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CBS Undercounts Iraqi Deaths

By davidswanson - Posted on 02 December 2011

Rewriting Iraq War history

A December 1 CBS Evening News report about the Iraq War managed to mislead viewers about the start of the war and severely diminish the loss of civilian lives.

Reporting on the handover of the U.S. military headquarters to Iraqi forces, anchor Scott Pelley announced:

What began in 2003 as an effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein became a vicious religious war, pitting Iraqi against Iraqi--with the U.S. caught in the middle.

Of course, the United States invaded Iraq with the stated aim of disarming Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, which did not exist. ("The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime have begun" was how White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer announced the beginning of the invasion--ABCNews.com, 3/19/03.) Any serious conversation of the war should include this fact.

And the United States, as the instigators of that war, cannot credibly be considered to be "caught in the middle."

Then, at the very end of the piece, Pelley made this claim:

In addition to the American losses, it is estimated that more than 50,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in the war.

READ THE REST AT FAIR.