During the last two minutes or so of his interview with David Letterman Tuesday night, John McCain got asked some tough questions, including one about the grotesque number of Iraqis killed or displaced because of his Bush’s War.
Letterman: 4,000 American men and women soldiers dead since we went into Iraq. Another 30,000 wounded. Untold Iraqis dead. We rarely hear that number. What would that number be? A quarter of a million? Half a million?
McCain: It’s hard to make these estimates, but it’s in the hundreds of thousands, obviously.
Estimating the number of Iraqi casualties, as horrific as that sounds, is extremely difficult to pinpoint given the chaotic nature of the country. The Iraq Body Count website puts the number at anywhere between 82,625 and 90,149. Other estimates, including one conducted by prestigious medical journal The Lancet in 2006, puts the number at around 600,000. Still others estimate as high as 1,194,935.
And of course we can’t discount the 2 million refugees.
No matter which figure you choose to believe, we can all agree that there are far too many lives irredeemably shattered by this senseless and endless war.
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hands drenched in blood!!! eyes glowing red as he stares at iran!!!
statesman?
killer?
same thing!!
How many dead?
There’s one other thing St. McCain DID Get Right
Lest we forget the 500,000 children who perished due to the sanctions from the early nineties on.
This is a number cited in a number of credible places.
Why aren’t people booing this douchebag?
mcTRAITOR is perfect for usa govt!
If McDouchebag comes anywhere near where I live in Flordia to campaign, I hope to be able to get close enough for him to hear my boos. I will keep booing until the GOP SS haul my ass off and accuse me of being anti-american. As a 69 year old, I know there is no fool like an old fool. I’ve been there. I believe McCaine to be a senile old fool.
There are a nearly 5 million Iraqi refugees if you count all the people who’ve been displaced from their homes. (Deaths due to sectarian violence diminishes if there’s nobody there to kill.)
I watched the interview with Letterman last night and McCain, if I didn’t know anything about him already, came off as a reasonable, mild and thoughtful guy.
And this old fool wants to kill more Iraqi AND Iranians! Admit it Johnny, you don’t give a fuck how many innocent people die as long as “victory” is achieved. I guess if you kill enough A-RABS eventually terrorism will be defeated.
Cheney. . . So?
Someone commented on a thread the other day that our casualty rate are those that fall in battle, and not later from their wounds; is there any truth to that?
They said in the latter case we have an American casualty rate of 14,000, not counting our coalition of the bribed.
Dave: “Untold Iraqis dead. We rarely hear that number. What would that number be? A quarter of a million? Half a million? Thank you Dave. How come none of the Serious Pundits ever ask about this??
As noted above, from the comments and the post, far too many Iraqi deaths have happened, all because of the illegal invasion of their country, caused by the less than benevolent presence of the U.S. military, as well as by disease, illness and starvation, after March of 2003. More needless violence and bloodshed will continue in Iraq due to the inflammatory presence of the United States. Despite this fact, none of the candidates, even including the one who claims to be the agent of hope and change, have advocated for the total and immediate withdrawal of troops from that abattoir in Iraq. None of the candidates can truly claim that they either support the troops or care about the plight of the Iraqi people. Yet one will see very few, if any, signs at the Democratic and Republican conventions which will proclaim: SUPPORT THE TROOPS BRING THEM HOME -NOW.
Kill em all and let God sort them out. Sunni, Shiite is there a difference? Freedom ain’t free.
The President makes a difference, lets elect a person who doesn’t scare the shit out of the rest of the world. Please?
I think Iraq Body Count is a CIA-backed disinformation project. They should be deeply ashamed. They give war backers — including Chimpy himself, who has used their numbers on more than one occasion — an out to peg the number of Iraqi civilian deaths at 10% or less of the real number. Disgraceful.
There is no legitimate controversy about this among experts. The number is close to a million.
cervantes @ 15:
Right, sure. Dream on.
“Ya have to break a few eggs to make an omel…an omelletta… oh, you know, one of those egg dishes where they fold the eggs over on some meat and cheese.”
George W. Bush
Actually, the UN says the number of refugees is closer to 3 million, (2.77M) was the number I heard. But heck, who’s counting?
How many will be dead 10 years from now because of undepleted uranium exposure?
