Is This the Real Story of the American Military?

On the same day that Ted Rall slimes the American military, it was nice to run across this study from antimedia, calculating the true number of Iraqi civilian casualties as a result of the "occupation" at less than 1,000.

The study is based on the numbers published by Iraq Body Count (pdf), which concluded that over 24,000 civilians were killed, and the study was intended to prove that the big bad American forces were indiscriminately killing civilians en masse.

But Dan Hallagan points out that Iraq Body Count's numbers don't represent an accurate cross section of the Iraqi population. Hallagan theorizes that, based on the indiscriminate nature of colatteral damage, the civilian casualty rate should at least resemble Iraqi populations of men, women, adults, and children. The numbers agreed upon by Iraq Body Count don't even come close.

Hallagan projects Iraq Body Count's numbers against population statistics to arrive at the conclusion that an inordinate amount of adult males are included in the totals. Once the large amount of extra adult males are removed from the equation in order that the total of adult male civilian casualties reflects the rates of all of the other population subgroups (women and children), the amount of true casualties is reduced to 7,976 killed by all combatants. Casualties by American forces only are further reduced to 3,682.

As most of those 3,682 were a result of the initial invasion, Hallagan concludes that less than a thousand true civilians have been killed as a direct result of American action. And, while American caused casualties have for the most part remained very low since the "occupation," civilian deaths caused by terrorists occur at a rate ten times higher.

I went over the math many, many, times and it seems pretty solid. One could argue that it paints too rosy a picture, but one could argue much more strongly that the 24,000 number is totally bogus, especially when you eliminate Iraq Body Count's inclusion of Iraq security forces as "civilian" casualties.

If Hallagan is right, American forces are responsible for a mortality rate commensurate with the risk associated with driving a car in this country. It demonstrates an incredibly responsible and compassionate military.

It's also quite a far cry from what slimebags like Ted Rall and the rest of the far-left establishment would have you believe.