* 24,865 civilians were reported killed in the first two years.
    * Women and children accounted for almost 20% of all civilian deaths.
    * Baghdad alone recorded almost half of all deaths.

When did they die?

    * 30% of civilian deaths occurred during the invasion phase before 1 May 2003.
    * Post-invasion, the number of civilians killed was almost twice as high in year two (11,351) as in year one (6,215).

Who did the killing?

    * US-led forces killed 37% of civilian victims.
    * Anti-occupation forces/insurgents killed 9% of civilian victims.
    * Post-invasion criminal violence accounted for 36% of all deaths.
    * Killings by anti-occupation forces, crime and unknown agents have shown a steady rise over the entire period.

What was the most lethal weaponry?

    * Over half (53%) of all civilian deaths involved explosive devices.
    * Air strikes caused most (64%) of the explosives deaths.
    * Children were disproportionately affected by all explosive devices but most severely by air strikes and unexploded ordnance (including cluster bomblets).

How many were injured?

    * At least 42,500 civilians were reported wounded.
    * The invasion phase caused 41% of all reported injuries.
    * Explosive weaponry caused a higher ratio of injuries to deaths than small arms.
    * The highest wounded-to-death ratio incidents occurred during the invasion phase.

Who provided the information?

    * Mortuary officials and medics were the most frequently cited witnesses.
    * Three press agencies provided over one third of the reports used.
    * Iraqi journalists are increasingly central to the reporting work.

Speaking today at the launch of the report in London, Professor John Sloboda, FBA, one of the report's 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. Our data show that no sector of Iraqi society has escaped. We sincerely hope that this research will help to inform decision-makers around the world about the real needs of the Iraqi people as they struggle to rebuild their country. 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.

Nobody has ever had any fear that Saddam Hussein would conquer the world.  He was swatted down when he tried to take Kuwait in 1990--that was enough to permanently disable his military machine and allow the U.N. to go in and verify that he didn't have any WMDs.  Which, as the inspectors repeatedly pointed out, he did not.  The inspectors' only complaint was that he would (or could) not provide them all the paperwork they wanted to be 100% certain of it.

There wouldn't have been a fucking war if Bush and Blair hadn't started it.  Sheesh.

Don't use that ridiculous argument that Saddam had to be stopped from killing his own people because that was NOT the sales pitch for the war.

Moreover, Iraq is in the hands of Al Quaeda now.  I've written this numerous times on MyDD:

The administration thought they could take and hold Iraq.  They were right about the first part, dead wrong about the 2nd.  Military strategy dictates that when your base/armaments is in risk of falling into enemy hands you must scuttle them.  The NeoCons are scuttling Iraq.  They cannot hold it so they sought to sow the seeds of civil war and break up the country.

The first elections were the catalyst for civil war.  You know, that purple finger bs.  

Now, the Iraqi Constitution effectively creates 3 nation-states divided by religo-ethnic lines.  

In a year or two from now, there won't even be an Iraq and Al Quaeda's network will have a new place (or 3 new places) to call home...

yeah, job done.

I really do want to know how many Iraqi soldiers died.  I think a lot of them were just victims of Saddam.