutes an Iraqi Genocide (as defined by the UN Genocide Convention) and an Iraqi Holocaust in comparison with the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million victims) and the "forgotten" WW2 British-caused WW2 Bengali Holocaust (4 million victims). The Iraqi under-5 infant deaths (1990-2007) now total 1.8 million, 90% having been avoidable and due to Western war crimes. Total Iraqi excess deaths (1990-2007) total 2.7 million. The post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan now total 2.2 million and Afghan refugees total about 3.7 million (see:  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11293/42/ ).

Three quarters of the people of Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan are Women and Children – the Bush War on Terror is in horrible reality a cowardly War on Women and Children, a War on Asian Women and Children and a War on Muslim Women and Children.

Ordinary Germans claimed in 1945 that they "didn’t know" about the Holocaust. Notwithstanding the racism, lying and holocaust-ignoring of Mainstream media, Americans (and British, Australian, Coalition and NATO country citizens) do not have the same excuse – the awful truth is only a few mouse-clicks away. Thus inspection of the UNICEF site (see:  http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html ) will quickly inform one that 0.5 million under-5 year old children die each year in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories i.e. 1,300 each day, ONE PER MINUTE – this being largely due to gross Occupier violation of the Geneva Conventions that demand that the Occupier keeps its Conquered Subjects ALIVE
(see:  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11968/42/ ).

What should decent people do about the on-going Iraqi Genocide or Iraqi Holocaust and the on-going Afghan Genocide or Afghan Holocaust?

Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Decent people are morally obliged to (a) inform others about this carnage (lying, racist, holocaust-ignoring Mainstream media certainly won’t) and (b) act ethically in all their personal and business dealings with those complicit in this continuing atrocity. The horrendous magnitude of the carnage in these on-going holocausts demands international Sanctions and Boycotts against the US Alliance countries.

Americans, British, Australians – and indeed any people – who knowingly ignore, deny, excuse, minimize, obfuscate, advocate, support or effect gross abuses of Women and Children (as in Iraq and Afghanistan) – or indeed of anyone – have crossed the line separating decent humanity from Nazi-style barbarism. Thus Westerners should simply NEVER AGAIN vote for those responsible for the on-going Iraqi Holocaust and the on-going Afghan Holocaust.

Mainstream media notoriously continue to deny the horrendous actuality of the carnage in Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan where the post-invasion excess deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) now total 1.0 MILLION and 2.2 MILLION, respectively (see:  http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya
and specifically:  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11293/42/
and  http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12261/42/ ). Decent people should simply eschew these holocaust-complicit media.


Those primarily responsible for the carnage of the Iraqi Holocaust and the Afghan Holocaust - Bush, Blair, Dr Rice (Dr Death) and their Coalition and NATO confreres such as Australia’s Howard and Canada’s Harper - should be arraigned and tried before the International Criminal Court as demanded by 2005 Literature Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter (see:  http://www.countercurrents.org/arts-pinter081205.htm ).

Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003). He is a Melbourne scientist and writer and is currently editing a completed book on global avoidable mortality (numerous articles on this matter can be found by a simple Google search for "Gideon Polya" and on his websites:
 http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html and
 http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/).








:: Article nr. 30392 sent on 07-feb-2007 05:14 ECT


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