2003 invasion of Iraq: Difference between revisions

2003 Invasion of Iraq
	File:US Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom.jpg; The U.S. Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Infantry Division prepare to enter Iraq.
Date	March 20, 2003–May 1, 2003
Location	Iraq
Result	Saddam Hussein and Baath Party toppled; occupation of Iraq; emergence of insurgency
Belligerents
United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and others	Iraq
Commanders and leaders
Tommy Franks	Saddam Hussein
Strength
	300.000+

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 11:01, 24 January 2006

This article covers invasion specifics. For general information see: Iraq War, Post-invasion Iraq.

The 2003 Invasion of Iraq began on March 20, consisting primarily of United States and United Kingdom forces; 98% of the forces came from these two countries, although numerous other nations also participated. The 2003 Iraq invasion marked the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the Iraq War. Historically, it is properly referred to as the Third Persian Gulf War, recognizing the 8 year war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s. Iraq's elite Republican Guard units were defeated April 2, and Baghdad fell on April 9th, 2003. On May 1, 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations, terminating the Ba'ath Party's rule and removing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from office. Coalition forces ultimately captured Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003. A transitional period began thereafter, plagued by violence caused from a mostly Sunni Muslim insurgency, and by forces of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Political and diplomatic aspects

On October 11, 2002, the United States Congress passed the "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002", giving U.S. President George W. Bush the authority to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein did not give up his Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). The vote was 77-to-23 in the Senate and 296-to-133 in the House.[17]. On November 9, 2002, at the urging of the United States government, the UN Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, offering Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out in several previous resolutions (Resolutions 660, 661, 678, 686, 687, 688, 707, 715, 986, and 1284), notably to provide "an accurate full, final, and complete disclosure, as required by Resolution 687 (1991), of all aspects of its programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles". Resolution 1441 threatened "serious consequences" if these are not met and reasserted demands that UN weapons inspectors that were to report back to the UN Security Council after their inspection should have "immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted access" to sites of their choosing, in order to ascertain compliance. Significantly, the Resolution stated that the UN Security Council shall "remain seized of the matter" (United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441).

In his March 17, 2003, address to the nation, U.S. President George W. Bush demanded that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline [18]. This demand was reportedly rejected [19]. Iraq maintained that it had disarmed as required. The UN weapons inspectors UNMOVIC headed by Hans Blix, who were sent by the UN Security Council pursuant to Resolution 1441, requested more time to complete their report on whether Iraq had complied with its obligation to disarm (UN Security Council Resolution 1441; UNMOVIC). The International Atomic Energy AgencyIAEA reported a level of compliance by Iraq with the disarmament requirements (UN Security Council Resolution 1441; IAEA)

Since the U.S.-led invasion began without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, most legal authorities regard it as a violation of the UN Charter. The Charter prohibits member states of the UN from attacking other UN member states, except in actual self-defense or if the UN Security Council determines "the existence of threats to the peace" in which case the Council may "take military and nonmilitary action to keep the peace. pursuant to UN Security Council authorization" (Art. 42 of Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter). United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in September 2004, "From our point of view and the UN Charter point of view, it was illegal." [20] Proponents of the war claim that the invasion had implicit approval of the Security Council and was therefore not in violation of the UN Charter. U.S. critics of the UN claim that the UN was not properly equipped to handle the Iraq crisis, and that therefore invading Iraq without explicit Security Council approval was necessary.

Despite the discovery of some potential components of WMD manufacturing, no actual weapons of mass destruction were found.

Military aspects

United States military operations were conducted under the codename Operation Iraqi Freedom [21]. The United Kingdom military operation was named Operation Telic, and Australia's Operation Falconer. Approximately 100,000 United States soldiers and 26,000 British soldiers, and smaller forces from other nations, collectively called the "Coalition of the Willing," entered Iraq primarily through a staging area in Kuwait. (The numbers when naval, logistics, intelligence, and air force personnel are included were 214,000 Americans, 45,000 British, 2,000 Australians and 2,400 Polish.) Plans for opening a second front in the north were abandoned when Turkey officially refused the use of its territory for such purposes. Forces also supported Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 50,000. Despite the refusal of Turkey, the United States conducted parachute operations in the north and dropped the 173rd Airborne Brigade, thereby removing the necessity of any approval from Turkey.

The number of Iraqi military personnel prior to the war was uncertain, but was believed to have been poorly-equipped[22][23][24]. The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the armed forces to number 389,000 (army 350,000, navy 2,000, air force 20,000 and air defence 17,000), the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam 44,000, and reserves 650,000 [25]. Other estimates number the army and Republican Guard between 280,000 to 350,000 and 50,000 to 80,000, respectively [26], and the paramilitary between 20,000 and 40,000 [27]. There were an estimated thirteen infantry divisions, ten mechanized and armored divisions, as well as some special forces units. The Iraqi Air Force and Navy played a negligible role in the conflict.

File:1101030331 400.jpg

TIME magazine cover March 31, 2003

Prelude

Since the end of the Gulf War of 1991, Iraq's relations with the UN, the US, and the UK remained poor. In the absence of a Security Council consensus that Iraq had fully complied with the terms of the Persian Gulf War ceasefire, both the UN and the US enforced numerous economic sanctions against Iraq throughout the Clinton administration, and the U.S. and the U.K. patrolled Iraqi airspace to enforce Iraqi no-fly zones that they had declared. The United States Congress also passed the "Iraq Liberation Act" in October 1998, which provided $97 million for Iraqi "democratic opposition organizations" in order to "establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq." [28] This contrasted with the terms set out in U.N. Resolution 687 [29], all of which related to weapons and weapons programs, not to what regime was in place. Weapons inspectors had also been used to gather information on Iraq's WMD program. The information was used in targeting decisions during Operation Desert Fox [30], [31]. At the same time Tony Blair's Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, could not guarantee that an invasion in the circumstances would not be challenged on legal grounds [32].

The United States Republican Party's campaign platform in the U.S. presidential election, 2000 called for "full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act and removal of Saddam Hussein with a focus on rebuilding a coalition, tougher sanctions, reinstating inspections, and support for the pro-democracy, opposition exile group, Iraqi National Congress then headed by Ahmed Chalabi. [33] In September 2000, in the Rebuilding America's Defenses (pg. 17) report prepared by many leading neo-cons who later were to serve in the Bush Administration, Project for the New American Century, a think tank, suggested that the United States shift to more ground-based air forces to help contain the forces of Saddam Hussein so that "the demand for carrier presence in the region can be relaxed." Upon the election of George W. Bush as president, many advocates of such a policy (including some of those who wrote the 2000 report) were included in the new administration's foreign policy circle. According to former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, as widely reported by the mainstream press, an attack was planned since the inauguration, and the first security council meeting discussed plans on invasion of the country. O'Neill later clarified that these discussions were part of a continuation of foreign policy first put into place by the Clinton Administration. [34]

Notes from aides who were with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center one year later, on the day of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, reflect that he wanted, "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit [Saddam Hussein] at same time. Not only [Osama bin Laden]." The notes also quote him as saying, "Go massive," and "Sweep it all up. Things related and not."[35] Shortly thereafter, the George W. Bush administration announced a War on Terrorism, accompanied by the doctrine of 'pre-emptive' military action dubbed the Bush doctrine. A preemptive war requires that the declared purpose be to respond to an imminent threat of war by the other power, whereas wars instituted against a hypothetical future threat are more properly called preventive war and is generally considered a war of aggression. From the 90s, U.S. officials have constantly voiced concerns about ties between the government of Saddam Hussein and terrorist activities, notably in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the other hand, the September 11 commission in June, 2004 released a staff report that said it found 'no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States.'"

In 2002 the Iraq disarmament crisis arose primarily as a diplomatic situation. In October 2002, with the "Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq" (Adopted 296-133 by the House of Representatives and 77-23 by the Senate), the United States Congress granted President Bush the authority to "use any means necessary" against Iraq, based on repeated Bush Administration statements to Congress and the public that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Joint Resolution was worded so as to encourage, but not require, UN Security Council approval for military action, although as a matter of international law the US required explicit Security Council approval for an invasion unless an attack by Iraq had been imminent — the US administration argued that there was an "urgent," "growing," and "immediate" threat. [36] The joint resolution allowed the President of the United States to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq."

In November 2002, United Nations actions regarding Iraq culminated in the unanimous passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1441 and the resumption of weapons inspections. However, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan later stated that the subsequent invasion was a violation of the UN Charter. Force was not authorized by resolution 1441 itself, as the language of the resolution mentioned "serious consequences," which is generally not understood by Security Council members to include the use of force to overthrow the government; however the threat of force, as cultivated by the Bush administration, was prominent at the time of the vote. Both the U.S. ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, and the UK ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, in promoting Resolution 1441 on 8 November, 2002, had given assurances that it provided no "automaticity," no "hidden triggers," no step to invasion without consultation of the Security Council [37]. Such consultation was forestalled by the US and UK's abandonment of the Security Council procedure and their invasion of Iraq. Richard Perle, a senior member of the administration's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, argued in November 2003, that the invasion was against international law, but still justified [38], [39]. There is still much disagreement among international lawyers on whether prior resolutions, relating to the 1991 war and later inspections, permitted the invasion.

The United States also began preparations for an invasion of Iraq, with a host of diplomatic, public relations, and military preparations.

Rationale

Prior to George W. Bush being elected president, several members of the Bush team, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz wrote urging an invasion of Iraq as part of a larger Middle East policy. One document, entitled "Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century" [40], was written in September 2000, stating 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'

In the wake of the September 11 attacks and the seeming relative success of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Bush administration felt that it had sufficient military justification and public support in the United States for further operations against perceived threats in the Middle East. The relations between some coalition members and Iraq had never improved since 1991, and the nations remained in a state of low-level conflict marked by American and British air-strikes, sanctions, and threats against Iraq. Iraqi radar had also locked onto and anti-aircraft guns and missiles were fired upon coalition airplanes enforcing the northern and southern no-fly zones, which had been implemented after the Gulf War in 1991.

Throughout 2002, the U.S. administration made it clear that removing Saddam Hussein from power was a major goal, although it offered to accept major changes in Iraqi military and foreign policy in lieu of this. Specifically, the stated justification for the invasion included Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction, links with terrorist organizations and human rights violations in Iraq under the Saddam Hussein government, issues that are detailed below.

To that end, the stated goals of the invasion, according to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, were:

Self-defense
- find and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, weapons programs, and terrorists
- collect intelligence on networks of weapons of mass destruction and terrorists
Humanitarian
- end sanctions and to deliver humanitarian support (According to Madeline Albright, half a million Iraqi children had died because of sanctions.)
United Nations Security Council Resolution
- Resolution 1205, made in 1999.
Regime Change
- end the Saddam Hussein government
- help Iraq's transition to democratic self-rule
Other
- secure Iraq's oil fields and other resources

Many staff and supporters within the Bush administration had other, more ambitious goals for the war as well. Many claimed that the war could act as a catalyst for democracy and peace in the Middle East, and that once Iraq became democratic and prosperous other nations would quickly follow suit due to this demonstration effect, and thus the social environment that allowed terrorism to flourish would be eliminated. However, for diplomatic, bureaucratic reasons these goals were played down in favor of justifications that Iraq represented a specific threat to the United States and to international law. Little evidence was presented actually linking the government of Iraq to al-Qaeda (see below).

