Iraqi Civilian Deaths Increase and US Defense Stocks Roar

20,000 Documented Violent Deaths of Iraqi Civilians
In First Nine Months of 2007
According to Iraqi Body Count (IBC), at least 20,000 Iraqi civilians have died violent deaths in the first nine months of 2007, and a total of between 74,689 – 81,391 Iraqi civilians have died violent deaths since the start of the Iraq War in 2003.

IBC’s web-site is impressive in its detailing and documenting of the names of violently killed Iraqis and the specific incidents that caused their deaths. IBC’s web-site says of itself, “IBC builds on innovative uses of new technologies without which this citizens’ initiative would be impossible. The project was founded in January 2003 by volunteers from the UK and USA who felt a responsibility to ensure that the human consequences of military intervention in Iraq were not neglected.” And it says,

• IBC’s figures are not ‘estimates’ but a record of actual, documented deaths.
• IBC records solely violent deaths.
• IBC records solely civilian (strictly, ‘noncombatant’) deaths.
• IBC’s figures are constantly updated and revised as new data comes in, and frequent consultation is advised.

IBC calculates between 74,689 - 81,391 Iraqi civilians have died violent deaths since the start of the Iraq War in 2003. But according to the medical journal The Lancet, many, many more Iraqis have died as a direct result of the war. Just Foreign Policy, uses the research reported in the Lancet in 2006 and asserts that over one million Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the US invasion.

Defense Stocks Make Huge Gains
The AMX Defense Index tracks 14 major defense company stocks. At the start of the Iraq War, the Index was 500, it is now the Index is almost four times that initial amount. The AP reports, "Defense stocks hit new highs as Defense Secretary Robert Gates requested an extra $42 billion in funding from Congress to cover military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. The AMEX Defense Index, which tracks 14 major defense company stocks, rose 14.25 to a high of 1,686.72 in afternoon trading. Since last year, the index has risen roughly 47 percent, outperforming the broader S&P 500 index, which has climbed nearly 15 percent over the same period."