Iraq's Shocking Human Toll: About 1 Million Killed, 4.5 Million Displaced, 1-2 Million Widows, 5 Million Orphans

Taken from a liberal independent media outlet, www.Alternet.org (not anti-civ by any means, but the information is useful):

"[T]he United Nations estimates that there are about 4.5 million displaced Iraqis -- more than half of them refugees -- or about one in every six citizens."

"According to Unicef, many provinces report that less than 40 percent of households have access to clean water."

"So we have, at present, between 800,000 and 1.3 million 'excess deaths' as we approach the six-year anniversary of this war."

"This gruesome figure makes sense when reading of claims by Iraqi officials that there are 1-2 million war widows and 5 million orphans. This constitutes direct empirical evidence of total excess mortality and indirect, though confirming, evidence of the displaced and the bereaved and of general insecurity. The overall figures are stunning: 4.5 million displaced, 1-2 million widows, 5 million orphans, about 1 million dead -- in one way or another, affecting nearly one in two Iraqis."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: www.alternet.org