Summary: In a recent paper published in the International Journal of Health Services and titled “Arab Spring and Health”[1](author copy), Adam Coutts, Wasim Maziak (“Our (US) Man in Aleppo, Syria”)[2], Martin McKee, et al (respectively from the University of Cambridge, Florida and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), openly endorse NATO’s scenario for the so-called ««Arab Spring»» and its future, amazingly and quite cynically referring to the reduced local availability of cheap alcohol as a deterrent from a further wide-scale potential catastrophe [3]… Because, among serious errors, the authors also downplay the death tolls in relation to the recent wars waged by superpowers against Iraq, the Libyan Jamahiriya and Syria, sometimes by a factor of 12 as in the first case (thus cynically denying the reality of 1 million deaths in Iraq…), their piece clearly appears as a revisionist intent to rewrite contemporary history and sell the corresponding underpinning pseudo-science to the research community.
Keywords: public health; NATO ; war ; women; Syria; Libyan Jamahiriya; Iraq; death toll
باحثون في مجال الصحة العامة من جامعات كامبريدج و فلوريدا و معهد لندن ينفون قتل مليون عراقي جراء الغزو عام 2003 (في مقال مقر لحلف شمال الأطلسي)
ملخص: في مقال نشر في المجلة الدولية لخدمات الصحة تحت عنوان ”الربيع العربي و الصحة (العامة)”(1)(مسودة), يصدق مؤلفوه (آدم كوتس من جامعة كامبريدج, وسيم مزيك من جامعة فلوريدا و هو في نفس الوقت ”رجل الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في حلب/سوريا (2), مارتين ماككي من معهد لندن لعلوم الصحة و الطب الاستوائي, و زملاء آخرون) على رواية الناتو (حلف شمال الأطلسي) و رؤيته المستقبلية لل”ربيع العربي فتفاءل رسميا الأمين العام للناتو بعدم وجود كحول رخيص في المنطقة قد يدمر “ثمار” ذلك ال”ربيع”(3), هاذا و يذهب الباحثون الى حد التقليل السافر من كشف العدد الصحيح للضحايا التي سببتها الحروب التي شنتها أخيرا القوى العظمى ضد العراق و الجماهيرية الليبية و سوريا, لدرجة أن وصل هاذا التقليل المعتمد الى نفي قتل مليون مواطن عراقي نتيجة الغزو الأمريكي الشمالي. اذان, نحن أمام ارادة فعلية من قبل باحثين ”علميين” لفرض كتابة مزيفة للتأريخ المعاصر.
كلمات جوهرية: الصحة العامة, حلف شمال الأطلسيي, حرب, نساء, سوريا, الجماهيرية اليبية, العراق, كشف عدد الضحايا
««Printemps arabe»». Dans un article pro-OTAN, des chercheurs en santé publique des universités de Cambridge, Floride et de l’Ecole d’Hygiène de Londres nient la mort d’un million de personnes en Irak
Résumé en français: Dans un article publié par l’International Journal of Health Services, ayant pour titre “Printemps arabe et santé [publique]” [1](copie auteur), Adam Coutts, Wasim Maziak, « Notre homme (USA) en poste à Alep, Syrie »” [2], et Martin McKee et collègues (affiliations respectives: University of Cambridge, University of Florida, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), avalisent ouvertement le scénario de l’OTAN à propos du soi-disant ««printemps arabe»» et son avenir, invoquant étrangement et cyniquement la faible disponibilité locale d’alcool à bon marché comme facteur protecteur d’une catastrophe ultérieure potentielle de grande ampleur [3]… Les auteurs minimisent également et grossièrement le nombre de victimes causées par les récentes guerres lancées par les superpuissances contre l’Irak, la Jamahiriya Libyenne et la Syrie, jusqu’à un facteur de 12 dans le premier cas (ignorant ainsi cyniquement la réalité d’1 million de morts irakiens…). Un tel article apparaît clairement comme une volonté révisionniste de réécrire l’histoire contemporaine afin de vendre la pseudoscience correspondante à la communauté des chercheurs.
