When John Pilger corners Douglas Feith with documented civilian deaths, Feith tries to fall back on the usual Pentagon language — “mistakes,” “regrettable,” “unintended consequences.” But Pilger keeps pushing with numbers the U.S. government wants hidden. And when Feith can’t spin it anymore, the people running the interview order the cameras off.
That moment isn’t just about one official being uncomfortable.
It’s about the scale of what they were trying to avoid discussing.
Iraq: Civilian Deaths on a Massive Scale
Total civilian deaths (2003–2011): likely over 1,000,000
Different organizations give different counts, but they all agree on one thing: the number is enormous.
Iraq Body Count (UK-based): ≈ 200,000 documented civilian deaths, with the real number likely higher.
Lancet study (peer-reviewed medical journal): ≈ 600,000 excess deaths in the first three years alone.
ORB International (independent polling, not U.S.-based): over 1 million Iraqis killed as a result of the war.
Airstrikes and “precision”
U.S. airstrikes were repeatedly described as “precise,” but:
UNAMI documented thousands of civilian deaths from U.S. aerial bombardment.
Human Rights Watch reported repeated cases where entire neighborhoods were hit because of faulty intelligence or “signature strikes” — attacks based on patterns of behavior, not confirmed targets.
Fallujah
Fallujah is one of the clearest examples of what Pilger was talking about.
The U.S. used white phosphorus and depleted uranium munitions.
Doctors in Fallujah have documented massive spikes in birth defects, cancers, and miscarriages.
The city was bombed so heavily that UN officials described it as “uninhabitable” in parts.
Afghanistan: The “Forever War” Casualties
Total civilian deaths (2001–2021): likely hundreds of thousands, possibly approaching 1,000,000
Again, these are conservative numbers.
Brown University’s Costs of War Project (independent, non-governmental):
46,000+ Afghan civilians killed directly by violence (documented).
200,000+ total deaths when including indirect causes (starvation, displacement, lack of medical care).
Independent regional estimates place the real toll far higher — into the hundreds of thousands, and potentially close to one million when including rural casualties never recorded.
UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan):
Documented over 10,000 civilian casualties per year during the peak years.
Drone strikes
The U.S. repeatedly claimed drones were “surgical.” The data says otherwise.
Leaked Pentagon documents (reported by The Intercept) showed that in some operations, 90% of those killed were not the intended targets.
Signature strikes killed people based on “patterns,” not identity.
Entire families were wiped out because someone “fit a profile.”
The Kunduz Hospital Strike (2015)
One of the clearest examples of what Pilger was pressing Feith about:
A U.S. AC‑130 gunship attacked a Doctors Without Borders hospital for 30 minutes.
42 civilians killed, including medical staff and patients.
The hospital was clearly marked.
MSF called it a war crime.
Why the Cameras Go Off
Because once you put these numbers on the table, the narrative collapses.
You can’t say “collateral damage” when:
Over one million civilians died in Iraq.
Hundreds of thousands died in Afghanistan.
Hospitals were bombed.
Drone strikes killed mostly the wrong people.
Birth defects skyrocketed in areas hit by U.S. munitions.
Independent investigations contradict official statements again and again.
Pilger wasn’t asking Feith for his scripted opinions.
He was asking him to account for the documented civilian deaths…an account that Feith cannot justify.
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