New Lancet Study

TOP MEDICAL JOURNAL The Lancet has just published a report from a team headed by Johns Hopkins scientists that estimates 655,000 post-invasion avoidable deaths (excess deaths) in Occupied Iraq. 

One can make a distinction between total (violent and non-violent) deaths due to the war in Iraq and violent deaths. I have been publishing updated estimates of "avoidable mortality" (avoidable deaths; excess mortality; excess deaths; deaths that should not have happened) associated with the Bush Wars over the last 3 years; these estimates were based on publicly available data published by the UN Population Division. The total post-invasion avoidable deaths (including both non-violent and violent deaths) in Occupied Iraq are currently (October 2006) about 563,000 whereas the post-invasion violent deaths reported by the Iraq Body Count scholars are about 49,000.

However, according to Australian philosopher/bioethicist Professor Peter Singer (presently at Princeton University; held to be the world’s most influential living philosopher), we are responsible for what we do and for what we fail to do (see:  Singer, P. (2000), Writings on an Ethical Life, Ecco Press, New York).

Professor Singer has controversially argued for the humane “active euthanasia” of severely disabled infants. At present many experienced hospital doctors will administer pain relief but not sustenance to such infants by way of “passive euthanasia”.  According to Singer:

“Doctors who deliberately leave a baby to die when they have the awareness, the ability, and the opportunity to save the baby’s life, are just as morally responsible for the death as they would be if they had brought it about by a deliberate , positive action”  (see: Kuhse, H. & Singer, P. (1985), Should the Baby Live? The Problem of Handicapped Infants,  Oxford University Press, Oxford).

Inspection of WHO data on “annual per capita medical expenditure” reveals that the “annual per capita medical expenditure” in 2003 was $26 (Occupied Afghanistan),  $64 (Occupied Iraq), $2,874 (Occupier Australia), $2,399 (Occupier UK) and $5,711 (Occupier US).

It is clear from this data that the huge post-invasion avoidable mortality in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories (about 2.7 million as of October 2006) (see MWC News ) is largely due to gross violation of international law  by the Occupiers through non-provision of requisite life-sustaining requisites as required by the Geneva Convention.

Whether an Iraqi child dies violently from Coalition bombs and bullets or from deprivation due to deliberate Coalition “passive genocide”, the end result is the same and the moral culpability the same:  “[those] who deliberately leave a baby to die when they have the awareness, the ability, and the opportunity to save the baby’s life, are just as morally responsible for the death as they would be if they had brought it about by a deliberate , positive action.”

The total avoidable mortality in Iraq has been estimated in various ways based on authoritative data as outlined below. 

Method #1. Avoidable mortality (excess mortality, deaths that did not have to happen) is the difference between the actual deaths in a country and the deaths expected for a peaceful, decently-run country with the same demographics. From UN Population Division Data (see: HERE and HERE   ) the post-invasion  avoidable deaths in Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan (as of October 2006) are 563,000 and 2,090,000, respectively, for a total of 2,653,000 avoidable deaths; by way of comparison, the corresponding post-invasion under-5 infant mortality figures are 437,000 and 1,665,000, respectively, for a total of 2,102,000 deaths (i.e. about 80% of the total avoidable mortality). Iraq Body Count estimates that 44,000 – 49,000  Iraqi civilians have died violently post-invasion in Iraq.