Mots-clés: santé publique; OTAN ; guerre ; femmes ; Syrie ; Jamahiriya Libyenne ; Irak ; décompte des victimes
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The Endorsed NATO Scenario for the Future of the ««Arab Spring»»
Before going right to the point, it is worth noting that the criticised paper contains a dozen bibliographical references supposedly supporting a substantial series of (erroneous) claims. These items are neither peer-reviewed nor scientific papers but actually highly politicised reports prepared by individuals and organisations now exposed or known for having endorsed NATO and/or Western States’ illegal interventions in Asia and Africa thanks to the mainstream media sound-box [4]; from Iraq to Afghanistan and from Syria to Libya… Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO’ secretary-general, in person is cited (and also misquoted…) for trying to reassure the ““international community””:
“The Arab world will be protected to some extent because of the absence of vast amounts of cheap alcohol that played such an important role in Eastern Europe, but there are signs that the changes occurring in Arab Spring countries are proceeding at a rate neither protestors nor the former heads of state anticipated”[1][3].
Further to the outcome of the ««Arab Spring»», much “welcome”(sic) and militarily backed by NATO [3], the least that can be said is that Rasmussen is a war criminal who, in an ideal world where justice would prevail [4], should be tried, he and his organisation, by an institution like the International Penal Court (The Hague) if, once again, ideally, the latter were not also a puppet in the hands of the same warmongers…
As strange as it may sound, NATO is therefore cited by researchers supposed to be concerned by “public health”[1]… However, it is not that surprising for those who may be familiar with Maziak’s abundant literature. He is actually the chief co-author of the WHO (World Health Organisation) flawed report (two errors in the two first sentences…) on a Middle Eastern traditional peaceful multi-century old practice he has continuously been selling, for one decade now, as a world “public health” threat and a global epidemic in many of his publications [5][6][7]. The objective of such an amazing self-righteous crusade is the eradication and prohibition of this kind of smoking which, as if it were a virus, has already reached the shores of the USA and penetrated deep inside… As a “response” to such a global public health “threat” and simultaneously with a dedicated team at the US-American University of Beirut (Alan Shihadeh)(US-AUB), Maziak was appointed director of the US-Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies (US-SCTS) based in Aleppo, Syria. Both the US-AUB and US-SCTS have been generously funded by a continuous flow of millions of dollars from US sources [2]. In fact, the head of the US-SCTS can be compared with Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi who sold the US the ““secret”” that his country was developing “weapons of mass destruction”. As observers know, this lie served as the chief pretext for the invasion of Iraq. Maziak has just sold to the same superpower the ««secret»» that the hookah (shisha, narghile), dubbed ««waterpipe»» (a sociological, editorial and war code)[6], was posing a great threat to the “West”… Certainly, it is a weapon of mass “distraction” and entertainment, particularly abundant in Syria and Lebanon [2]…
The argument referring to the NATO’ scenario for the future of the ««Arab Spring»» is repeated elsewhere with a reference to a 2004 paper authored by Martin McKee, one of the co-authors: “Furthermore, as noted above, the limited access to alcohol will make it far more difficult for desperate people to access the means of self-harm, as tragically occurred in the ex-communist bloc” [1][8]. Interestingly, McKee is also a public health scientist known, in the field of tobacco research, for having depicted colleagues with dissenting views (on the issue of the so-called lethality of “environmental tobacco smoke” (“passive smoke”)), as being not less than “denialists”… In the corresponding publication, he draws direct parallels with the individuals who “deny” the validity of data in related to crimes committed during World War II. Such claims have triggered indignant reactions on behalf of some of the targeted scientists [9][10]…
Reducing Arab Complexity Thanks to a “Unifying Term”(sic)…
Maziak is also known in his field of research for his reductionist trend when it comes to approaching complex objects. For instance, he has actually coined a nominalist neologism for the previously mentioned “public health” threat (the Arab ««waterpipe»»). This has fuelled a global confusion in the biomedical field [2][5][11]. Perhaps out of this concern, he and his colleagues refer to the ««Arab Spring»» as a “unifying term”, admitting that:
“the unifying term “Arab Spring,” however, masks distinctive changes in each country. In Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, deeply entrenched leaders were toppled by popular movements, which—in the case of Libya—led to armed insurrection and international military involvement. In Syria, an initially peaceful uprising has been met with violent suppression, including artillery bombardment of civilian areas, attracting widespread international condemnation” [1].