Opponents of the Iraq war disagreed with many of the arguments presented by the administration, attacking them variously as being untrue, inadequate to justify a preemptive war, or likely to have results different from the administration's intentions. Further, they asserted various alternate reasons for the invasion. Different groups asserted that the war was fought primarily for:

Energy economics
- to gain control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintain the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market (since 2000, Iraq had used the Euro as its oil export currency)
- to ensure the US had military control over the region's hydrocarbon reserves as a lever to control other countries that depend on it
- to assure that the revenue from Iraqi oil would go primarily to American interests
- to lower the price of oil for American consumers
Defense and construction special interests
- to channel money to defense and construction interests
Public perception
- to maintain the wartime popularity that the President enjoyed due to his response to the 11 September attacks, and thus distract attention from other domestic political issues on which he was politically vulnerable (in contrast to his father whose wartime popularity quickly faded when the electorate began to focus on the economy)
Ideological, emotional reasons
- in pursuance of the PNAC's stated strategic goal of "unquestionable [American] geopolitical preeminence"
- a chance for George W. Bush to get revenge against Saddam Hussein for attempting to have his father, President George H. W. Bush, assassinated during a visit to Kuwait in 1993.
- to satisfy President George H.W. Bush, Cheney, and other members of the first Bush administration who had not removed Hussein during the first Gulf War and wanted an opportunity to remove Hussein from power, even though removing Hussein from power was not an objective of the first war.

For example, U.S. war planners were interested in U.S. military domination of the oil-rich Gulf region, the world's top supply of this most important resource, according to U.S. General Jay Garner, who was in charge of planning and administering post-war reconstruction in Iraq, explaining that the U.S. occupation of Iraq was comparable to the Phillipine model: "Look back on the Philippines around the turn of the 20th century: they were a coaling station for the navy, and that allowed us to keep a great presence in the Pacific. That's what Iraq is for the next few decades: our coaling station that gives us great presence in the Middle East" (Interview on National Journal 2004, archived at: www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=5819&fcategory_desc=Under Reported, and at www.alternet.org/story/17923/; See alsoPhilippine-American War). "One of the most important things we can do right now is start getting basing rights with (the Iraqi authorities)", "I hope they're there a long time....And I think we'll have basing rights in the north and basing rights in the south ... we'd want to keep at least a brigade", Garner added (Interview on National Journal 2004, archived at: www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=5819&fcategory_desc=Under Reported).

Weapons of mass destruction

File:IraqMobileProductionFacilities.jpg

Computer-generated image of an alleged mobile production facility for biological weapons, presented by Colin Powell at the UN Security Council. Absence of more substantial proof undermined the credibility of the speech on the international scene. Russian experts questioned the likelihood of such mobile facilities, which are extremely dangerous and difficult to manage.

Ultimately, the Iraq war was presented as largely being a case of overthrowing a regime which did not fully cooperate with international inspectors' task of passively observing the destruction of weapons identified by Iraq, fulling terms of the treaty ending the first Gulf War. Administration officials, especially with the United States Department of State led by a traditional dove (with outstanding military background) Colin Powell agressively made the case for war as universally acceptable to as many nations as possible. Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense stated in an interview on 28 May 2003 in Vanity Fair that 'For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction'. [41] The United States and its European allies had provided the regime of Saddam Hussein with its chemical and biological weapons (Sunday Herald (Scotland) September 8, 2002 ( [42] ; Washington Post December 30, 2002; Newsday November 27, 1996) The reports of the US Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which oversees American export policy, reveal that the U.S., under the successive administrations of Reagan and Bush Sr, sold materials including anthrax, VX nerve gas, West Nile fever germs and botulism to Iraq right up until March 1992 (Sunday Herald (Scotland) September 8, 2002 ( [43] ; Sunday Herald (Scotland) 13 June 2004, [44] ). The American Type Culture Collection, a nonprofit Rockville, Md, made 70 government-approved shipments of anthrax and other disease-causing pathogens to Iraq between 1985 and 1989, according to congressional records (Newsday November 27, 1996). The chairman of the Senate committee, Don Riegle, said: “The executive branch of our government approved 771 different export licences for sale of dual-use technology to Iraq. I think it’s a devastating record” (Sunday Herald (Scotland) 13 June 2004, [45] ). Between 1993 and 1999, the United Nations Security Council tasked UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission), composed of several international teams of weapons inspectors headed by Rolf Ekéus and Richard Butler, with finding and destroying Iraq's weapons of mass destruction UNSCOM.

Before the attack, the head UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Hans Blix, clearly stated that his teams had been unable to find any evidence of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons in Iraq. However, the discovery of illegal missiles discovered by United Nations weapons inspectors which were ultimately deemed in violation of United Nations Resolution 687 (1991), called the Al-Samoud IIs, raised serious questions: these rockets could possibly narrowly pass the allowed range of 150 km (93 miles), though without carrying any load. Ultimately though, they were determined to be in violation of the terms to which Saddam Hussein agreed in order to cease the hostilities of the Persian Gulf War and thus, deemed prohibited and ordered destroyed by the United Nations Security Council. Retrospectively, some time after the attack, Hans Blix expressed doubts that the nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons had existed [46], [47], but never speculated whether the discovery of the illegal Al-Samoud IIs could be a trigger for justifying war or not. Former top American weapons inspector to Iraq, Scott Ritter, a longtime advocate of more thorough weapons inspections previously and considered an anti-Iraq hardliner, said that he was now absolutely convinced Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction [48] which contradicts earlier 1998 statements by Scott Ritter regarding this issue.

On August 26 1998, approximately two months prior to United Nations inspectors' ejection from Iraq, Scott Ritter resigned from his position rather than participate in what he called the "illusion of arms control." In his resignation letter to Ambassador Butler, [49] Ritter wrote: "The Special Commission was created for the purpose of disarming Iraq. As part of the Special Commission team, I have worked to achieve a simple end: the removal, destruction or rendering harmless of Iraq's proscribed weapons. The sad truth is that Iraq today is not disarmed ... UNSCOM has good reason to believe that there are significant numbers of proscribed weapons and related components and the means to manufacture such weapons unaccounted for in Iraq today ... Iraq has lied to the Special Commission and the world since day one concerning the true scope and nature of its proscribed programs and weapons systems. This lie has been perpetuated over the years through systematic acts of concealment. It was for the purpose of uncovering Iraq's mechanism of concealment, and in doing so gaining access to hidden weapons components and weapons programs, that you created a dedicated capability to investigate Iraq's concealment activities, which I have had the privilege to head."

Furthermore, on September 7 1998, approximately one month prior to United Nations weapons inspectors' ejection from Iraq, in testimony to the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee, [50] Scott Ritter was asked by John McCain (R, AZ) whether UNSCOM had intelligence suggesting that Iraq had assembled the components for three nuclear weapons and all that it lacked was the fissile material. Ritter replied: "The Special Commission has intelligence information, which suggests that components necessary for three nuclear weapons exists, lacking the fissile material. Yes, sir." As Paul Leventhal, head of the Nuclear Control Institute remarked in response to Ritter's statement,[51] "Iraq could be only days or weeks away from having nuclear weapons if it acquires the needed plutonium or bomb-grade uranium on the black market or by other means." Ritter also said that, absent UNSCOM, Iraq could reconstruct its chemical and biological weapons programs in six months, as well as its missile program. He said that Iraq had a plan for achieving a missile breakout within six months of receiving the signal from Saddam Hussein.

It is unclear what Scott Ritter believes happened to that capability he said Saddam Hussein had in 1998 as compared to that capability he believes Saddam Hussein had after the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, considering United Nations weapons inspectors were absent from Iraq from 1998 to 2002.

No weapons of mass destruction were found by the Iraq Survey Group, headed by inspector David Kay. Kay, who resigned as the Bush administration's top weapons inspector in Iraq, said U.S. intelligence services owed President Bush an explanation for having concluded that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. [52] However, the team claims to have found evidence of low-level WMD programs — a claim hotly disputed by many, with the Biosecurity Journal referring to the Biological Warfare (BW) claims as a "worst case analysis" [53].

The Iraq Survey Group under Bush-appointed inspector David Kay reported in the 'Interim Progress Report' on 2003 October 3 the following key points: "We have not yet found stocks of weapons," difficulty in explaining why, clandestine laboratories suitable for "preserving BW expertise" which contained equipment subject to UN monitoring, a prison laboratory complex which Kay describes as "possibly used in human testing of BW agents," strains of bacteria kept in one scientist's home (including a vial of live C. botulinum Okra B), twelve-year-old documents and small parts concerning uranium enrichment found in a scientist's home [54], partially declared UAVs, capability to produce a type of fuel useful for Scud missiles, a scientist who had drawn plans for how to make longer-range missiles [55], and attempts to acquire missile technology from North Korea, and destroyed documents of unknown significance. [56]. The report categorized most biological agents as "BW-applicable" or "BW-capable"; the report mentions nothing that was being used in such a context. Chemical weapons are referred to in a similar fashion. The nuclear program, according to the report, had not done any work since 1991, but had attempted to retain scientists and documentation from it in case sanctions were ever dropped.

