Blair rejects Iraq deaths inquiry

This man is not only a liar, he's disgustingly blasé about it and appears nowhere without his "I-am-a-very-sincere-person-and-you-can-trust-me" smile. He's correct that "insurgents" are responsible for civilian deaths, but the majority of civilian deaths has been caused by coalition air strikes on densely populated areas. Of course, he has already rejected the Lancet study (mentioned below) which says so. The Lancet: "Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most of the violent deaths."

He is also clearly wrong in his assertion that the Iraqi health mininstry is best placed to tally the deaths. They, as I understand it, are reliant on hospital reports, and it is estimated that possibly less than a third of deaths take place in hospitals. Two-thirds or more occur away from hospitals and the bodies are buried immediately in accordance with Islamic law.

"London, England (AP) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected demands that he set up an independent inquiry into the number of civilians killed in Iraq.

"Some 46 campaigners, including former British ambassadors, eminent academics, a bishop and a former British military chief, on Wednesday sent an open letter to Blair saying Britain and the United States have a duty to count the number of people killed in the ongoing violence.

"But Blair insisted the Iraqi health ministry was best placed to tally the dead, and said insurgents were to blame for civilian casualties ...

"The open letter marked the launch of a campaign by health charity Medact and the Iraq Body Count group for an independent inquiry into the number of civilians killed.

"It follows a study in The Lancet journal, which in October estimated that 98,000 civilians had been killed in Iraq since the outbreak of hostilities in March last year."

[My emphasis - N]

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