What happened in Tunisia was undoubtedly a popular movement. However, and in spite of the above precaution, one serious methodological error is to pose that what happened in Libya and Syria were similar “popular movements” (sic) aimed at “toppl[ing]”(sic) “deeply entrenched leaders”(sic)[1]. Concerning Libya, any objective rational observer knows that the fact that it was necessary for NATO to pound that country for more than seven months in order to “topple” the supposedly unpopular “entrenched leader”, is nonsense. By comparison with the neighbouring country, did not it take only a few days to the Tunisian people – and without any military ““help”” from NATO…-, to get rid of their president? Indeed, is not it counter-intuitive that after seven months of NATO intense bombing, the Libyan people in their great majority had not disowned their “entrenched leader”? The minority of Libyans, displayed day and night on mainstream media was absolutely not representative. Consequently, it has been a tale, a NATO tale, forged for naive “Westerners”, including “public health” conformist researchers [1]… Even among the war lords, this has been made clear. President Silvio Berlusconi, head of the Italian government which initially participated in the military crusade against Libya, acknowledged later to the press that (free transl.) “the Libyan rebellion which toppled Colonel M. Qaddafi was not a popular uprising but an action led by Libyan officials aiming at ousting him […]”. It was not a popular uprising because Qaddafi was loved by his people as I have personally witnessed when I visited Libya ”[12]. Interestingly and, once again, cynically, the NATO speech by Rasmussen, cited by Coutts, Maziak, McKee et al, states: “No one would have anticipated the Arab Spring on the Mediterranean’s southern shore. And no one would have forecast that NATO would be leading an operation in Libya to protect civilians under a United Nations mandate”[3]…
Denying the Reality of One Million Deaths in Iraq…
Let us quote from Coutts and colleagues: “An immediate concern is that civic demonstrations and repressive government responses to them led directly to injuries and deaths of civilians and combatants. In Libya, an estimated 25,000 combatants and civilians have died; in Syria, the figure was thought to have reached 40,000 to 50,000 by December 2012, with the scale of violence increasing; and in Yemen, the death toll may be several hundred. In some cases, these clashes may develop into civil war, as seen first in Libya and now in Syria. This is a particularly worrying development given recent experiences in Iraq, where civilian casualties during the invasion and ensuing internecine conflict are now estimated to have been anywhere between 98,000 and 200,000. Other consequences of these conflicts are more difficult to observe but have been reported by various human rights groups, including torture and imprisonment”[1].
-Concerning Syria, it is amazing to see so-called scientists rely indirectly, although exclusively in the end, on one known biased source: the famous Syrian Observatory on Human Rights. From the beginning of the war against Syria, such an entity was “officially” recognised as a credible source for “counting the dead” in that country. In fact, such an organisation -which was successful in deceiving the great majority of the mainstream media at war against Syria- was actually staffed by only one man with a laptop computer sitting at a table in a London flat [13][14]…
-In Libya, and according to figures published by organisations close to the United Nations organisation (which, and this is noteworthy, has not kept neutral during the all-out war), three to four times more people actually died as the result of the NATO intervention. The round range estimation is 80,000 to 100,000 dead and if one keeps in mind that the “official” “objective” was to “topple” an “entrenched leader” -as Cloutts and colleagues would put it [1]-, then the outcome of that (only-one…) man hunt, was 100,000 dead…
-As for Iraq, and this is the greatest scandal (apart from the endorsement of the NATO version of the ««Arab Spring»»), Cloutts, Maziak, McKee et al “forget”, not by mistake, 1 million Iraqi deaths. They cite estimates up to 12 times (“anywhere between 98,000 and 200,000”[1]) under those determined by much more credible sources than theirs. They cite a paper published in a book edited by Samer Jabbour, from the US-University of Beirut)[15]… For more information about the latter institution, see our previous paper on “Our Man in Aleppo”[2]. As so-called “public health” researchers, it is surprising to see that the (twofold) study published in the medical journal The Lancet (United Kingdom) is not cited whereas its scientific methodology and findings are quite clear: “Pre-invasion mortality rates were 5.5 per 1000 people per year (95% CI 4.3-7.1), compared with 13.3 per 1000 people per year (10.9-16.1) in the 40 months post-invasion. We estimate that as of July, 2006, there have been 654 965 (392 979-942 636) excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2.5% of the population in the study area”[16][17].
