BREAKING NEWS - CORRECTION: Mohamed ElBaradei said 700,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives in Iraq. Did he really?

The mystery of 70,000 becoming 700,000

Today I had posted a blog entry about an AP via CommonDreams.org about Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying that 70,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives in Iraq. A few hours later, the same AP via other media outlets reported that ElBaradei had said 700,000.

I checked on Google and with some few friends and it seems there are out there different version of this story. The Guardian for example has both the versions. The 70,000 [Guardian, Monday September 17, 2007 1:46 PM] and the 700,000.

A simple typo or that extra zero was added later...?

The 70,000 could have come from Iraq Body Count. But if it was a typo, where do 700,000 come from? Maybe someone added an extra ZERO later on the day? Just a question...

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BREAKING NEWS: I had posted the news below taking it from CommonDreams. I have now just checked the same news from an AP printed on SFGate Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency:

"I would not talk about any use of force," said ElBaradei, noting that only the Security Council can authorize such action. "There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 700,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons."

This was the original blog entry posted when I had read the news from CommonDreams

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, joins the Iraq Body Count's supporters:

“There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 70,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons,” he told reporters.

Now I know, he doesn't read this blog for sure! Does anyone out there know his e-mail address so that this "email crusader" may send Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei a couple of e-mails?

As I have already written:

Prof. John Sloboda, Co-founder, analyst and press spokesperson IRAQ BODY COUNT: Please, shut down your website!