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The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars

| Sep. 16, 2011

On September 15, John Tirman spoke at the Harvard Kennedy School about his new book The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars.Tirman discussed different reasons for "American indifference" to civilian casualties in foreign wars, and drew parallels between the public reaction to the wars in Vietnam, Korea, and Iraq. On the Iraq war specifically, he addressed the American response - media, goverment and public - to different surveys measuring the number of Iraqi civilian casualties. The survey results received little media coverage and did little to change wildly incorrect public perceptions of the number of Iraqi casualties.Podcasts of Tirman's lecture and the following Q&A are included below.

Listen to the discussion (mp3)

Listen to the Q&A (mp3)

Tirman is  Executive Director and a Principal Research Scientist at MIT's Center for International Studies. The event was co-sponsored by the Middle East Initiative and the Outreach Center at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Janka, Noelle. “The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars.” News, , September 16, 2011.

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