The Lancet investigators also condemn U.S. military forces for hiding the truth of the casualty figures, and point out that doing so is in violation of international law:
"U.S. General Tommy Franks is widely quoted as saying 'we don't do body counts'. The Geneva Conventions have clear guidance about the responsibilities of occupying armies to the civilian population they control. The fact that more than half the deaths reportedly caused by the occupying forces were women and children is cause for concern. In particular, Convention IV, Article 27 states that protected persons '...Shall be at all times humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against acts of violence...'. It seems difficult to understand how a military force could monitor the extent to which civilians are protected against violence without systematically doing body counts or at least looking at the kinds of casualties they induce."
These scientific findings testify, indisputably, to the inhuman and fascist nature of the U.S. war which is being waged against the Iraqi people.
U. S. imperialism launched its war against Iraq with a "shock and awe" campaign that included dropping 1,300 bombs on the people of Baghdad in one day. It has repeatedly used warplanes, helicopters gunships, missiles and tanks against heavily populated civilian areas. It has besieged cities, denying water, electricity, food, medical care and other necessities to the people in Fallujah and cities throughout Iraq. It has dropped over 2,200 tons of depleted uranium shells on Iraq, poisoning the people and contaminating the country with nuclear radiation which will last for millions of years.
These barbaric methods come from the very character of the war as an aggressive, colonial war. U.S. imperialism launched its war against Iraq in order to plunder its wealth, enslave its people and use the country as a base for recolonizing the entire Middle East. It has no regard for the lives of the Iraqi people because its very goal is to enslave them.