PRESS RELEASE

CND Calls for Public Inquiry into Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths in Iraq

11 October 2006: for immediate release

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament today called for a public inquiry into the shockingly high number of deaths in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, and the level of responsibility of British government policies for those deaths.

A recent survey carried out by Iraqi physicians and overseen by epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health and supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said, "The scale of death reported in this survey is beyond our worst fears. Our knowledge and understanding of the situation over the past 3½ years has not been helped by our government's refusal to count the deaths. The disastrous consequences of our government's lies, which led us to invade Iraq in 2003, are now plain to see. Given that our government's policies in Iraq are contributing to the overwhelming death toll, it should be the subject of an immediate public inquiry."

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Notes to Editor:

1. For further information and interviews please contact Rick Wayman, CND's Press & Communications Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859

2. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org

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