Kay told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his oral report the following: "Based on the intelligence that existed, I think it was reasonable to reach the conclusion that Iraq posed an imminent threat. Now that you know reality on the ground as opposed to what you estimated before, you may reach a different conclusion — although I must say I actually think what we learned during the inspection made Iraq a more dangerous place, potentially, than, in fact, we thought it was even before the war." [57]

Dr. Kay's team concluded that Iraq had the production capacity and know-how to produce a great deal more chemical and biological weaponry when international economic sanctions were lifted, a policy change which was actively being sought by France, Germany and Russia. Kay also believes that a large but undetermined amount of the former Iraqi government's WMD program had been moved to Syria shortly before the 2003 invasion. [58]

Hundreds of tons of high explosive dual-use materials that could be used to detonate fissile material to start the chain reaction in a nuclear weapon were sealed by the IAEA in January 2003. In March 2003, UN Inspectors never checked the facility, but only the locked bunker doors. The Pentagon released satellite photographs on March 17, 2003 of large tractor trailers at the sealed site, appearing to remove materials, just prior the invasion. Ten days after U.S. forces first reached the site and after the US 101st Airborne Division secured the surrounding area, April 13, 2003, Major Austin Pearson's 25 memmber Task Force Bullet from the US 3rd Infantry Division started to remove 250 Tons of munitions. On April 18, 2003, embedded journalists from Minnesota US based television crew videotaped IAEA sealed barrels in Al-Qaqaa. Much material was eventually detonated or used to detonate other discovered munitions. [59] The Associated Press published a report available through Fox News on October 25, 2005 from experts indicating just 5 pounds of two types of these plastic explosives packs enough power to destroy a dozen airliners. [60]

The United Nations announced a report on March 2, 2004 from the weapons inspection teams stating that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction of any significance after 1994. [61]

In a May 26, 2004 US nationally syndicated talk show, Neil Boortz, engaged a US national audience with discussions of a Sarin gas warhead used against US soldiers in an IED. [[62]] The Boston Daily News published an article concerning this (poorly implemented) WMD attack against US troops by insurgents. [63] This failed chemical weapons attack was also noted by The Associated Press and reported by Fox News later that year. [64]

In a June 2004 interview with Time Magazine, former president Bill Clinton said, "I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over." He added that he supported the invasion because "there was a lot of stuff unaccounted for." [65]

In a July 2, 2004 article published by The Associated Press and reported by Fox News that more WMD not destroyed by the Iraqi Regime were discovered in South Central Iraq by Polish Allies. Sarin Gas warheads dating back to the last Iran-Iraq war were trying to be purchased by terrorists for $5000 a warhead. The Polish troops purchased items on June 23, 2004. The U.S. military acknowledged that "while two of the rockets tested positive for sarin, traces of the agent were so small and deteriorated as to be virtually harmless" and that "These rounds were determined to have limited to no impact if used by insurgents against coalition forces" [66] In May 2004, a similar sarin gas shell was unsuccessfully used in an IED against US forces in Iraq. [67]

On August 2, 2004 President Bush stated "Knowing what I know today we still would have gone on into Iraq. He had the capability of making weapons of mass destruction. He had terrorists ties … the decision I made is the right decision. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power."[68]

On October 6, 2004 Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, appearing before the United States Senate Armed Services Committee announced that the group found no evidence that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had produced any weapons of mass destruction since 1991, when UN sanctions were imposed and furthermore, Iraq had been incapable of doing so. The report noted that Saddam had made it his primary goal to have sanctions lifted by whatever means necessary and that whether or not Saddam Hussein was, indeed, "contained" was questionable considering dozens of instances in which prohibited material had entered Iraq through several nefarious means such as front companies and other questionable means. From the report: "[Saddam] wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) when sanctions were lifted."[69]

The report concluded in its Key Findings that: "The former Regime had no formal written strategy or plan for the revival of WMD after sanctions. Neither was there an identifiable group of WMD policy makers or planners separate from Saddam. Instead, his lieutenants understood WMD revival was his goal from their long association with Saddam and his infrequent, but firm, verbal comments and directions to them." [70] (PDF)

It also noted that "Iran was the pre-eminent motivator of [Iraq's WMD revival] policy. All senior level Iraqi officials considered Iran to be Iraq’s principal enemy in the region. The wish to balance Israel and acquire status and influence in the Arab world were also considerations, but secondary."

CNN reported on October 12, 2004 that satellite photographs revealed the disassembly of large buildings previously holding IAEA sealed dual-use materials. Also, previously non-destroyed nuclear materials from Iraq have been appearing in various foreign countries after the start of the war. [71]

On January 12, 2005, US military forces, having located no weapons of mass destruction, formally abandoned the search.

In March of 2005 there was an addition to Duelfer's Report titled Addendums to the Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's WMD [72] In it Charles Duelfer made the statement that "Whether Syria received military items from Iraq for safekeeping or other reasons has yet to be determined. There was evidence of a discussion of possible WMD collaboration initiated by a Syrian security officer, and ISG received information about movement of material out of Iraq, including the possibility that WMD was involved. In the judgment of the working group, these reports were sufficiently credible to warrant further investigation. ... ISG was unable to complete its investigation and is unable to rule out the possibility that WMD was evacuated to Syria before the war. It should be noted that no information from debriefing of Iraqis in custody supports this possibility. ... Based on the evidence available at present, ISG judged that it was unlikely that an official transfer of WMD material from Iraq to Syria took place. However, ISG was unable to rule out unofficial movement of limited WMD-related materials." [73]

In April of 2005, the Iraq Survey Group's final report "found no senior policy, program, or intelligence officials who admitted any direct knowledge of such movement of WMD," and ruled out any government-sanctioned movement of banned weapons to Syria. [74]

The current consensus view of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction seems similar to that portrayed by Hussein Kamel in 1995 and that of Imad Khadduri [75]: that Iraq had almost completely destroyed its programs, but sought to retain as much knowledge and information as it could so that, should sanctions ever end, the programs could start over quickly.

As of May 2005, small quantities of chemically degraded mustard gas had been found in old munitions. These are generally regarded as left-overs from the pre-sanction era before the 1991 Gulf War were not destroyed by the Iraqi regime.

The general consensus is that the intelligence community, including the CIA and other foreign services, failed to provide an accurate picture of the WMD program in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The U.S. government and the Bush administration have not yet taken official stances on the intelligence failures, but Congressional investigations, primarily under Democratic leadership, were either underway or forming in the spring of 2005.

On June 8, 2005, retired 4-star general and former Secretary of State in the Bush administration Colin Powell, appeared on The Daily Show and stated regarding Weapons of Mass Destructions in Iraq: "Now where we got the intelligence wrong, dead wrong, is that we thought he also had existing stockpiles, and now we know that those are not there." [76] [77]

On August 14, 2005, The Washington Post published an article titled, Iraqi Chemical Stash Uncovered [78]. The presentation identifies a chemical weapons facility discovered in Iraq and chemical weapons uncovered were in the process of being classified. The time of instantiation was unknown. The article incorrectly indicated that Chemican Weapons was not used against allied forces in Iraq (ignoring the May 22, 2004 IED attack), ignores the July 2, 2004 discovery of Sarin Gas warheads and launchers by Polish Allies, and even contradicts the self-same article by indicating that chemical weapons were not found in Iraq.

On August 21, 2005, CNN aired a special presentation titled, 'Dead Wrong:' Inside an Intelligence Meltdown[79]. The presentation featured clips of pre-war speeches, interviews with important people involved in this matter and received high ratings[80][81][82]. Former head of the Iraq Survey Group David Kay was also interviewed and stated: "We can't afford to be wrong a second time. How many people in the world are going to believe us when we say it's a "slam dunk," to use George Tenet's terms? Iran has nuclear weapons. The answer is going to be, you said that before."[83]

Sanctions

However effective, UN sanctions fostered a growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq. International popular opinion seemed to shift in favour of lifting the sanctions and finding diplomatic alternatives such as targeted sanctions that might be as effective, but which would not inadvertently affect the Iraqi populace. Temporary solutions, such as the Oil for Food program, an easing of the sanctions on a controlled basis, had limited success in the face of corruption in the Iraqi government and UN officials involved in the program [84]. Essentially, harsh sanctions originally intended to be temporary could not be kept in place indefinitely.

During the UN Sanctions, France and Russia had been selling and transporting advanced electronic military equipment to Iraq, violating international law. The discoveries reported on August 6, 2003 of MIG's with advanced electronics sold during the 1990's illustrate the difficulty in recovering evidence of UN sanction violations.[85]

Allegations have been made that the Oil for Food program, designed to help poor Iraqi people with food and medical supplies diverted money to Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups prior the invasion of Iraq. [86]

Other allegations include that money from the Oil for Food program was used to purchase anti-aircraft weapons from Russia, used to shoot down allied planes used to enforce the UN no-fly rules, violating conditions for cessation of agression between Iraq and the Allies. [87]

The Oil for Food program was riddled with scandle, showing high level contacts in countries leading the effort against the Allies (France [88], China and Russia [89]) all continually taking significant bribes from Sadaam's regime in order to get the leverage in the UN to cease the sanctions and keep encourage members of the security council militarily enforcing UN resolutions.

Saddam's persistent efforts to sway certain UN Security Council members with money diverted from the Oil for Food program meant that sanctions may have reached the limit of their usefulness.[90][91]

After the fall of Sadaam's regime, an Iraqi official in charge of leading the Oil for Food investigation was killed in a car bomb. [92]

The credibility of the United Nations was sufficiently undermined after the invasion with these revelations [93] as well as credibility of the non-allied governments receiving the graft and vocally campaigning against the allies.

Human Rights

Another key rationale for the war was ending Saddam Hussein's nearly 40-year track record of abuse of human rights (see Human rights in Saddam's Iraq). Some critics called this justification self-serving, since the US government did not do much to prevent or to punish those crimes while they were happening.

With the Iran-Iraq War escalating in 1983, Donald Rumsfeld, at the time presidential envoy of Ronald Reagan, was dispatched to Iraq to meet with Hussein and discuss "topics of mutual interest". Just 12 days after the meeting, on January 1, 1984, The Washington Post reported that the United States “in a shift in policy, has informed friendly Persian Gulf nations that the defeat of Iraq in the 3-year-old war with Iran would be ‘contrary to U.S. interests’ and has made several moves to prevent that result.” Rumsfeld met with Hussein and then-Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz several times in late 1983 and early 1984 amidst rumors of suspected chemical and biological weapons use against Iranian troops. The UN released a number of reports in 1984 citing the following:

"Mustard gas laced with a nerve agent has been used on Iranian soldiers in the 43-month Persian Gulf War between Iran and Iraq, a team of U.N. experts has concluded."

"Chemical weapons in the form of aerial bombs have been used in the areas inspected in Iran by the specialists."

On March 5th, the US State Department issued a statement saying “available evidence indicates that Iraq has used lethal chemical weapons.” Rumsfeld resigned in May of 1984 and US diplomatic relations were fully restored by November of that year.

From 1986 to 1989, Hussein embarked upon a policy of ethnic cleansing that cost the lives of an estimated 182,000 Kurds (see Al-Anfal Campaign). In 1988, the last year of the Iran-Iraq War, chemical weapons were used in the Halabja poison gas attack in which an estimated 5,000 Kurds were killed.

After the Persian Gulf War, the US government encouraged rebellions by the Shiites but did not intervene when Saddam crushed the rebels. [94] [95]

Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch has argued that the justification of "human rights" for the war in Iraq does not meet appropriate standards for the level of suffering that it causes.[96]

Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson discussed the US human rights situation in post-invasion Iraq and Afghanistan, stating in an interview with Amy Goodman on Nov 22 2005 that:

"the difficulties [our troops face] come from the two decisions that I had the most insight into that were made in this more or less alternative decision-making process. And those two decisions were the inept and incompetent planning for post-invasion Iraq, and [...] the decision... from that alternative decision-making process to depart from the Geneva Conventions and from international law, in general"

"[The President's memorandum said] the spirit of Geneva would be adhered to... consistent with military necessity. [...] It did not say 'consistent with national security demands.' It did not say 'consistent with the demands of the war on terror.' It said 'consistent with military needs.' Now, military needs are very simple and clear to a man like me who spent 31 years in the military. It means that if one of my buddy's life is threatened or my life is threatened, I can take drastic action. I can even shoot a detainee. And I can expect not to be punished under Geneva, or at least if I am court-martialed, I have a defense. It doesn't mean that I can take a detainee in a cold, dark cell in Bagram, Afghanistan, for example, in December 2002, shackled to the wall, and pour cold water on him at intervals when the outside temperature is 50 degrees anyway, and eventually kill him, which is what happened."