Among other ignored sources (such a bibliographic bias also reveals another aspect of collusion) are the Iraq Body Count (IBC) which documented 111,878 – 122,380 civilian deaths from violence; the Just Foreign Policy’s Iraqi Death Estimator; and a poll from the Opinion Research Business firm (United Kingdom). In sum, “over a million have died with an estimate of 1.2 million deaths”[18][19][20][21].
One dead is just too much. So, how can so-called “public health” researchers worthy of this name minimise mass murders to such an indecent degree? One knowledgeable analyst of the Iraqi scene has summarised the scale of the genocide in a few impactful words: “Since 1990 upper estimates are of 3 million Iraqi deaths between sanctions, bombings and invasion, 4 US Administrations. One thousand 9/11s”[22]…
Other errors and manipulations
-Libyan Refugees. Cloutts, Maziak, McKee et al state that « a wave of refugees also fled Libya, although many of those who left have now begun to return”[1], ignoring that the very neighbouring country, Tunisia, is still hosting 500,000 of them…
-Syrian’s Health System. According to the authors, the public health system in this country would have “ceased to be effective, particularly for those with chronic diseases and for the elderly, disabled, and pregnant”[1]. This is a definitively unwarranted statement. The reason is that this country has never witnessed such a thing as a “revolution”, as the authors wrongly state. The easy to check evidence is that the great majority of Syrians still stand there with their government in spite of a two-year long global psychological war and continuous terror assaults by armed gangs most of the time targeting the Syrian population as retaliation for not… revolting…
–Arab Women. “The status of women, who have enjoyed similarly prominent roles in many of the uprisings, is a related problem. Women suffer from high rates of illiteracy, and political and economic participation overall remains among the lowest of any region worldwide”[1]. This is another insidious gratuitous statement. The supporting reference is a highly politicised biased report by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) which was prepared under the influence of US-AUB researchers known for their lack of independence and propaganda when it comes to such issues. In the same vein and unsurprisingly, the same report even hypes the so-called hazards of local traditional form of smoking (hookah, narghile, shisha – which has suddenly become –for some reasons- highly fashionable in the USA) as a threat to “Human Security in the Arab World”[23][24]…
In these conditions, more than a scientific artefact, we are here in presence of a gross manipulation related to geo-political objectives. An independent researcher recently asked: “How does the history of women in Afghanistan relate to women’s rights in Syria in the context of the current crisis? The undeclared US-NATO war on Syria (2011-2013) in support of Al Qaeda affiliated rebels appears to have a similar logic, namely the destruction of secular education and the demise of women’s rights. Will Syrian women be facing the same grim future as that of Afghan women under the Taliban regime?”[25]
Conclusions: “No More Fear” (Tunisians)
Like Cuban exiles in Miami [26], Cloutts, Maziak, McKee et al fail to understand that if there has been such a thing as an ««Arab Spring»», then it is certainly not the one they are desperately trying to sell. The times when public health researchers in Asia and Africa had to blindly follow an “enlightened” “leader” from North America or Europe, are over. The unexpected meaning of the ««Arab Spring»» in this field is that research in relation to public health in Asia and Africa, will now be emancipated from foreign diktats. Authoritarian/totalitarian institutions and individuals in high-income countries will not be able anymore to carry their politicised agendas (e.g. tobacco prohibition) on them. Free scientific debate and controversy, stifled so far by Maziak and his likes [6], is going to grow even more. The very motto uttered by Tunisians who triggered the initial revolt (dubbed ““Jasmine Revolution”” and, later, ““Arab Spring”” by NATO and its neo-orientalist followers) was: “No More Fear!”(La hawf ba’a-l-yawm). This will bring about tremendous echoes in the scientific field. For now on, researchers from Asia and Africa will not be afraid anymore of publish politically incorrect research findings [11][27]. The times when it was still possible for the teams of the US-SCTS or US-AUB to manipulate agencies of the United Nations system such as the WHO [7], or the UNDP [23][24], are definitely over. For Spring, true Arab spring, is here…
Hypocrisy, in the name of science and public health, has led opportunist researchers and social climbers to express publicly (here, in the International Journal of Health Services) compassion for so-called oppressed populations, refugees, victims of local violence and even local forms of smoking, and also migrants in the West would-be victims of the latter [28]… Alan Shihadeh (US-AUB), co-author of the WHO flawed report (in which, among many errors, Arab fathers are said to make their children smoke the narghile)[7], went so far as speculating that the traditional daily practice of the Middle East is “one of the enduring legacies of colonialism”[27]… Not only is this a neo-orientalist blunder but that “colonialism”, given the remote age of the hookah, cannot be but European (not US as his institution (US-American University of Beirut)…)….
