“What's in a number? Accountability”

Dear Sarah Sewall,

In What's the Story Behind 30,000 Iraqi Deaths? (By Sarah Sewall, the Washington Post, Sunday, December 18, 2005; Page B02) you write:

The Lancet study relied on a door-to-door survey of Iraqi households in 33 neighborhoods. The surveyors asked for details of deaths in the months before and after the invasion and found a significantly higher death rate after. But the approach was flawed. War is not like a pandemic; it comes in pockets. And the study itself qualified its conclusions, acknowledging that the figure could range enormously between 8,000 and 194,000.

From what you write, it seems either you didn’t read the study or you didn’t understand it. So, I won’t comment on your flawed approach.

More interestingly, your article ends with these words:

What's in a number? Accountability.

These words are very interesting indeed, considering they come from someone who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense during the Clinton administration.

Considering the following:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" US Ambassador at the United Nations (soon to become Secretary of State) Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it." CBS - "60 Minutes", May 12, 1996

Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1997-98) said: “I had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that had effectively killed well over a million individuals, children and adults.” After thirty-four years with the United Nations, he resigned in protest over the effects of the embargo on the civilian population. (Source: The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, Verso, 2002)

Hans Von Sponeck, who had succeeded Denis Halliday as UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1998-2000), resigned on February 13, 2000. He asked: “How long should the civilian population of Iraq be exposed to such punishment for something they have never done?” Like Halliday, he had been with the United Nations for more than thirty years. (Source: The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, Verso, 2002)

I would like to know if you still agree with your words: “What's in a number? Accountability.”

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini