[Marxism] How many civilians are dead in Gaza?

[Eli Stephens <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: http://lefti.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html#42932995686482972

The news, for example this story
as just one of many, is widely reporting that "as many as 25 (sometimes 30) 
percent
[of the dead in Gaza] are civilians." But U.N. humanitarian chief John
Holmes, who is the source of that "25%" figure, just appeared on Al
Jazeera and claimed in no uncertain terms that, while there is no way
of knowing just how many civilians are dead, that his office has
claimed that "*at least* 25 percent are civilians." Which is quite different 
from AP's (and other's) misstatement that "*as many* as
25 percent are civilians." Indeed, when questioned by the Al Jazeera
reporter as to whether the real figure might be 50%, or even 75%, he
indicated that that was possible, but unknowable, and stood by the "at
least" 25% figure.
The bottom line is simple - since the U.N.
doesn't even know the identity of who has been killed, and even if it
did is hardly in a position to look into the background of each one to
determine if they were a "civilian" (or a "non-combatant") or not, the
"25%" figure basically reflects the percentage which are women and
children. Which is certainly a conservative way of arriving at a
conclusion, but certainly misleading, and potentially very misleading. Bear 
this in mind the next time (and it won't be long, I'm sure) that you hear that 
"25%" figure.
Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com


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