By: E&P Staff At least 50,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have died violently since the 2003 U.S. invasion, according to statistics from the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies, the Los Angeles Times reports today. This is "a toll 20,000 higher than previously acknowledged by the Bush administration," the newspaper declares.
"The toll, which is dominated by civilians but probably also includes some security forces and insurgents, is daunting: Proportionately, it's as if 600,000 Americans had been killed nationwide during the last three years," the Times observes.
In the same period, at least 2,520 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, including four today and 18 or more this week.
"Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but have not been counted because of serious lapses in recording the number of deaths in the chaotic first year after the invasion, when there was no functioning Iraqi government, and continued spotty reporting nationwide," the Times relates.
Health Ministry figures for May shows the rate of war-related deaths nearly tripling nationwide, from 334 in May 2004 to 1,154 last month.
"The documented cases show a country descending further into violence," the Times concludes.
"At the Baghdad morgue, the vast majority of bodies processed had been shot execution-style. Many showed signs of torture ? drill holes, burns, missing eyes and limbs, officials said. Others had been strangled, beheaded, stabbed or beaten to death."
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