Libyan disarmament

Also included in the list of postwar justifications is Libya's agreement to abandon its WMD programs in December of 2003. Those who argue that this action was directly inspired by the invasion of Iraq point to a phone call Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he had with Libya's leader, Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi in April of 2003, in which he quotes Qadaffi as saying "I will do whatever the Americans want, because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid." [97] Negotiations between Libya and the United States and Britain on disarmament began almost immediately thereafter. [98] On the other hand, Flynt Leverett (former senior director for Middle Eastern Affairs at the NSC) and Martin S. Indyk (former Clinton administration official) argue that the agreement was instead a result of good-faith negotiations. Libya had in principle agreed to surrender its programs in 1999.

Purported Iraqi intelligence plots

David Harrison claims in the Telegraph to have found secret documents that purport to show Russian President Putin offering the use of assassins to Saddam's Iraqi regime to kill Western targets on November 27 2000. [99] This story has disappeared from the media since it was first reported in April 2003; the documents themselves have never materialized.

U.S. government officials have claimed that after the invasion, Yemen and Jordan stopped Iraqi terroristic attacks against Western targets in those nations. U.S. intelligence also warned 10 other countries that small groups of Iraqi intelligence agents may be readying similar attacks. [100]

After the Beslan school hostage crisis, public school layouts and crisis plans were retrieved on a disk recovered during an Iraqi raid and had raised concerns in the United States. The information on the disks was "all publicly available on the Internet" and U.S. officials "said it was unclear who downloaded the information and stressed there is no evidence of any specific threats involving the schools."[101]

Purported links between the government of Iraq and terrorist organizations

Russian Warnings

Several days prior to the 9-11 Attacks on the United States, Russian President Putin claims to have delivered a personal warning to President Bush concerning an imminent attack on the US by Sadaam's Iraqi regime. [102] Putin claims to have warned Washington, on several occasions that Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attacks against the United States between September 11 and the allied invasion of Iraq. [103] Putin indicated, "the information was given to U.S. intelligence officers and that U.S. President George W. Bush expressed his gratitude to a top Russian intelligence official." According to the CNN article reporting this, "The United States... never mentioned the Russian intelligence in its arguments for going to war."

Al-Qaeda

Saddam Hussein's regime had some contacts with terrorist organizations in the past. The Bush Administration mentioned these contacts frequently in the run-up to the war, even suggesting direct ties to al-Qaeda. Some even alleged that Saddam supported the attacks of 9/11, but this view that has not been confirmed by the evidence. And, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community's Kerr Group report of July 29, 2004, despite "a 'purposely aggressive approach' in conducting exhaustive and repetitive searches for such links... [the U.S.] Intelligence Community remained firm in its assessment that no operational or collaborative relationship existed."[104] Some newspapers in 1998 reported an "alliance" or "pact" between Saddam and al-Qaeda [105]. In January 1999, Newsweek magazine also reported statements by a Saudi intelligence officer that Saddam and al-Qaeda had formed an alliance. Network news organizations also picked up the story.[106] But by 2003 most news organizations were extremely skeptical of such claims; certainly no evidence of any "alliance" or "pact" ever emerged in the mainstream press. One January 2003 article in the San Jose Mercury News said the claim "stretches the analysis of U.S. intelligence agencies to, and perhaps beyond, the limit." [107]

After the invasion, in January of 2004, Secretary Powell stated "I have not seen [a] smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection, but I think the possibility of such connections did exist, and it was prudent to consider them at the time that we did." But by September 2005 Secretary Powell, when asked if there was any connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of 9/11, said "I have never seen a connection. I can't think otherwise, because I've never seen any evidence to suggest there was one."[20/20 Interview (9 September 2005)]. Various independent investigations into the question of an al-Qaeda connection by U.S. intelligence agencies including the CIA, FBI, and NSA concluded that there was no evidence of cooperation between Saddam and al-Qaeda.

Some unspecified information once perceived as "evidence" for a connection between the two turns out to have been disinformation coming from several sources, most notably an associate of Ahmed Chalabi who was given the code name "Curveball", and from captured al Qaeda leader Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. The Chalabi source has been thoroughly discredited, and the al Qaeda source has since recanted his story. Other al Qaeda leaders have claimed that there was no operational relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, and indeed that Osama bin Laden had forbidden such a relationship with the Iraqi leader, whom he considered an infidel.

Some support for claims of collaboration between al Qaeda and the now deposed Iraqi government have come from weapons smuggler Mohamed Mansour Shahab, who said in an interview in the New Yorker magazine that he had been directed by the Iraqi intelligence community to organize, plan, and carry out up to nine terrorist attacks against American targets in the Middle East, including an attack similar to the one carried out on the USS Cole. [108]. Reporter Guy Dinmore questions his credibility however, writing in the London Financial Times: "it is apparent that the man is deranged. He claims to have killed 422 people, including two of his wives, and says he would drink the blood of his victims. He also has no explanation for why, although he was arrested two years ago, he only revealed his alleged links to al-Qaeda and Baghdad after the September 11 attacks." (22 May 2002 p. 13) Al Qaeda expert Jason Burke wrote after interviewing Shahab, "Shahab is a liar. He may well be a smuggler, and probably a murderer too, but substantial chunks of his story simply are not true."[109].

The only member of the original plot to destroy the World Trade Center to escape US law enforcement officials, the Iraqi Abdul Rahman Yasin, fled to Baghdad shortly after the attacks in 1993. Abdul Rahman Yasin was the only alleged member of the al Qaeda cell that detonated the 1993 World Trade Center bomb to remain at large after the investigation into the bombing where he fled to Iraq. After major fighting ceased U.S. forces discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, that allegedly show that the Iraqi government gave Yasin a house and monthly salary. [110]

FBI and CIA investigations in 1995 and 1996 concluded "that the Iraqi government was in no way involved in the attack"; then-U.S. counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke has since testified, "the fact that one of the 12 people involved in the attack was Iraqi hardly seems to me as evidence that the Iraqi government was involved in the attack. The attack was Al Qaeda; not Iraq.... [T]he allegation that has been made that the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center was done by the Iraqi government I think is absolutely without foundation." (911 Commission Hearing, 24 March 2004)[111]

Abbas al-Janabi, who served for fifteen years as personal assistant to Uday Hussein before defecting to United Kingdom, has often claimed that he knew of collaboration between the former Iraqi government and al Qaeda. Al-Janabi said that he had learned that Iraqi officials had visited Afghanistan and Sudan to strengthen ties with Al-Qaeda and he also claimed he knew of a facility near Baghdad where foreign fighters were trained and instructed by members of the Republican Guard and Mukhabarat. [112]. Salman Pak, a facility matching al-Janabi’s description, was captured by US Marines in Mid April of 2003 [113], but no evidence of al Qaeda presence at the camp has been found. Some claim that the camp was actually a counterterrorism facility built by the British in the mid 1980's but UN weapons inspectors, including Charles Duelfer believed it had been converted from its original purpose and was being used to train militants. [114] Inconsistencies in the stories of the Iraqi defectors have led U.S. officials, journalists, and investigators to conclude that the Salman Pak story was inaccurate. Al-Janabi and other Iraqi defectors who tell this story are associated with the Iraqi National Congress, an organization that has been accused of deliberately supplying false information to the US government in order to build support for regime change ([115]). "The INC’s agenda was to get us into a war," said Helen Kennedy of the New York Daily News. "The really damaging stories all came from those guys, not the CIA. They did a really sophisticated job of getting it out there."[116] One senior U.S. official said that they had found "nothing to substantiate" the claim that al-Qaeda trained at Salman Pak.[117]

In April of 2001, the Czech Security Information Service reported a meeting between Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani, an Iraqi Intelligence Service officer operating out of the Iraqi embassy in Prague, and a man they believed to be Mohamed Atta. The Czech report was based on a single eyewitness from Prague who is now generally considered unreliable. Nevertheless, this Prague connection was seen as a crucial link between Iraq and al Qaeda by proponents of collaboration between Iraq and al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission examined this evidence, saying that circumstantial evidence appeared to place Atta in Florida at the time, and that "The available evidence does not support the original Czech report of an Atta-Ani meeting." The report concluded, "Based on the evidence available including investigation by Czech and U.S. authorities plus detainee reporting we do not believe that such a meeting occurred." It also says that Czech intelligence indicates that al-Ani "was about 70 miles away from Prague" at the time that the meeting supposedly took place. [118], [119]

The Senate Report concludes that, while representatives of Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda had indeed met, an operational relationship was never realized and there was a deep sense of mistrust and dislike of one another. Osama Bin Laden was shown to view Iraq's ruling Ba'ath party as running contrary to his religion, calling it an "apostate regime." A British intelligence report [120] went so far as to say of Bin Laden "His aims are in ideological conflict with present day Iraq."

The state-run Iraqi local paper Al-Nasiriya published an opinion piece praising Osama bin Laden that Senator Ernest Hollings interpreted as foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks. Senator Hollings read the opinion piece into the Congressional Record. [121] Nobody has offered any evidence that such "foreknowledge," if it existed at all on the part of the article's author, extended to Saddam's regime. Neither the 9/11 Commission Report nor the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq found this article worth mention.

In 2004, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, concluded that there was no evidence of a "collaborative operational relationship" between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks. [122] [123] This conclusion was consistent with the conclusions of all agencies of the U.S. intelligence community, according to documents released in 2005. Senator Carl Levin wrote that the documents "are additional compelling evidence that the Intelligence Community did not believe there was a cooperative relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, despite public comments by the highest ranking officials in our government to the contrary."[124]

Other terrorist organizations

Aside from the contentious allegations of Iraq's relationship with al Qaeda, the former government did have relationships with other militant organizations in the Middle East including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It is known that some $10–15M total was paid to the families of suicide bombers, presented as compensation for the demolition of their homes in Israeli collective punishment operations. Abu Abbas (associate with the PLO and the Achille Lauro hijacking) was found in Iraq, and had been wanted for quite some time. In August 2002, Abu Nidal (attacks in Italy and elsewhere) died in Baghdad from gunshot wounds while facing treason charges under Saddam's government.

In 1998, Iraq plotted to blow up Radio Free Europe in Prague, for broadcasting opposition communications into Iraq. According to Jabir Salim, the consul and second secretary at the Iraq embassy in Prague, Saddam Hussein had allocated $150,000 to recruit and train individuals who would not be traceable back to Iraq. This plot was aborted in December 1998 when Salim defected in Prague, revealing details of the plot to the CIA, British MI-6 and Czech intelligence.

The now deposed Iraqi regime has also been accused of an assassination plot on former President George Bush. On April 14, 1993, it is charged that Iraq plotted to assassinate former President George Bush while he was visiting Kuwait. The assassins were Ra'ad al-Asadi and Wali al-Ghazali, two Iraqi nationals, who had been supplied with a car bomb. The plot was foiled when the two were captured in Kuwait City. The FBI learned that the two had been recruited by the Iraqi intelligence Service in Basra, Iraq, who also gave them the explosive devices shortly before Bush arrived in Kuwait.

