As the UK slowly recovers and considers the reasons for the London attacks, new evidence emerged yesterday of the horror that has been visited on Iraq by the invasion, occupation, and resulting insurgency. A report published by the Iraq Body Count provides a detailed analysis of civilian casualties caused by the US/UK invasion of Iraq. “A Dossier on Civilian Casualties in Iraq, 2003-2005” (pdf format) is the first detailed account of all reported non-combatant deaths or injuries during the first two years of the continuing conflict. The report, published by Iraq Body Count in association with Oxford Research Group, claims to be based on a comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 media reports published between March 2003 and March 2005.

Some of their main findings:

– 24,865 civilians were reported killed in the first two

years of the war

– Women and children accounted for almost 20% of all

civilian deaths

– US-led forces killed 37% of civilian

victims

– Post-invasion criminal violence accounted for

36% of all deaths

– Anti-occupation forces/insurgents killed 9% of

civilian victims

– Post-invasion, the number of civilians killed was

almost twice as high in year two (11,351) as in year one (6,215

Speaking at the launch of the report in London yesterday, Professor John Sloboda, FBA, one of the reports authors said:

“The ever-mounting Iraqi death toll is the forgotten cost of the decision to go to war in Iraq. On average, 34 ordinary Iraqis have met violent deaths every day since the invasion of March 2003. ….It remains a matter of the gravest concern that, nearly two and half years on, neither the US nor the UK governments have begun to systematically measure the impact of their actions in terms of human lives destroyed.”