'Ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide'

The recent article by Blum et al .1 on ethnic cleansing and genocide is based in part on data that published studies have shown to be inaccurate, and contains at least one misleading statement. When these problems are corrected, their argument fails.The inaccurate data are that 200 000 were killed in the 1992–1995 Bosnian war (Abstract, p. 2, p. 3, fig. 1, fig. 2). The source for this number (per note 26) is www.genocidewatch.org, a web site maintained by author Stanton. That site contains a chart on ‘Genocides, Politicides, and Other Mass Murder Since 1945, With Stages in 2006,’ which has the 200 000 figure, but does not provide a source for it.The 200 000 figure originated in 1992 with Bosnian President Izetbegovic, leader of one of the parties to the conflict involved, who had an obvious interest in exaggerating the numbers killed,2 and was accepted, almost without question, by major western media and government figures. Former Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke has inflated the figure to 300 000 …