Finally, one of the authors, Maziak, is renowned for his long record of pseudo-scientific publications and claims [5][6][7]. The other, McKee, has co-published a paper targeting “denialists” in relation to a public health issue [9][10]. As if both were celebrating the 10th “anniversary” of the war against Iraq, they do deny in a so-called respectable scientific journal, the reality of 1 million deaths in that country as a result of the invasion. Isn’t this a highest form of “denialism”[9]?
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Bibliographical references:
[1] Adam Coutts, David Stuckler, Rajaie Batniji, Sharif Ismail, Wasim Maziak, Martin McKee. The Arab Spring and health: two years on. Int J Health Serv. 2013;43(1):49-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/HS.43.1.d
Author copy can be retrieved from: http://www.adamcoutts.com/uploads/1/3/2/6/13265243/ijhs_finalproof_feb2013.pdf
[2] Chaouachi K. Syrian Waterpipegate. Our Man in Aleppo, Head of US Masterminded Screen “Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies”. 19 August 2012
« Independent Syrian experts are likely right to say that the ongoing pseudo-revolution there (17 months now) is meant, not only to achieve macro objectives in the region but, also, in the end, a certain lifestyle (all independent travellers knowing Syria will understand): the simplicity of daily life, its low cost, Middle East sociability best expressed by Syrian coffee-houses and patios with their gurgling narghiles, etc… What is at stake is the repeated intent, begun in Iraq, to implement the US Great/New Middle East Project at all levels: from the political hyper-structure to the socio-cultural aspects. In the view of their designers and their men in the region, the “Arab way of life” must be shattered thanks to the emergence of a consumerist society essentially based on competition.”
[3] NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). NATO and the Mediterranean: The Changes Ahead. Speech by Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Spanish Senate. 2010.
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_75547.htm
[4] Charvin R. L’intervention en Libye et la violation de la légalité internationale : un retour à la pseudo « morale internationale » du XIX° siècle. 23 décembre 2011
[5] Maziak W. The global epidemic of waterpipe smoking. Addictive Behaviors 2010 (August)
http:/dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.030
[6] Chaouachi K. Human health, ““waterpipe”” (hookah, narghile, shisha) smoking and the global epidemic of misrepresentations and errors. SciTopics 2010 (10 Nov).
[7] Chaouachi K. A Critique of the WHO’s TobReg “Advisory Note” entitled: “Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: Health Effects, Research Needs and Recommended Actions by Regulators. Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine 2006 (17 Nov); 5:17. Doi:10.1186/1477-5751-5-17 [The WHO report was prepared by Alan Shihadeh (US-American University of Beirut), Thomas Eissenberg (US-“Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies”) and Wasim Maziak (idem) and requested and peer-reviewed by (chiefly): Jack Henningfield (senior leader at Pinney Associates, pharmaceutical company) and Ghazi Zaatari (US-American University of Beirut)]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1664583/
[8] McKee, M. Winners and losers: The consequences of transition for health. In Health Systems in Transition: Learning From Experience, eds. J. Figueras, M. McKee, J. Cain, and S. Lessof. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London, 2004.