Some documents indicate that the leadership was attempting to distance itself from Islamist militants instead of working with them [125], and that any connection between al Qaeda and Iraq is new. This was in relation to the rising insurgency in Iraq: Saddam was fearful that the foreign fighters might use this as an opportunity for themselves, rather than fight for Saddam to take control again. Many international jihadists have in fact begun operating in Iraq since the U.S. occupation began. (See Iraqi insurgency for further details).

The Bush Administration also has claimed that there are links between Saddam Hussein's government and Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose organization Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War) has taken credit for kidnappings and beheadings directed against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Zarqawi is rumored to have been treated in an Iraqi hospital after being wounded in Afghanistan during the U.S. invasion. Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi had settled in Kurdish northern Iraq (an area not controlled by Saddam Hussein's government) where he joined the terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam, which was an enemy of the Ba'athist government. Nevertheless, U.S. officials continued to assert that Zarqawi constitutes an important link between Saddam's government and al Qaeda. A CIA report in early October 2004 "found no clear evidence of Iraq harbouring Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." [126] Also, Zarqawi does not seem to have ever been, as some have asserted, an al Qaeda leader, and only pledged his allegiance to the al Qaeda organization in October 2004.[127] This pledge came two days after his insurgent organization in Iraq was officially declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

On October 19, 2004, the International Institute for Strategic Studies published its annual report stating that the war in Iraq had actually increased the risk of terrorism against westerners in Arab countries [128].

Legitimacy and legality

File:AntiWarProtestLondon.jpg

Global Protests around the world against the invasion

Invasion legitimacy

Many have argued that the legitimacy of the invasion could be disputed under international law. Prior to invasion, the U.S. and U.K. attempted unsuccessfully to secure a U.N. resolution explicitly authorizing force on the grounds that Iraq was allegedly in violation of various previous resolutions. The U.S. structured its report to the U.N. Security Council around alleged intelligence from the CIA and MI5 stating that Iraq allegedly possessed weapons of mass destruction. Legal justification rested upon Iraq's violation of several U.N. Resolutions, most recently UN Security Council Resolution 1441. [129] U.S. president George W. Bush claimed Iraq's supposed WMDs posed a significant threat to the United States and its allies. [130][131] It is claimed that some of the evidence cited by the United States for Iraq's possession of illegal weapons was known at the time to be of doubtful value. In January 2006, the New York Times reported that "A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was 'unlikely.'"[132] The Iraqi government denied the existence of any such facilities or capabilities and called the reports lies and fabrications, which was backed by the post-war prima facie case that no WMDs were evident or found.[133] U.N. inspection teams capable of continuing the search were ordered out because war appeared imminent. The U.S. Iraq Survey Group Final Report concluded in its September 30, 2004 report that, "ISG has not found evidence that Saddam Husayn possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but the available evidence from its investigation—including detainee interviews and document exploitation—leaves open the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq although not of a militarily significant capability." The U.S. officially abandoned its search for WMDs in Iraq on January 12, 2005.

To this date, WMDs have not been found in Iraq, see Duelfer Report.[134][135][136]

Countries supporting and opposing the invasion

Support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq included 49 nations, a group that was frequently referred to as the "coalition of the willing". These nations provided combat troops, support troops, and logistical support for the invasion. The nations contributing combat forces were, roughly:

Total 300,884 - 98% US & UK

United States (250,000 83%), United Kingdom (45,000 15%), South Korea (3,500 1.1%), Australia (2,000 0.6%), Denmark (200 0.06%), and Poland (184 0.06%). Ten other countries offered small numbers of non-combat forces, mostly either medical teams and specialists in decontamination. In several of these countries a majority of the public was opposed to the war. For example, in Spain polls reported at one time a 90% opposition to the war. In most other countries less than 10% of the populace supported an invasion of Iraq without a specific go-ahead from the UN. [137]. According to a mid-January 2003 telephone poll, approximately one-third of the U.S. population supported a unilateral invasion by the US and its allies, while two-thirds supported war if directly authorized by the U.N. [138][139].

Global protests expressed opposition to the invasion. In many Middle Eastern and Islamic countries, many protesters supported Saddam Hussein, but protesters in the United States and Europe generally did not. On the government level, the war was criticized by Canada, Belgium, Russia, France, The People's Republic of China, Germany, Switzerland, The Vatican, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, the Arab League, the African Union and many others. Though many nations opposed the war, no foreign government openly supported Saddam Hussein, and none volunteered any assistance to the Iraqi side. Leading traditional allies of the U.S. who had supported Security Council Resolution 1441, France, Germany and Russia, emerged as a united front opposed to the U.S.-led invasion, urging that the UN weapons inspectors be given time to complete their work.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud said the U.S. military could not use Saudi Arabia's soil in any way to attack Iraq. [140] After ten years of U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, cited among reasons by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden for his al-Qaeda attacks on America on September 11, 2001, most of U.S. forces were withdrawn in 2003. [141] According to the New York Times, the invasion secretly received support from Saudi Arabia. [142]

Legality of the invasion

U.S. law

Under the United States Constitution, presidents do not have authority to declare war. This power is granted exclusively to Congress, and there is no provision in the Constitution for its delegation, although under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the president can send troops to a country without congress's consent for 60-90 days. On October 3, 2002, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) submitted to the House International Relations committee a proposed declaration which read, "A state of war is declared to exist between the United States and the government of Iraq." It was rejected.^[143] Citing several factors, including unresolved issues from the 1991 Gulf War, the Bush administration claimed intrinsic authority to engage Iraq militarily^[144], and Congress delegated its war powers to the President^[145]; from this point of view, the invasion of Iraq, while a war, may under U.S. law therefore be considered a police action commenced by the executive, like the Korean war. Further, Article VI of the U.S. Constitution provides that treaties of the United States along with federal law and the Constitution itself are the highest law of the land. The United States ratified the UN Charter and therefore under U.S. law the U.S. is bound by the U.N. Charter. Therefore, unless the U.S.-led invasion fell into one of the two exception to the Charter's prohibition against UN member states attacking fellow UN member states provided in Chapter VII of the UN Charter (see above), it would be illegal under international as well as U.S. law.

International law

Resolution 1441, drafted and accepted unanimously the year before the invasion, threatened "serious consequences" to Iraq in case Iraq did not comply with all conditions. Russia, the People's Republic of China, and France made clear in a joint statement that this did not authorize the use of force but a further resolution was needed. This was also the position of the UK and the US at the time the resolution was decided. On the day of the vote the US ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, said that in the event of a "further breach" by Iraq, Resolution 1441 would require that "the matter will return to the Council for discussions."[146]

Until a few days before the war, it was the position of the UK, the main US ally in the war, that a further resolution would be desirable before the UK would go to war.

Some have said that the US and other coalition governments' invasion of Iraq was an unprovoked assault on an independent country which breached international law. Under Article 2, Number 4 of the UN Charter, "All Members shall refrain... from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state..." This is known as the "Prohibition of Aggression." For the use of force other than in self defence, it is absolute without the positive sanction of the security council under Article 42. Resolution 1441 was not intended by China, Russia and France to authorize war. The coalition formed around the USA argued that another understanding of the resolution is possible, although Kofi Annan, speaking on behalf of the UN charter, declared: "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal." [147]

The Bush administration argued that the UN Security Council Resolutions authorizing the 1991 invasion, in addition to Resolution 1441, gave legal authority to use "all necessary means," which is diplomatic code for going to war. This war ended with a cease fire instead of a permanent peace treaty. Their view was that Iraq had violated the terms of the cease-fire by breaching two key conditions and thus made the invasion of Iraq a legal continuation of the earlier war. If a war can be reactivated ten years after the fact, it would imply that any nation that has ever been at war that ended in a cease-fire (such as Korea) could face war for failing to meet the conditions of the cease-fire. Such is the purpose of using a cease-fire agreement in place of a peace treaty; the resumption of war is the penalty for, and thus deterrent of, engaging in the prohibited action(s). For instance, in WWII, the state of war with Germany did not end until 19 October 1951 and with Japan, not until 28 April 1952 [148].

Since the majority of the United Nations security council members (both permanent and rotating) did not support the attack, it appears that they viewed the attack as invalid under any resolution still in effect in March, 2003. Both Kofi Annan, current Secretary-General of the United Nations, and former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, as well as several nations, say that the attack violated international law as a war of aggression since it lacked the validity of a U.N. Security Council resolution to authorize military force, and was not an act of defence, and so violated the UN charter. However, none have called for the security council to consider sanctions against the United States or the other nations involved, both because of an effort to restore warmer relationships with the US, and because the attempt would be futile since the US has a veto in the Security Council.

The United States and United Kingdom claimed, and continue to claim, that it was a legal action which they were within international law to undertake. Some in the media have called the good faith of the Security Council into question on this matter. [149] [150] One argument is that the United Nations itself, along with the three opponents of the Iraq War on the Security Council, France, Russia, and China, all benefited financially (in some cases, perhaps illegally) from transactions with the Saddam Hussein regime under the Oil for Food program; [151] and that the leaders of these three countries, along with Kofi Annan, fought against a second UN resolution not out of higher principle but in order to keep these contracts. Nevertheless, opposition to the war was widely popular amongst the populace of nearly all nations except the United States. Additionally, the resistance of the Security Council and the UN as a whole to the invasion of Iraq has been attributed to Anti-Americanism and a resentment of the cultural and economic dominance of the USA. In the case of France, it has also been attributed an attempt to court the Arab world and its local Muslim population. [152]

On 28 April 2005, the UK government published the full advice given by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on 7 March 2003 on the legality of the war. The publication of this document followed the leaking of the summary to the press the day before. In a Labour press conference, Tony Blair responded to a question from journalist Jon Snow asking whether the full report could be published by saying 'we may as well, you've seen most of it already'. In the document, Lord Goldsmith weighs the different arguments on whether military action against Iraq would be legal without a second UN Resolution. Saying that "regime change cannot be the objective of military action," it clearly stated that invasion for the purpose of regime change was illegal. [153]

Downing Street memo

On 1 May 2005, a related UK document known as the Downing Street memo, detailing the minutes of a meeting on 26 July 2002, was apparently leaked to The Times. British officials did not dispute the document's authenticity, and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman has called the document "nothing new." The document corroborates the information in the full advice of Lord Goldsmith: "The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult.," and states furthermore that "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action." and that "It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.." On 5 May, John Conyers and 89 members of congress asked George W. Bush, in a formal letter, to answer some questions about the document, including whether he or anyone in his administration disputes its accuracy. [154] The Bush Administration has stated that they will not answer the questions. Critics of the memos bring up the fact that they cannot be authenticated. [155]

Call for British investigation into legality

On 22 May 2005, the British government declined a request from the families of soldiers killed in Iraq for an investigation into the legality of the war. The families are now seeking a judicial review of the request. [156] [157]

In Britain, Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, who was decorated during three tours at the front in Afghanistan and Iraq, was court-martialled for refusing to serve a fourth tour in Iraq:

He has been charged with four counts of "disobeying a lawful command." But Kendall-Smith, a decorated medical officer in the Royal Air Force, says that his study of the recently revealed evidence about the lies, distortions and manipulations used to justify the invasion has convinced him that both the war and the occupation are "manifestly illegal." Thus any order arising from this criminal action is itself an "unlawful command," The Sunday Times reports. In fact, the RAF's own manual of law compels him to refuse such illegal orders, Kendall-Smith insists. [158]

The officer had made clear that he is not a conscientious objector, and would not necessarily refuse a tour of duty of legal engagement, and that his objection was purely legal. He refused to return to active service in Iraq after studying the legal advice of Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, and concluded that it was wrong.

