|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
UK injury toll in Iraq 'probably 600' Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Corespondent 3 March 2006, The Scotsman BRITISH forces in Iraq may have sustained more than 600 serious injuries since the start of the war in 2003 - three times higher than the government has previously stated - according to a study today in the influential medical journal Lancet. The figure, still far short of the 4,000 suggested by The Scotsman in December, contradicts claims made by John Reid, the Defence Secretary, that British forces had suffered only 230 recorded casualties since the start of the war. The Ministry of Defence has resolutely refused to give out full casualty figures, insisting it only has numbers for one field hospital outside Basra, which was not operational until the end of the war. When The Scotsman published the results of an investigation Mr Reid launched an angry rebuttal. But in today's Lancet, Professor Sheila Bird, a statistician who chaired the Royal Statistical Society's working party on performance monitoring in the public services, concludes that the government has dramatically underestimated the number of soldiers wounded in action. The MoD's critics have consistently argued that the government has played down the scale of British casualties in Iraq to avoid political repercussions. Prof Bird questions why the MoD is unable to come up with accurate statistics. By comparing British casualty figures with those sustained by US forces, she came to the conclusion that the UK could have sustained more than 600 wounded in action, although she notes it is difficult to make direct comparisons. Prof Bird argues that the MoD has a duty to publish full casualty figures, both for Iraq and for the forthcoming campaign in Afghanistan. "The monitoring of UK casualty rates as well as fatality rates should give improved insight into the dangers faced by our forces in their defence of democracy for Iraq," she says. "Parliamentarians should therefore ensure that the Ministry of Defence puts in order its statistics on UK military casualties, as well as deaths, in Iraq - both retrospectively and prospectively.The least that we owe our soldiers is to care about their morbidity and mortality, and be seen to do so." Last night the MoD said the study amounted to speculation. A spokesman said: "There is no attempt to cover up casualty figures by the MoD." He added: "Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the situation on the ground in Iraq since 2003 will recognise that the UK and US have been facing very different conditions and very different threats. It would not be surprising if the casualty rates for their forces differ, too." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Related links
|
|
