User:Jalapenos do exist/sandbox/ratio
The civilian casualty ratio or civilian death ratio is a metric used in relation to armed conflicts, which measures the number of civilian casualties in proportion to the total number of people killed, either by a particular belligerent or in the conflict as a whole.
A low ratio of civilian deaths is generally perceived as desirable. Some commentators regard a low ratio as indicative of a belligerent's morality and adherence to the laws of armed conflict. Others argue that a force fighting terrorism might create a high ratio of civilian deaths despite efforts to the contrary, because of terrorists' tendency to hide among civilians. Calculation of the ratio may be complicated by uncertainty regarding the total number of people killed, the proper classification of people as civilians or combatants, or both.
According to Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School, writing in 2008, the lowest civilian to combatant casualty ratio in history in the setting of combating terrorism was 1:30, achieved by Israel in its airstrikes on terrorists in the Gaza Strip in 2008.[1]
Overview
According to a 2001 study by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the civilian to soldier death ratio in wars fought since the mid-20th century has been 10:1.[2]
Mary Kaldor writes that the civilian to combatant casualty ratio was 8:1 in wars in the 1990s, constituting a reversal of the ratio at the turn of the 20th Century, which stood at 1:8.[3]
Coalition forces in the Iraq War
According to a 2010 assessment by John Sloboda of Iraq Body Count, a United Kingdom based organization, American and coalition forces had killed at least 22,668 combatants as well as 13,807 civilians in the Iraq War, indicating an essential civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 1:2.[4]
NATO in the Balkans
According to military historian and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, four civilians died for every Serbian soldier killed by NATO, a civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 4:1.[5]
US drone strikes in Pakistan
According to a report by Daniel L. Byman of the Brookings Institution, United States drone strikes in Pakistan kill "10 or so civilians" for every militant killed, a civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 10:1. Byman argues that this ratio constitutes a humanitarian tragedy and creates dangerous political problems, including damage to the legitimacy of the Pakistani government and alienation of the Pakistani populace from America.[6]
Israel in the Israel-Gaza conflict
In 2002, the ratio of civilian deaths in Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip was 1:1. By 2008, the Israel Defense Forces succeeded in lowering the ratio to 1:30.[4]
In the Gaza War, the IDF's ratio was 1:3 based on Israel's figures of 1,166 people killed including 709 combatants. According to the figures of B'Tselem, (1390 total people killed, 349 combatants, 248 Hamas policemen and 32 unknowns), the ratio was 3:2. Journalist Yaakov Katz of The Jerusalem Post attributes the low ratio to Israel’s investment in special weapons systems, including small smart bombs that minimize collateral damage, and an upscaled Israeli effort to warn civilians to flee areas and to divert missiles at the last moment if civilians entered a planned strike zone.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Alan Dershowitz, Targeted Killing Is Working, So Why Is The Press Not Reporting It?,The Huffington Post 03-01-2008
- ^ A Grim Portrait of Civilian Deaths in Iraq, New York Times 22-10-2010
- ^ Mary Kaldor, New and old wars, Stanford University Press 1998, p. 9
- ^ a b c Yaakov Katz, Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics, Jerusalem Post 29-10-2010
- ^ UN report a victory for terror, Boston Globe 24-09-2009
- ^ Do Targeted Killings Work?, Brookings 14-07-2009