Report: US Air Strikes in Iraq Kill Mostly Women, Children.

The air strikes are not designed to avoid civilian casualties but to avoid allied casualties. Also, as the article points out, the casualties result to a considerable extent because air strikes are used in crowded urban settings. No doubt the civilian casualties will result in considerable anti-occupation feelings. Obama is carrying out the same policies in Afghanistan and no doubt helping the Taliban recruit many to their cause.



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Report: US Air Strikes in Iraq Kill Mostly Women, Children
Posted By Jason Ditz On April 15, 2009 @ 6:34 pm In Uncategorized
In a report to be published in tomorrow’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have concluded that air strikes by US-led coalition forces have killed mostly women and children. 39 percent were children, while 46 percent were women.
Interestingly enough, though the high-tech weaponry used by the invading forces killed a disproportionately large number of (presumably mostly non-combatant) women and children, it showed that among victims of suicide bombings only 12 percent were children.
The researchers used a database of 60,481 civilians violently killed during the first five years of the war, which was compiled by Iraq Body Count. They say that the shocking number of women and children killed are a function of using air strikes in urban combat settings, and the report may have policy implications elsewhere, where US air strikes seem to be killing large numbers of innocent civilians as well.
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