The coalition takes enormous precautions

A team of American and Iraq epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

Of the total 655,000 estimated "excess deaths," 601,000 resulted from violence and the rest from disease and other causes, according to the study. This is about 500 unexpected violent deaths per day throughout the country.

The survey was done by Iraqi physicians and overseen by epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings are being published online today (October 11, 2006) by the British medical journal the Lancet.

"We're very confident with the results," said Gilbert Burnham, a Johns Hopkins physician and epidemiologist

"The Department of Defense always regrets the loss of any innocent life in Iraq or anywhere else," said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros. "The coalition takes enormous precautions to prevent civilian deaths and injuries."
-- Excerpt from washingtonpost.com

The population of Iraq (2006 estimate) is 26,783,383. Encyclopedia