Dear letgo21-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.
As I pointed out in an earlier question you posted, this seems to be a
fairly complete and up-to-date document on the ongoing casualty
figures (both military and civilian) in Iraq at the moment:
"CASUALTIES OF THE 2003 IRAQ WAR"
http://www.wagner.edu/faculty/users/pjani/casualties_of_iraq_war.htm
Here are some other articles of interest from reliable sources:
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN THE 2003 IRAQ WAR: A COMPENDIUM OF ACCOUNTS AND
REPORTS
http://www.comw.org/pda/0305iraqcasualtydata.html
Since “actual” damage assessments are not available the next best
thing is to look at official projections. Here you will find some
pre-damage estimates if you want to rely on the projected cost
according to the amount of damage that was predicted:
RECONSTRUCTING IRAQ: COSTS AND POSSIBLE INCOME SOURCES
Carl Conetta. Cambridge, MA: Commonwealth Institute, 25 April 2003
(.pdf file)
http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/0305BM28.pdf
You can find more like this at WAR REPORT
http://www.comw.org/warreport/ and PROJECT FOR DEFENSE ALTERNATIVES
http://www.comw.org/pda/index.html
This site offers a great deal of information about the human and
environmental impact of the war in Iraq (and indeed other places on
the globe) as noted after the fact. Of course, the situation is
ongoing and the actual impact will not be known for many years to
come. These documents detail affected issues ranging from the
disturbance of bird sanctuaries and migration patterns and depletion
of natural resources to human suffering and physical destruction. For
best results use the internal links at the top of the page.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS AGAINST WAR
http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/index.php
As for how the government approaches the release of information, well,
the ENVIRONMENTALISTS AGAINST WAR organization sent a letter to the
Defense Department on May 9, 2003 under the auspices of the Freedom of
Information Act inquiring the same thing as you and they have yet to
receive a response. Some scant information has obviously been released
to the public since that time so this in itself might be indicative of
their position on the matter. I don't find any indication that the
goverment has made any overt effort to suppress such reports but at
this stage it is all too obvious they the DOD is not yet willing to
sanction any independent analysis thus far.
Officially, the Department of Defense continues to say that the damage
assessment is ongoing and they give no insight into how long it might
be before official reports emerge. Suffice it to say that even if/when
a report does emerge, accuracy to the nearest million-dollar figure
will logically be, at best, a mere estimate. Damage assessments of the
American Civil War (in terms of dollar figures, long-term impact, etc)
are still be debated even today so you can see that such an accurate
report would difficult if not impossible to quantify. As with any
conflict of this magnitude, one must take this into consideration when
seeking to determine "exactly" how much damage was really done during
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I hope you find that that my research exceeds your expectations. If
you have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
INFORMATION SOURCES
"CASUALTIES OF THE 2003 IRAQ WAR"
http://www.wagner.edu/faculty/users/pjani/casualties_of_iraq_war.htm
ENVIRONMENTALISTS AGAINST WAR
http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/index.php
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN THE 2003 IRAQ WAR: A COMPENDIUM OF ACCOUNTS AND
REPORTS
http://www.comw.org/pda/0305iraqcasualtydata.html
RECONSTRUCTING IRAQ: COSTS AND POSSIBLE INCOME SOURCES
Carl Conetta. Cambridge, MA: Commonwealth Institute, 25 April 2003
(.pdf file)
http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/0305BM28.pdf
WAR REPORT
http://www.comw.org/warreport/
PROJECT FOR DEFENSE ALTERNATIVES
http://www.comw.org/pda/index.html
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
"OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM" DOD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT
"OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM" “DAMAGE ESTIMATE”
"OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM" DAMAGE FIGURES |
