-- Critical Media Literacy
in Times of War

How many civilians were reported killed?

As seen in the examples below, different news sources reported quite different numbers of deaths.

Numbers of Deaths	Source
Hundreds	"Hundreds of Afghan civilians killed as US seeks to protect its troops," Andrew Gumbel (July 22, 2002) "Research by the non-profit organization Global Exchange, counted more than 800 civilians killed. The number is likely to rise as the ongoing survey extends into more remote villages from the 11 centers inspected so far.
	"Flaws in U.S. Air War Left Hundreds of Civilians Dead" Dexter Filkins (July 21, 2001) "On-site reviews of 11 locations where airstrikes killed as many as 400 civilians suggest that American commanders have sometimes relied on mistaken information from local Afghans."
more than 3,000	"The innocent dead in a coward's war" (December 20, 2001) "Estimates suggest tact US bombs have killed at least 3,767 civilians."
	"The War on Afghanistan Rages On" (April 17, 2002) "More than 3,000 Afghans have lost their lives in the US bombing; countless others have been killed or severely wounded by unexploded cluster bombs and mines."
1,000 to 8,000	"A Nation Challenged: Casualties; Uncertain Toll in the Fog of War; Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan" Barry Bearak (Feb. 10, 2002) "Prof. Marc W. Herold, an economist at the University of New Hampshire, added up at least 3,767 casualties from Oct. 7 to Dec. 6. Carl Conetta, co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives, used a more stringent distillation of media accounts and concluded that a better guess would be 1,000 to 1,300 deaths. "
	"Afghan anger over bombing probe" (July 8, 2002) "Estimates range from 1,000 to 8,000."

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