[9] Diethelm, P, McKee, M. Denialism: what is it and how should scientists respond? Eur J Public Health. 2009; 19:2-4.
http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/1/2.extract
[10] Chaouachi K. E-Letter: Denialism, Hookah Environmental Tobacco Smoke, and the «Overwhelming Consensus on the Evidence». Eur J Public Health. 2009 (17 Feb). A critique of: Diethelm, P, McKee, M. Denialism: what is it and how should scientists respond? Eur J Public Health. 2009; 19:2-4.
http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/1/2.extract/reply#eurpub_el_114
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2iXoxgyuf9lNGhScFRBZFI4WWc/edit?usp=sharing (pdf)
[11] Chaouachi K. False positive result in study on hookah smoking and cancer in Kashmir: measuring risk of poor hygiene is not the same as measuring risk of inhaling water filtered tobacco smoke all over the world. British Journal of Cancer 2013 (7 March) ; 1-2 XX. Doi:10.1038/bjc.2013.98
http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/bjc201398a.html
Quoteworthy: “Such a wide confusion is also fuelled by the widespread nominalist use of the ««waterpipe»» neologism since all water pipes of the world have almost nothing in common but that name imposed one decade ago”.
[12] AFP, 9 septembre 2011.
http://www.emarrakech.info/Berlusconi-La-chute-de-Kadhafi-n-etait-pas-une-revolution-mais-un-complot-francais_a66084.html
[13a] Cartalucci T. EXPOSED: Syrian Human Rights Front is EU-Funded Fraud. 13 April 2013
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/04/exposed-syrian-human-rights-front-is-eu.html
“NYT admits fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based “one-man band” funded by EU and one other “European country.”
[13b] Cartalucci T. West’s Syrian Narrative Based on “Guy in British Apartment”. 4 June 2012
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.jp/2012/06/wests-syrian-narrative-based-on-guy-in.html
[14] Lévesque J. Manifestations en Syrie : Qui compte les morts?, 25 nov. 2011.
http://www.mondialisation.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=L%C3%A9V20111125&articleId=27865
[15] Rawaf S, Rawaf D. Public health in crisis: Iraq. In Public Health in the Arab World, eds. S. Jabbour, R. Giacaman, M. Khawaja, and I. Nuwayhid. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012.
[16] Burnham G, Lafta R, Doocy S, Roberts L. Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey. Lancet. 2006 Oct 21;368 (9545):1421-8.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17055943
[17] Roberts L, Lafta R, Garfield R, Khudhairi J, Burnham G. Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey. Lancet. 2004 Nov 20-26;364(9448):1857-64.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15555665
[18] Iraq Body Count. As of 7 Apr 2013
IBC is a project “which maintains and updates the world’s largest public database of violent civilian deaths during and since the 2003 invasion. The count encompasses non-combatants killed by military or paramilitary action and the breakdown in civil security following the invasion. Data is drawn from cross-checked media reports, hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures to produce a credible record of known deaths and incidents”.
[19] Reuters. Iraq conflict has killed a million Iraqis: survey. Jan 30, 2008.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/30/us-iraq-deaths-survey-idUSL3048857920080130
“(Reuters) – More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain’s leading polling groups”.
“The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in face-to-face interviews, found that 20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.”
[20] What Just Foreign Policy’s Iraqi Death Estimator Is and Is Not. 2013
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/deathcount/explanation
“In Iraq, there have been two scientifically rigorous cluster surveys conducted since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The first, published in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, estimated that 100,000 excess Iraqi deaths had resulted from the invasion as of September 2004. The second survey, also published in The Lancet, updated that estimate through July 2006. Due to an escalating mortality rate, the researchers estimated that over 650,000 Iraqis had died who would not have died had the death rate remained at pre-invasion levels. Roughly 601,000 of those excess deaths were due to violence.
As with all statistical methods, the Lancet surveys come with a margin of error, as do opinion polls, for example. In the second survey, the researchers were 95 percent certain that there were between 426,000 and 794,000 excess violent deaths from March 2003 to July 2006. 601,000 is the most likely number of excess violent deaths. It is this number that our Estimator updates.
As of January 2008, a poll from the British polling firm Opinion Research Business contributed to our understanding of the Iraqi death toll, confirming the likelihood that over a million have died with an estimate of 1.2 million deaths.”
[21] Munier G. Affaire « Pétrole contre nourriture » : procès d’un montage presque parfait. 16 mars 2013
[22] Lagauche M. “The Mother of all Battles: The Endless US-Iraq War.”
