FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 10, 2001
10:00 AM
CONTACT: Marc Herold
Marc Herold (603) 862-3375
Andrea Buffa (510) 839-8911
3,500 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan by U.S. Bombs
University of New Hampshire Economics Professor Releases Study of Civilian
Casualties in Afghanistan Monday Morning on Democracy Now! Radio/TV Show
DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE - December 10 - More than 3,500 civilians have been
killed in Afghanistan by U.S. bombs, according to a study to be released
December 10 by Marc W. Herold, Professor of Economics, International
Relations, and Women's Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Professor
Herold will announce his findings on Monday, December 10 in a discussion
with
award-winning journalist, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! in Exile's War and
Peace Report (http://www.democracynow.org).
Professor Herold has been gathering data on civilian casualties since
October
7 by culling information from news agencies, major newspapers, and
first-hand
accounts. "I decided to do the study because I suspected that the modern
weaponrywas not what it was advertised to be. I was concerned that there
would be significant civilian casualties caused by the bombing, and I was
able to find some mention of casualties in the foreign press but almost
nothing in the U.S. press," said Herold.
Herold's data will be available at http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/.
For each day since October 7, when the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began, he
lists the number of casualties, location, type of weapon used, and source(s)
of information. Following are several examples from his daily calculations:
* On October 11, two U.S. jets bombed the mountain village of Karam,
comprised of 60 mud houses, during dinner and evening prayer time, killing
100-160 people. Sources: DAWN, (English language Pakistani daily newspaper),
the Guardian of London, the Independent, International Herald Tribune, the
Scotsman, the Observer, and the BBC News.
* On October 13, in the early morning, an F-18 dropped 2,000 lb. JDAM
bombs
on the Qila Meer Abas neighborhood, 2 kms. South of the Kabul airport,
killing four people. Sources: Afghan Islamic Press, Los Angeles Times,
Frontier Post, Pakistan Observer, the Guardian of London, and the BBC News.
* On October 31, in a pre-dawn raid, an F-18 dropped a 2,000 lb. JDAM bomb
on a Red Crescent clinic, killing 15 - 25 people. Sources: DAWN, the Times
of
London, the Independent, the Guardian, Reuters, Associated Press, and Agence
France Presse.
Professor Herold has sought whenever possible to cross-corroborate accounts
of civilian casualties. He relied upon British, Canadian, and Australian
newspapers; Indian newspapers, especially The Times of India; three
Pakistani
daily newspapers; the Singapore News; Afghan Islamic Press; Agence France
Press; Pakistan News Service; Reuters; BBC News Online; Al Jazeera; and a
variety of other reputable sources, including the United Nations and other
relief agencies.
The Pentagon has repeatedly denied reports of civilian casualties in
Afghanistan, and most U.S. media outlets have qualified their reports of
casualties with the statement "could not be independently confirmed." But
Professor Herold has been able to confirm the number of casualties and has
found that the number is climbing toward 4,000. "People have to know that
there is a human cost to war, and that this is a war with thousands of
casualties," said Herold. "These were poor people to begin with, and, on top
of that, they had absolutely nothing to do with the events of September 11."
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