Innocent Civilians

I doesn't take a lot of common sense to know that innocent civilians die in wars. Guess what, the White House is one step away from claiming that the "War on Terror" and the "Liberation of Iraq" produced no innocent civilian casualties. Check it out:

From White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's August 9th Press Briefing:

Q The President said at the community college that the people who we're fighting are cruel, have no conscience, and kill innocent people. And my question is, during our two wars in the last three years, have we killed any innocent people?

MR. McCLELLAN: The United States military goes to great lengths to make sure that we minimize any loss of innocent human life, and they go out of their way to make sure that that happens. This administration is strongly committed to making sure we do everything we can to minimize the loss of innocent human life.

Q I didn't ask you that. I asked you if we have killed any innocent people.

MR. McCLELLAN: And I would point out that this -- that the war in Iraq was one where we were able to target and remove a brutal regime from power while minimizing any collateral damage --

Q Did we kill any innocent people?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- or loss of innocent human life. We certainly do not target innocent human civilians. And there are terrorists and others in Iraq, former regime elements who do target innocent civilians, innocent Iraqis. They are enemies of freedom and peace. What we have done --

Q Seventy thousand tons of bombs --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- is liberated the Iraqi people and provided hope for innocent Iraqis.

Q How about the people who are dead?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead [next question]

So, the Bush administration (through Press Secretary McClellan) won't talk about innocent civilian deaths in Iraq? Spin is one thing, but this refusal to tell the truth (a refusal to even admit that Americans have killed Iraqi civilians) is totally irresponsible. To "support" freedom and democracy with one hand while refusing to participate in the most important aspect of democracy (the truthful disclosure of facts to all citizens so they can make informed choices) with the other hand is inexcusable.

Well, for those of you who want to know the truth about Iraqi civilian casualties, here is the worldwide updated number of reported civilian deaths in the Iraq war and the following occupation (from Iraq Body Count)
Min - - - - Max

Now we can wait for the conservatives out there to say I'm "bad-mouthing our troops" and "giving aid to the enemy."