# Saddam Hussein and deaths **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-hussein-and-deaths/379386 "2006-11-07T02:55:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChiMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ChiMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiMagnet)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-hussein-and-deaths/379386/1 "2006-11-07T02:55:37Z")
Since Saddam’s death penalty I’ve read on quite a few “anti-Bush” sites that George W Bush was responsible for more deaths than Saddam. Now I am not trying to turn this into a debate about the policies of Bush, I am not a Bush fan, but to make that claim seems outrageous. So my question is how many deaths can we attribute to Saddam Hussein. In additon to the Kurds and Shites, I guess you’d have to include all the Iranians too. Seems if these sites count Americans killed in the current war they must also count Iraqis killed in the Iran-Iraq war too. I have tried to get numbers off the web and it’s worthless. Either the sites combine casualties with deaths or they are so off. For instance I have seen the number of Iraqi deaths in the war with Iran from 90,000 to 1.5 million. Any idea where to get reliable numbers on DEATHS (not injured etc) caused by Saddam Hussein, this would include his wars with Iraq, and Kuwait as well. Again I put this in GQ cause I’m looking for a number or reasonable number based on some sort of logic not just random guess Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-hussein-and-deaths/379386/2 "2006-11-07T04:17:01Z")
An article, [Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey, by Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, Les Roberts](http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/lancet111006.pdf) puts the total number of Iraqi deaths at 655,000 with a large error value. This would be greater than most estimates of deaths caused by Saddam. The study has been hotly and widely disputed. It was done in accordance with procedures used in other studies of other conflicts, which have mostly been accepted, however. This seems to leave the matter up in the air if you want “the truth.” ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-hussein-and-deaths/379386/3 "2006-11-07T05:01:50Z")
I had the same question when I saw people here quoting 300-400k as Saddam’s death toll. a number that I thought was a bit low. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much luck. R.J. Rummel, a scholar who studies mass murder (mentioned in [this Cecil column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021018.html)), says in his [blog](http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2006/09/murderedkilled-by-saddam-hussein.html): > [@](#): > > I’ve not done the kind of systematic collection of democide statistics for Saddam Hussein’s rule that I did for all countries from 1900-1987, although I have paid attention to the statistics that have been mentioned with regard to its human cost. There are two parts to this–the number of deaths he is responsible for in the bloody war he launched against Iran in 1980 and that lasted until 1988, and the deaths caused by his invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990. The consensus seems to be that 1,000,000 people overall were killed. > > Then there is the question of how many of his own people–Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, opponents, dissidents, and others he murdered (democide). The figures vary widely, but I believe a conservative estimate would also be 1,000,000.