March 19, 2015: International Physicians Groups Estimates 1.3 Million Casualties due to ‘War on Terrorism’

The Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, along with Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for Global Survival, releases a report, which concludes that the “war on terrorism” has resulted in around 1.3 million deaths. The study examined direct and indirect deaths caused by more than a decade of US-led war in three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, but did not include deaths in other countries attacked by American and allied military forces, including Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria. To estimate the casualty figures, the investigators did a literature review of all the major studies that had been published on this topic before. The report estimates that “the war has, directly or indirectly, killed around 1 million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan, and 80,000 in Pakistan… this is only a conservative estimate. The total number of deaths… could also be in excess of 2 million, whereas a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely.” [IPPNW, PSR, and PGS, 3/19/2015, pp. 15 ]