Mike Mid City @ 14:
I hope your kidding, that is such an immature hateful statement.
Mike Mid City @ 14:
We should be very ashamed that we allowed this atrocity to be committed in OUR name, history will not forgave this nation.
We will never know how many US servicemen/women have been lost, how many Iraquis have been lost. You must remember the gov’t isn’t too good at keeping track of anything. Like billions of dollars disappearing in Iraq, like missiles disappearing, like Bush’s service records. Things disappear. Shit happens.
harley @ 21:
liberAL @ 23:
Whenever a government act in darkness it is for one purpose only, to hide it’s own darkness.
L.A. Confidential @ 24:
I remember after 9-11, and through the start of the Iraq “war”, David Letterman was very PRO PRO PRO WAR WAR WAR, and PRO PRO PRO BUSH. All this while MANY of us already KNEW what Bush and company were up to. So NOW, David Letterman is supposed to be this person supposedly QUESTIONING the hawks? Puh-leese.
“So?”
- Dick Cheney
The odd thing about Iraqi “collateral damage” is booshco rarely observes the number, and then only to pin it on Al Qaeda or terrorists.
ysbaddaden @ 11:
The other really sad fact is that with (allegedly) improved body armour, soldiers are coming home with multiple amputations and horrific wounds that would have been terminal in any other war. The consequences of that havent even been considered.
I hate the term “collateral damage,” I was so hoping they would change it after Timothy McVeigh used it in reference to his bombing of the Murrow Federal building in Oklahoma.
earl @ 30:
earl @ 30:
I’m not minimizing the wounded, NOW with David whats-his-face covered a good story on that. But from what the other commenter said sounded like if they died in a military hospital or at home from their wounds, they weren’t counted as war casualties.
Being pro life, pro death penalty, pro war, pro corporation, pro oil, who has time to worry about brown people. I am sure history will look back at Iraq and say thank GOD Amerika was willing to kill these people to protect the peace. I have a head ache.
earl @ 32:
ysbaddaden @ 33:
Unborn American babies seem to be precious for the right wing.
Fully grown infidels not so much, it seems.
Even some of the anti-war folk only seem to care about the 4000 of our boys and girls killed. Ironically, some of them are full blooded Mexican, not citizens even.
Yet the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis death are ignored, the millions displaced not even counted.
The us has over 15 times the population of Iraq, and yet they suffered over 100 times more deaths even though they had nothing to do with 9/11. Put those numbers in perspective, and stop wondering why the rest of the world sees us as a collection of degenerates…
God have mercy on our souls…
Gee, what’s a few one hundred thousand here and another one hundred thousand
there? ….Oh, excuse me, we are talking about “human lives” and not dollars wasted
on bush’s war in Iraq.
ysbaddaden @ 35:
ysbaddaden @ 29:
It’s the “my wife makes me beat her” defense.
It is more important to find something to do with all those bombs than it is to keep track of the number of innocent civilians killed by those same bombs. The military does have its priorities. We’ve got to use those bombs up so the MIC can make more. Feeding the monster takes precedence over everything else.
Vinny Corpuscle @ 4:
Because they don’t notice another douchebag when they see one?
http://tinyurl.com/2jt7mg
Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre:
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2005/11/8
I’m sure it was all over CNN at the time…/Mc-Snark
Why doesn’t anybody ever mention the 2-4 million refuges who were forced from their homes because of the U.S.-led invasion? They are a group that has been ignored by everybody, including the few progressive pundits who bring up the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that have been killed. Democratic lawmakers tend to ignore them, too.
Frybread @ 44:
Amy Goodman has numerous times.
Yet people know who Glenn Beck is, and good luck with that America.
And that is not enough for McBane - on to Iran!
king of mean @ 27:
I am missing your point, you don’t want or respect someone changing their minds about Iraq? If they weren’t on board from the beginning then they have no right to question the deaths now? I want everyone who was for this crapoloosa to change their minds and see the light myself.
More than Saddam.
Left&Left @ 9:
Would someone please tell me what “victory” is? I guess I don’t unerstand it.
Frybread @ 44:
It’s opening day at the ball park.
http://tinyurl.com/2jt7mg
bill @ 49:
50 Million in the bank. A house in the Hamptons and a Swiss retre