Lt Kendall-Smith's lawyer commented, "He maintains his stance and he will maintain his plea of not guilty, on the basis that the war in Iraq was manifestly illegal. It is a legal test to seek out a ruling on the jurisprudence of the issue: was the war legal or not?" [159]

Separately, but also referenced in the above article, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, has stated that he did not believe the UK Attorney General's legal advice justifying the war was watertight, and stated that because of this he had demanded unequivocal legal assurance that the war was legal. He stated in interview on May 1 2005, that despite this, he did not consider himself to have full legal cover from prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC), that he had never been told of the March 7 memo by Goldsmith which raised doubts as to the war's legality, and that:

"I think I have done as best as I can do. I have always been troubled by the ICC. Although I was reassured ... about five years ago, I was patted on the head and told, 'Don't worry, on the day it will be fine.' I don't have 100 per cent confidence in that. [...] If my soldiers went to jail and I did, some other people would go with me. I wanted to make sure that we had this anchor which has been signed by the government law officer. It may not stop us from being charged, but, by God, it would make sure other people were brought into the frame as well." transcript

Lord Boyce was asked whether he meant by this, Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith; he replied: "Too bloody right."

Calls for International Criminal Court investigation

It is reported in The Guardian, although not on the ICC website as yet, that papers have been filed with the ICC by a pressure group, "Military Families Against the War", asking the court to determine whether any member of the British armed forces died or suffered injuries "pursuing impermissible military objectives connected to regime change rather than the threat to international peace and security in the region from Iraq's (alleged) programme of WMD". Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers said he had also referred to the ICC prosecutor the multiple alleged cases of torture and deaths whilst in detention in British-controlled areas. [160] It is not confirmed whether the ICC is obliged or has discretion to accept the case on such a basis.

Opposition view of the invasion

Those who opposed the war in Iraq did not regard Iraq's violation of UN resolutions to be a valid case for the war, since no single nation has the authority, under the UN Charter, to judge Iraq's compliance to UN resolutions and to enforce them. Furthermore, critics argued that the US was applying double standards of justice, noting that other nations such as Israel are also in breach of UN resolutions and have nuclear weapons; this argument is not a black and white matter, [161], as some claim that Iraq's history of actually using chemical weapons (against Iran and the Kurdish population in Iraq) suggested at the time that Iraq was a far greater threat. Others claim, also, that this contradicts previous U.S. policy, since the US was one of many nations that supplied chemical weapon precursors, even when well aware of what it was being used for.

Although Iraq was known to have pursued an active nuclear weapons development program previously, as well as to have tried to procure materials and equipment for their manufacture, these weapons and material have yet to be discovered. President Bush's reference to Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium in Africa in his 2003 State of the Union address are by now commonly considered as having been based on forged documents (see Yellowcake forgery).

Robert Fisk, who has been a British Middle East correspondent for 29 years, warns in his book "The great war for civilisation" that history is repeating itself. Fisk, in the Dutch tv news program Nova: "It is not just similar, it is 'fingerprint' the same". In 1917, the UK invaded Iraq, claiming to come "not as conquerors but as liberators". After an insurrection in 1920, "the first town that was bombed was Fallujah and the next town that was laid siege to was Najaf". Then, the British army intelligence services claimed that terrorists were crossing the border from Syria. Prime minister Lloyd George stood up in the house of commons and declared that "if British troops leave Iraq there will be civil war". The British were going to set up a democracy in Iraq. In a referendum, however, a king was 'elected'. "They decided they would no longer use troops on the ground, it was too dangerous, they would use the Royal Air force to bomb villages from the air, which is exactly what the Americans are now doing. And eventually, [...] we left and our leaders were overthrown and the Baath party, which was a revolutionary socialist party at the time - Saddam Hussein - took over. And I'm afraid that the Iraq we are creating now is an Iraq of anarchy and chaos. And as long as we stay there, the chaos will get worse."

Invasion

Prior to invasion, the United States and other coalition forces involved in the 1991 Persian Gulf War had been engaged in a low-level conflict with Iraq, enforcing Iraqi no-fly zones. Iraqi air-defense installations were engaged on a fairly regular basis after repeatedly targeting American and British air patrols. In mid-2002, the U.S. began to change its response strategy, more carefully selecting targets in the southern part of the country in order to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. A change in enforcement tactics was acknowledged at the time, but it was not made public that this was part of a plan known as Operation Southern Focus.

The tonnage of bombs dropped increased from 0 in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 7 and 14 tons per month in May-August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September - prior to Congress' 11 October authorisation of the invasion. The September attacks included a 5 September 100-aircraft attack on the main air defence site in western Iraq. According to The New Statesman this was "Located at the furthest extreme of the southern no-fly zone, far away from the areas that needed to be patrolled to prevent attacks on the Shias, it was destroyed not because it was a threat to the patrols, but to allow allied special forces operating from Jordan to enter Iraq undetected."[162]

Opening attack

On March 20, 2003 at approximately 02:30 UTC or about 90 minutes after the lapse of the 48-hour deadline, at 05:30 local time, explosions were heard in Baghdad; coinciding with Australian Special Air Service Regiment personnel crossing the border into southern Iraq. At 03:15 UTC, or 10:15 pm EST, U.S. President George W. Bush announced that he had ordered the coalition to launch an "attack of opportunity" against targets in Iraq.

Before the invasion, many observers had expected a lengthy campaign of aerial bombing in advance of any ground action, taking as examples the Persian Gulf War or the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. In practice, U.S. plans envisioned simultaneous air and ground assaults to decapitate the Iraqi forces as fast as possible (see Shock and Awe), attempting to bypass Iraqi military units and cities in most cases. The assumption was that superior U.S. mobility and coordination would allow the U.S. to attack the heart of the Iraqi command structure and destroy it in a short time, and that this would minimize civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure. It was expected that the elimination of the leadership would lead to the collapse of the army and the government, and that much of the population would support the invaders once the government had been weakened. Occupation of cities and attacks on peripheral military units were viewed as undesirable distractions.

Following Turkey's decision to deny any official use of its territory, the U.S. was forced to abandon a planned simultaneous attack from north and south, so the primary bases for the invasion were in Kuwait and other Persian Gulf nations. One result of this was that one of the divisions intended for the invasion was forced to relocate and was unable to take part in the invasion until well into the war. Many observers felt that the U.S. devoted insufficient troops to the invasion, and that this (combined with the failure to occupy cities) put them at a major disadvantage in achieving security and order throughout the country when local support failed to meet expectations.

File:Bagdad 02Apr2003 L7 889px.jpg

NASA Landsat 7 image of Baghdad, April 2, 2003.

The invasion was swift, with the collapse of the Iraq government and the military of Iraq in about three weeks. The oil infrastructure of Iraq was rapidly secured with limited damage in that time. Securing the oil infrastructure was considered important. In the first Persian Gulf War, while retreating from Kuwait, the Iraqi army had set many oil wells on fire, in an attempt to disguise troop movements and to distract Coalition forces--a side effect of these actions were many environmental problems. The British Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade launched an air and amphibious assault on the Al-Faw peninsula during the closing hours of 20 March to secure the oil fields there; the amphibious assault was supported by frigates of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, attached to 3 Commando Brigade, attacked the port of Umm Qasr. The British 16 Air Assault Brigade also secured the oilfields in southern Iraq in places like Rumaila.

In keeping with the rapid advance plan, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward through marshland. All forces avoided major cities except when necessary to capture river crossings over the Tigris and Euphrates.

Initially, the U.S. 1st Marine Division fought through the Rumaila oil fields, and moved north to Nasariyah--a moderate-sized, Shi'ite dominated city with important strategic significance as a major road junction and its proximity to nearby Talil Airfield only a few miles to the south. The U.S Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around the airfield and bypassed the city to the west. On 23 March, U.S Marines and Special Forces units pressed the attack in and around the city. Many casualties may have occurred as a result of fratricide. Additionally, the stunning pace of the coalition's advance and Nasiriyah's strategic qualities as a road junction led to significant gridlock as U.S forces moving north converged on the city's surrounding highways. With Nasiriyah and Tallil Airfield secured, U.S. forces gained an important logistical center in southern Iraq through which additional troops and supplies were brought. The 101st Airborne Division continued their attack north behind the 3rd Infantry Division, and the 82nd Airborne Division began to consolidate in and around Talil airfield for further operations. By 27-28 March, a severe sand storm slowed the U.S advance as the 3rd Infantry Division fought on the outskirts of Najaf and Kufa, with particularly heavy fighting in and around the bridge adjacent to the town of Kifl before moving north toward Karbala.

Farther south, the British 7 Armoured Brigade ('The Desert Rats') fought their way into Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, on 6 April, coming under constant attack by regulars and Fedayeen, while the 3rd Parachute Regiment cleared the 'old quarter' of the city that was inaccessible to vehicles. The entering of Basra had only been achieved after two weeks of conflict, which included the biggest tank battle by British forces since World War II when the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks on 27 March. The UK's control of the city was, however, limited. Elements of 1 (UK) Armoured Division began to advance north towards U.S. positions around Al Amarah on 9 April. Pre-existing electrical and water shortages continued through the conflict and looting began as Iraqi forces collapsed. While British forces began working with local Iraqi Police to enforce order, humanitarian aid began to arrive from ships arriving in the port city of Umm Qasr and trucks entering the country through Kuwait.

After a rapid initial advance, the first major pause occurred in the vicinity of Hillah and Karbala. There, U.S. leading elements met resistance from Iraqi troops defending cities and key bridges along the Euphrates River. These forces threatened to interdict coalition logistical supply routes as U.S. forces moved north. By the end of March, elements of the 82nd Airborne Division augmented with a mechanized infantry battalion task force of the 1st Armored Division began diversionary assaults in and around the city of Samawah in order to divert Iraqi forces that may have otherwise threatened the extended rear of the coalition's lead elements. Meanwhile, the U.S. 101st Airborne Division supported by an armored battalion task force of the 1st Armored division attacked into and secured several cities, including Hillah, Najaf, and Karbala in order to prevent any Iraqi counterattacks from the east. These attacks effectively protected the eastern flank and rear of the 3rd Infantry Division, which enabled the lead elements of the invasion to resupply and continue its advance north through the Karbala Gap and on toward Baghdad.

