More than 1,000 civilian contractors have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion more than four years ago, according to Labor Department records made available Tuesday.
[snip]
The civilian contractor figures are compiled by the Labor Department's Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation, which tracks workers' compensation claims by injured workers or families of slain contractors under the federal Defense Base Act.
But these numbers likely do not tell the whole story.
"The data show the number of cases reported to the (Labor Department), not the number of injuries or deaths which occurred," Labor Department official Miranda Chiu wrote in a message to Schakowsky.
Chiu seems to be saying that there are more deaths which have so far gone uncounted. You just have to wonder why casualties, especially of civilians, are going unreported. Why not get the numbers out? At this point, would numbers change anybody's opinions about this war?
From the John Hopkins study:
As many as 654,965 more Iraqis may have died since hostilities began in Iraq in March 2003 than would have been expected under pre-war conditions, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. The deaths from all causes—violent and non-violent—are over and above the estimated 143,000 deaths per year that occurred from all causes prior to the March 2003 invasion.
Like I said, one side will cheer, the opposition will jeer, everyone's already made up their mind about this already. And the truth always comes out anyways.
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