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Medical Consequences of the Iraq War Described

AFSC Los Angeles News Archive
March 8, 2007

The health situation in Iraq has deteriorated precipitously as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation of the country, according to representatives of two organizations addressing the issue who spoke at AFSC.

Donald Broder, M.D., Co-President of the Board of Directors of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, gave a presentation on the medical impact of the war in Iraq. In addition, Jamie Romano of No More Victims, spoke of the efforts of her group to help individual Iraqi children who have been injured by US military action in the country.

Dr. Donald Broder describes the displacement of Iraqis due to the war in a talk sponsored by AFSC and held in the conference room of the MALDEF Building, where AFSC's offices are located. Photo: Benjamin Parke

Broder cited the figure of 655,000 excess Iraqi civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion as being well-founded. The statistic came out of a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University that was published in the British medical journal The Lancet in 2006. While President Bush called the study's methodology "pretty well discredited" after the report came out, the U.S. government has used the same methodology—called cluster sampling—to assess death rates from the wars in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

"The technique is a well-respected technique," Broder said.

He also discussed how, in addition to Iraqi deaths, the impact of the war has been severe in terms of injuries and mental health.

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