Special Operations

The 2d Battalion of the U.S. 5th Special Forces Group (part of the Green Berets) conducted reconnaissance in the cities of Basra, Karbala and various other locations. In the North 10th SFG had the mission of aiding the Kurdish factions such as the Union of Kurdistan and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan. Turkey had officially forbidden any US troops from using their bases, so lead elements of the 10th had to make certain detours; their journey was supposed to take four hours but instead it took ten. However, Turkey did allow the use of its air space and so the rest of the 10th flew in. The mission was to destroy Ansar al-Islam and a Kurdish faction. The target was Sargat and after heavy fighting with both groups the Special Forces finally took Sargat and pushed the remaining units out of Northern Iraq. After Sargat was taken, Bravo Company along with their Kurdish Allies pushed south towards Tikrit and the surrounding towns of Northern Iraq. During the Battle of the Green Line, Bravo Company with their Kurdish allies pushed back, destroyed, or routed 13th Iraqi Infantry Division. Bravo took Tikrit. Iraq was the largest deployment of Special Forces since Vietnam.

Fall of Baghdad (April 2003)

Three weeks into the invasion, U.S. forces moved into Baghdad. Initial plans were for armor units to surround the city and a street-to-street battle to commence using Airborne units. However, on 5 April a "Thunder Run" of US armored vehicles was launched to test Iraqi defenses, with 29 tanks and 14 Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicles rushing from a staging base to the Baghdad airport. They met heavy resistance, including many suicidal attacks, but were successful in reaching the airport. Two days later another thunder run was launched into the Palaces of Saddam Hussein, where they established a base. Within hours of the palace seizure, and television coverage of this spreading through Iraq, Iraqi resistance crumbled around the city. Iraqi government officials had either disappeared or had conceded defeat. On April 9 2003, Baghdad was formally secured by US forces and the power of Saddam Hussein was declared ended. Saddam had vanished, and his whereabouts were unknown. Many Iraqis celebrated the downfall of Saddam by vandalizing the many portraits and statues of him together with other pieces of his personality cult. One widely publicized event was the dramatic toppling of a large statue of Saddam in central Baghdad by a US M88 tank retriever, while a crowd of Iraqis cheered the Marines on. During this incident, the Marines briefly draped an American flag over the statue's face, which caused consternation in the crowd. The flag was replaced with an Iraqi flag and the demolition continued.

General Tommy Franks assumed control of Iraq as the supreme commander of occupation forces. Shortly after the sudden collapse of the defense of Baghdad, rumors were circulating in Iraq and elsewhere that there had been a deal struck (a "safqua") wherein the US had bribed key members of the Iraqi military elite and/or the Ba'ath party itself to stand down. In May 2003, General Franks retired, and confirmed in an interview with Defense Week that the U.S. had paid Iraqi military leaders to defect. The extent of the defections and their effect on the war are unclear.

Coalition troops promptly began searching for the key members of Saddam Hussein's government. These individuals were identified by a variety of means, most famously through sets of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards.

Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture

On 22 July 2003 during a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and men from Task Force 20, Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, and one of his grandsons were killed.

Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13 2003 by the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121 during Operation Red Dawn.

Other areas

In the north, Kurdish forces opposed to Saddam Hussein had already occupied for years an autonomous area in northern Iraq. With the assistance of U.S. Special Forces and airstrikes, they were able to rout the Iraqi units near them and to occupy oil-rich Kirkuk on 10 April.

U.S. special forces had also been involved in the extreme west of Iraq, attempting to occupy key roads to Syria and airbases. In one case two armored platoons were used to convince Iraqi leadership that an entire armored battalion was entrenched in the west of Iraq.

On 15 April, U.S. forces mostly took control of Tikrit, the last major outpost in central Iraq, with an attack led by the Marines' Task Force Tripoli (comprised of units from 1st, 2nd & 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalions along with a reserve rifle company Golf Company 2/23 and the 1st Marine Division jump Headquarters). About a week later the Marines were relieved in place by the Army's 4th Infantry Division.

Summary of the invasion

Coalition forces managed to topple the government and capture the key cities of a large nation in only 21 days, taking minimal losses while also trying to avoid large civilian deaths and even high numbers of dead Iraqi military forces. The invasion did not require the huge army build-up like the 1991 Gulf War, which numbered half a million Allied troops. This did prove short-sighted, however, due to the requirement for a much larger force to combat the irregular Iraqi forces in the aftermath of the war.

The Saddam-built army, armed mainly with Soviet-built equipment, had no weapons that could stand up to Coalition forces, and managed only to stage a few ambushes that gained a great deal of media attention but in reality did nothing to slow the Coalition advance. Missiles launched from Iraq were either inderdicted by U.S. anti-air batteries, or missed their targets. Attacks on Coalition supply routes by Fedayeen militiamen were repulsed. The Iraqi's artillery proved almost worthless, and they did not even mobilize their air force to attempt a defense. The Iraqi T-72 tanks, the heaviest armored vehicles in the Iraqi Army, were both outdated and ill-maintained, and when they did stand up to Coalition forces were destroyed quickly, thanks in part due to the Coalition's control of the air. The U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Naval Aviation, and British Royal Air Force operated with impunity throughout the country, pinpointing heavily defended enemy targets and destroying them before ground troops arrived.

The main battle tanks (MBT) of the Coalition forces, the U.S. M1 Abrams and British Challenger 2, proved their worth in the rapid advance across the country. Even with the large number of RPG attacks by irregular Iraqi forces, few Coalition tanks were lost and no tank crewmen was killed by hostile fire. All three British tank crew fatalities were a result of friendly fire. The only tank loss sustained by the British Army was a Challenger 2 of the Queen's Royal Lancers that was hit by another Challenger 2, killing two crewmen.

The Iraqi Army suffered from poor morale, even amongst the supposedly elite Republican Guard, their strength sapped after weeks of aerial bombardment. Entire units simply melted away into the crowds upon the approach of Coalition troops. Other Iraqi Army officers were bribed by the CIA or coerced into surrendering to coalition forces. Worse, the Iraqi Army had incompetent leadership - reports state that Qusay Hussein, charged with the defense of Baghdad, dramatically shifted the positions of the two main divisions protecting Baghdad several times in the days before the arrival of U.S. forces, and as a result the units within were both confused and further demoralized when the U.S. Army attacked. By no means did the Coalition invasion force see the entire Iraqi military thrown against it, and it is assumed that most units disintegrated to either join the growing Iraqi insurgency or return to their homes.

Security, looting and war damage

Looting took place in the days following. It was reported that the National Museum of Iraq was among the looted sites. The assertion that US forces did not guard the museum because they were guarding the Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Interior is apparently true. According to U.S. officials the "reality of the situation on the ground" was that hospitals, water plants, and ministries with vital intelligence needed security more than other sites. There were only enough US troops on the ground to guard a certain number of the many sites that ideally needed protection, and so, apparently, some "hard choices" were made. Also, it was reported that many trucks of purported Iraqi Gold and $1.6 billion of bricks of US cash were seized by US forces.

File:Saddamstatue.jpg

U.S. troops topple a giant statue of Saddam in Baghdad, following the capture of the city in April.

The FBI was soon called into Iraq to track down the stolen items. It was found that the initial claims of looting of substantial portions of the collection were heavily exaggerated. Initial reports claimed a near-total looting of the museum, estimated at upwards of 170,000 pieces. The most recent estimate places the number of looted pieces at around 15,000. Over 5,000 looted items have since been recovered. [163]

There has been speculation that some objects still missing were not taken by looters after the war, but were taken by Saddam Hussein or his entourage before or during the fighting. There have also been reports that early looters had keys to vaults that held rarer pieces, and some have speculated as to the pre-meditated systematic removal of key artifacts.

The National Museum of Iraq was only one of many museums and sites of cultural significance that were affected by the war. Many in the arts and antiquities communities briefed policy makers in advance of the need to secure Iraqi museums. Despite the looting being lighter than initially feared, the cultural loss of items from ancient Sumeria is significant.

More serious for the post-war state of Iraq was the looting of hundreds of thousands of tons of heavy ordinance: artillery shells, aircraft bombs, mortars; all of which were then used to attack US forces, Iraqi officials, and civilians by the insurgents and terrorists. After invading to prevent WMD’s, the Iraqi nuclear facilities weren’t even a priority- the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, with about 100 tons of uranium, was allowed to be looted. Video showed locals crossing through the fence as US troops looked on passively. [164]

Zainab Bahrani, professor of Ancient Near Eastern Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, reports that a helicopter landing pad was constructed in the heart of the ancient city of Babylon, and "removed layers of archeological earth from the site. The daily flights of the helicopters rattle the ancient walls and the winds created by their rotors blast sand against the fragile bricks. When my colleague at the site, Maryam Moussa, and I asked military personnel in charge that the helipad be shut down, the response was that it had to remain open for security reasons, for the safety of the troops." [165]

Bahrani also reports that this summer "the wall of the Temple of Nabu and the roof of the Temple of Ninmah, both sixth century BC, collapsed as a result of the movement of helicopters."

Electrical power is scarce in post-war Iraq, Bahrani reports, and some fragile artifacts, including the Ottoman Archive, will not survive the loss of refrigeration.

"End of major combat operations" (May 2003)

On 1 May 2003 George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq war. Bush's landing was criticized by opponents as an overly theatrical and expensive stunt. Clearly visible in the background was a banner stating "Mission Accomplished." The banner, made by White House staff[166]) and hung by the U.S. Navy, was criticized as premature - especially later as the guerrilla war dragged on. The White House subsequently released a statement alleging that the sign and Bush's visit referred to the initial invasion of Iraq and disputing the claim of theatrics. The speech itself noted: "We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous." ([167])

"Major combat" concluding did not mean that peace had returned to Iraq. Iraq was subsequently marked by violent conflict between U.S.-led occupation of Iraq soldiers and forces described by the occupiers as insurgents. Some critics of the invasion (such as former CIA analyst Bill Christison (writing in Counterpunch)) argue that there are parallels between the current situation in Iraq and the Vietnam War ([168], or film-maker George Lucas [169]). Many supporters of the invasion disagree, for example U.S. Senator John McCain, a Vietnam veteran, who said in a speech given to the U.S. Senate on April 7, 2004: "I know we do not face another Vietnam." [170]

The ongoing resistance in Iraq was concentrated in, but not limited to, an area referred to by Western media and the occupying forces as the Sunni triangle and Baghdad [171]. Critics point out that the regions where violence is most common are also the most populated regions. This resistance may be described as guerrilla warfare. The tactics in use were to include mortars, suicide bombers, roadside bombs, small arms fire, and RPGs, as well as sabotage against the oil infrastructure. There are also accusations, questioned by some, about attacks toward the power and water infrastructure.