[23] UNDP. Arab Human Development Report published by your organisation. Challenges to Human Security in Arab States. UNDP [Regional Bureau for Arab States] 2009: 288 pages. In particular: pp 154, 164, 217).
http://www.arab-hdr.org/# ; http://arabstates.undp.org/ ; Arabic version: http://www.arab-hdr.org/arabic/contents/index.aspx?rid=5
[24] Chaouachi K. Letter to Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa, Director of the Regional Bureau of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). Subject: complaint about the 2009 release of the UNDP Report viewing Hookah (shisha, narghile) smoking as a threat to “Human Security in the Arab World”. 26 Sep 2009.
http://kamcha.googlepages.com/UNDP_Arab_States_COMPLAINT_about_WHO.pdf
[25] Lévesque L. From Afghanistan to Syria: Women’s rights and US propaganda. 2 April 2013
http://rt.com/op-edge/afghanistan-syria-womens-us-153/
“Women’s rights are increasingly heralded as a useful propaganda device to further imperial designs. Western heads of state, UN officials and military spokespersons will invariably praise the humanitarian dimension of the October 2001 US-NATO led invasion of Afghanistan, which allegedly was to fight religious fundamentalists, help little girls go to school, liberate women subjected to the yoke of the Taliban. The logic of such a humanitarian dimension of the Afghan war is questionable. Lest we forget, Al Qaeda and the Taliban were supported from the very outset of the Soviet-Afghan war by the US, as part of a CIA led covert operation.”
[26] Allard J.-G. CIA Sabotage of Syria Peace Plan: Miami Cuban Dissidents Join Hands with Syrian “Opposition”. May 31, 2012
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31165
[27] Sajid KM, Chaouachi K, Mahmood R. Hookah smoking and cancer. Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) levels in exclusive/ever hookah smokers. Harm Reduct J 2008 24 May;5(19). Doi:10.1186/1477-7517-5-19
http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/mostviewed/alltime
[28] ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). ““Shisha 200 times worse than a cigarette” say Middle East experts””. 27 March 2007 (prepared by Martin Dockrell)(accessed 13 June, 2008) [based, among others, on an interview with Wasim Maziak and Alan Shihadeh, respectively heads of the US-“Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies” and US-American University of Beirut centre].
Hyper-hypocritical sub-heading: “Three leading experts from across the Middle East have warned that excluding “shisha bars” when England goes smokefree on July 1 could worsen the grave inequalities in health that already affect ethnic minorities”. (note: none of the experts worked or live in the UK…).
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Important note about the use of the “entrenched leaders” phrase: in a hypocritical intent to name things in a “scientific” way, the authors use “entrenched leaders” for the classical “dictators” (mainstream media). This is in fact a typical trick of British English whereby one may be a criminal or a party to a crime and state things in such a way that (s)he appears as innocent as a child (e.g.: Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, and a long list of “entrenched democrats”, etc.)…
RELATED (7 June 2013)
Christine Abdelkrim-Delanne. Pourquoi l’OMS ne publie pas son rapport sur l’Irak? [Why Does the WHO Refrain from Publishing its Report on Iraq?] Afrique-Asie, 7 juin 2013
“Face à la soumission de l’OMS au dictat de Washington, 58 scientifiques, professionnels de santé et avocats des droits de l’Homme ont écrit à l’OMS et au ministère irakien de la Santé pour leur demander la publication immédiate du rapport. Ils n’ont reçu aucune réponse.”
“On se rappellera qu’outre les conséquences de cette « sale guerre propre » les sanctions de l’Onu contre l’Irak après 1991 et jusqu’à la seconde guerre en 2003, ont tué, chiffres de la FAO, 576 000 enfants. Entre 2002 et 2005, les États-Unis ont tiré en Irak 6 milliards de balles et largué 2 000 à 4 000 tonnes de bombes sur les villes irakiennes, qu’elles ont empoisonnées avec leur composant d’uranium, de mercure, de plomb neurotoxique ou autres métaux toxiques. En 1991, la quasi-totalité des infrastructures comme les hôpitaux a été détruite, le reste le fut en 2003. Le pays se situe actuellement parmi les plus pauvres du monde en terme de santé publique alors qu’avant 1999, il figurait dans les premières places du classement OMS.”
The Middle East Peace Pipe (Scientific & Ethical Issues) 