[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7215 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7215

   To amend the reporting requirements in the Department of Defense 
 Appropriations Act, 2007 relating to military and political stability 
 in Iraq to require additional information on the number of combatants 
           and non-combatants killed, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2008

  Ms. Waters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed 
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the reporting requirements in the Department of Defense 
 Appropriations Act, 2007 relating to military and political stability 
 in Iraq to require additional information on the number of combatants 
           and non-combatants killed, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Human Costs in Iraq Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON COMBATANTS AND NON-COMBATANTS KILLED IN IRAQ.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Understanding the full spectrum of human costs of the 
        war in Iraq gives the United States a better appreciation of 
        its effects.
            (2) After years of war, there is no official mechanism that 
        attempts to count victims of violence in Iraq.
            (3) Estimates for the numbers of Iraqis killed by violence 
        since the 2003 invasion of Iraq range from 82,000 to 600,000.
            (4) General David Petraeus, in his testimony before 
        Congress in September 2007, provided data on the number of 
        Iraqis killed, but declined to explain how the data were 
        gathered.
            (5) A 2008 report by the RAND National Defense Research 
        Institute, An Argument for Document Civilian Casualties, 
        stated, ``There is a clear need for better information 
        gathering and analysis of violence against civilians in 
        Iraq.''.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Section 9010(c) of the Department of 
        Defense Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 109-289) is 
        amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) With respect to the number of Iraqi casualties, the 
        following:
                    ``(A) The recorded total number of Iraqis killed by 
                violence.
                    ``(B) Best efforts to distinguish between 
                combatants, non-combatants, and official Iraqi Security 
                Force personnel killed.
                    ``(C) Information detailing the incident involving 
                each casualty under subparagraph (A).''.
            (2) Cooperation.--In preparing that portion of the report 
        required under paragraph (3) of section 9010 of the Department 
        of Defense Appropriations Act, 2007 (as added by paragraph (1) 
        of this subsection), the Secretary of Defense shall coordinate 
        with the appropriate official of the Ministry of Defense of the 
        Government of Iraq.
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