]> http://iraqmortality.org/taxonomy/term/60/9 en http://iraqmortality.org/why-numbers-matter <p>Source: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/21799/">AlterNet</a><br /> by Marla Ruzicka<br /> April 18, 2005</p> <p><strong>Just before her death, Marla Ruzicka wrote about the importance of recording and publicly releasing Iraqi civilian casualty numbers.</strong></p> <p>BAGHDAD --<em>The writer, a 28-year-old humanitarian aid worker from California, was killed Saturday in Baghdad when a suicide bomber aiming for a convoy of contractors pulled alongside her vehicle and detonated his explosives. Her longtime driver and translator, Faiz Ali Salim, also died. She filed this piece from Baghdad a week before her death.</em></p> <p>In my two years in Iraq, the one question I am asked the most is: "How many Iraqi civilians have been killed by American forces?" The American public has a right to know how many Iraqis have lost their lives since the start of the war and as hostilities continue.</p> Comments from Authors of Mortality Studies Opinion/Editorial Articles Iraqi Civilian War Casualties Mon, 18 Apr 2005 02:29:29 -0500