There is evidence that some of the resistance was organized, perhaps by the fedayeen and other Saddam Hussein or Ba'ath loyalists, religious radicals, Iraqis angered by the occupation, and foreign fighters. [172] The insurgents are generally known to the Coalition forces as Ali Baba, after a character in the Arabian Nights. However, the Coalition forces use of Ali Baba comes from the Iraqi people's own slang for "enemy." More often Coalition forces refer to the insurgents with the same more general term they use to refer to all Iraqis: Hadji. Used properly, this term is a honorific term used to designate those Muslims who have gone on the Hajj.

After the war, information began to emerge about several failed Iraqi peace initiatives, including offers as extensive as allowing 5,000 FBI agents in to search the country for weapons of mass destruction, support for the US-backed Roadmap For Peace, and the abdication of Saddam Hussein to be replaced under UN elections.

On May 24, 2005 the International Institute for Strategic Studies stated that Washington's policies of promoting democracy in Iraq and elsewhere looked "increasingly effective".

In June of 2005 a new service medal, known as the Iraq Campaign Medal, was authorized by the United States Department of Defense for service performed during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The decoration replaced the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, which had previously been issued by Iraq service. This gave indication that the 2003 invasion of Iraq is seen as a separate conflict from the war on terrorism as a whole.

Deaths

Estimates of the casualties from the Iraq War (beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the ensuing occupation and insurgency and civil war) have come in several forms, and those estimates of different types of Iraq War casualties vary greatly.

Estimating war-related deaths poses many challenges.^[1]^[2] Experts distinguish between population-based studies, which extrapolate from random samples of the population, and body counts, which tally reported deaths and likely significantly underestimate casualties.^[3] Population-based studies produce estimates of the number of Iraq War casualties ranging from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (per the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 1,033,000 excess deaths (per the 2007 Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey). Other survey-based studies covering different time-spans find 461,000 total deaths (over 60% of them violent) as of June 2011 (per PLOS Medicine 2013), and 655,000 total deaths (over 90% of them violent) as of June 2006 (per the 2006 Lancet study). Body counts counted at least 110,600 violent deaths as of April 2009 (Associated Press). The Iraq Body Count project documents 186,901 – 210,296 violent civilian deaths in their table. All estimates of Iraq War casualties are disputed.^[4]^[5]

Tables

The tables below summarize reports on Iraqi casualty figures.

Scientific surveys:

Source	Estimated violent deaths	Time period
Iraq Family Health Survey	151,000 violent deaths	March 2003 to June 2006
Lancet survey	601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths	March 2003 to June 2006
PLOS Medicine Survey^[4]	460,000 deaths in Iraq as direct or indirect result of the war including more than 60% of deaths directly attributable to violence.	March 2003 to June 2011

Body counts:

Source	Documented deaths from violence	Time period
Associated Press	110,600 violent deaths.^[6]^[7]	March 2003 to April 2009
Iraq Body Count project	186,901 – 210,296 civilian deaths from violence.^[8]	March 2003 onwards
Classified Iraq War Logs^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]	109,032 deaths including 66,081 civilian deaths.^[13]^[14]	January 2004 to December 2009

Overview: Iraqi death estimates by source Summary of casualties of the Iraq War. Possible estimates on the number of people killed in the invasion and occupation of Iraq vary widely,^[15] and are highly disputed. Estimates of casualties below include both the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the following Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present.

Iraq war logs	Classified US military documents released by WikiLeaks in October 2010, record Iraqi and Coalition military deaths between January 2004 and December 2009.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[16]^[17] The documents record 109,032 deaths broken down into "Civilian" (66,081 deaths), "Host Nation" (15,196 deaths),"Enemy" (23,984 deaths), and "Friendly" (3,771 deaths).^[14]^[18]
Iraqi Health Ministry	The Health Ministry of the Iraqi government recorded 87,215 Iraqi violent deaths between January 1, 2005, and February 28, 2009. The data was in the form of a list of yearly totals for death certificates issued for violent deaths by hospitals and morgues. The official who provided the data told the Associated Press said the ministry does not have figures for the first two years of the war, and estimated the actual number of deaths at 10 to 20 percent higher because of thousands who are still missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records.^[6]^[7]
The Associated Press	Associated Press stated that more than 110,600 Iraqis had been killed since the start of the war to April 2009. This number is per the Health Ministry tally of 87,215 covering January 1, 2005, to February 28, 2009 combined with counts of casualties for 2003–2004, and after February 29, 2009, from hospital sources and media reports.^[6]^[7] For more info see farther down at The Associated Press and Health Ministry (2009).
Iraq Body Count	The Iraq Body Count project (IBC) figure of documented civilian deaths from violence is 183,535 – 206,107 through April 2019. This includes reported civilian deaths due to Coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and increased criminal violence.^[8] The IBC site states: "many deaths will probably go unreported or unrecorded by officials and media."^[19]
Iraq Family Health Survey	Iraq Family Health Survey for the World Health Organization.^[20]^[21] On January 9, 2008, the World Health Organization reported the results of the "Iraq Family Health Survey" published in The New England Journal of Medicine.^[22] The study surveyed 9,345 households across Iraq and estimated 151,000 deaths due to violence (95% uncertainty range, 104,000 to 223,000) from March 2003 through June 2006. Employees of the Iraqi Health Ministry carried out the survey.^[23]^[24]^[25] See also farther down: Iraq Family Health Survey (IFHS, 2008).
Opinion Research Business	Opinion Research Business (ORB) poll conducted August 12–19, 2007, estimated 1,033,000 violent deaths due to the Iraq War. The range given was 946,000 to 1,120,000 deaths. A nationally representative sample of approximately 2,000 Iraqi adults answered whether any members of their household (living under their roof) were killed due to the Iraq War. 22% of the respondents had lost one or more household members. ORB reported that "48% died from a gunshot wound, 20% from the impact of a car bomb, 9% from aerial bombardment, 6% as a result of an accident and 6% from another blast/ordnance."^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29]^[30]
United Nations	The United Nations reported that 34,452 violent deaths occurred in 2006, based on data from morgues, hospitals, and municipal authorities across Iraq.^[31]
Lancet studies	The Lancet study's figure of 654,965 excess deaths through the end of June 2006 is based on household survey data. The estimate is for all excess violent and nonviolent deaths. That also includes those due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc. 601,027 deaths (range of 426,369 to 793,663 using a 95% confidence interval) were estimated to be due to violence. 31% of those were attributed to the Coalition, 24% to others, 46% unknown. The causes of violent deaths were gunshot (56%), car bomb (13%), other explosion/ordnance (14%), airstrike (13%), accident (2%), unknown (2%). A copy of a death certificate was available for a high proportion of the reported deaths (92% of those households asked to produce one).^[32]^[33]^[34]
PLOS Medicine Study	The PLOS Medicine study's figure of approximately 460,000 excess deaths through the end of June 2011 is based on household survey data including more than 60% of deaths directly attributable to violence. The estimate is for all excess violent and nonviolent deaths. That also includes those due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc. 405,000 deaths (range of 48,000 to 751,000 using a 95% confidence interval) were estimated as excess deaths attributable to the conflict. They estimated at least 55,000 additional deaths occurred that the survey missed, as the families had migrated out of Iraq. The survey found that more than 60% of excess deaths were caused by violence, with the rest caused indirectly by the war, through degradation of infrastructure and similar causes. The survey notes that although car bombs received more significant press internationally, gunshot wounds were responsible for the majority (63%) of violent deaths. The study also estimated that 35% of violent deaths were attributed to the Coalition, and 32% to militias. Cardiovascular conditions accounted for about half (47%) of nonviolent deaths, chronic illnesses 11%, infant or childhood deaths other than injuries 12.4%, non-war injuries 11%, and cancer 8%.^[4]
Ali al-Shemari (previous Iraqi Health Minister)	Concerning war-related deaths (civilian and non-civilian), and deaths from criminal gangs, Iraq's Health Minister Ali al-Shemari said that since the March 2003 invasion between 100,000 and 150,000 Iraqis had been killed.^[35] "Al-Shemari said on Thursday [November 9, 2006] that he based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues and hospitals – though such a calculation would come out closer to 130,000 in total."^[36] For more info see farther down at Iraq Health Minister estimate in November 2006.
Costs of War Project	268,000 - 295,000 people were killed in violence in the Iraq war from March 2003 - Oct. 2018, including 182,272 - 204,575 civilians (using Iraq Body Count's figures), according to the findings of the Costs of War Project, a team of 35 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, assembled by Brown University and the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, "about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the related violence in Pakistan and Syria." The civilian violent death numbers are "surely an underestimate."^[37]^[38]^[39]^[40]

Overview: Death estimates by group

Iraqi Security Forces (aligned with Coalition)	From June 2003, through December 31, 2010, there have been 16,623 Iraqi military and police killed based on several estimates.^[41] The Iraq Index of the Brookings Institution keeps a running total of ISF casualties.^[42] There is also a breakdown of ISF casualties at the iCasualties.org website.^[43]
Iraqi insurgents	From June 2003, through September 30, 2011, there have been 26,320-27,000+ Iraqi insurgents killed based on several estimates.^[44]
Media and aid workers	136 journalists and 51 media support workers were killed on duty according to the numbers listed on source pages on February 24, 2009.^[45]^[46]^[47] (See Category:Journalists killed while covering the Iraq War.) 94 aid workers have been killed according to a November 21, 2007, Reuters article.^[48]^[49]
U.S. armed forces	Graph of monthly deaths of U.S. military personnel in Iraq from beginning of war to June 24, 2008.^[50] As of July 19, 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Defense casualty website, there were 4,431 total deaths (including both killed in action and non-hostile) and 31,994 wounded in action (WIA) as a result of the Iraq War. As a part of Operation New Dawn, which was initiated on September 1, 2010, there were 74 total deaths (including KIA and non-hostile) and 298 WIA.^[51] See the references for a breakdown of the wounded, injured, ill, those returned to duty (RTD), those requiring medical air transport, non-hostile-related medical air transports, non-hostile injuries, diseases, or other medical reasons.^[51]^[52]^[53]^[54]^[55]^[56]
Coalition deaths by hostile fire	As of 23 October 2011^[update], hostile-fire deaths accounted for 3,777 of the 4,799 total coalition military deaths.^[57]
Armed forces of other coalition countries	See Multinational force in Iraq. As of 24 February 2009^[update], there were 318 deaths from the armed forces of other Coalition nations. 179 UK deaths and 139 deaths from other nations. Breakdown:^[52]^[53]^[58] Australia – 2 Azerbaijan – 1 Bulgaria – 13 Czech Republic – 1 Denmark – 7 El Salvador – 5 Estonia – 2 Fiji – 1 Georgia – 5 Hungary – 1 Italy – 33 Kazakhstan – 1 Latvia – 3 Netherlands – 2 Poland – 30 Portugal – 1 Romania – 4 Slovakia – 4 South Korea – 1 Spain – 11 Thailand – 2 Ukraine – 18 United Kingdom – 179
Contractors	Contractors. At least 1,487 deaths between March 2003 and June 2011 according to the list of private contractor deaths in Iraq. 245 of those are from the U.S.^[59]^[60]^[61]^[62]^[63] Contractors are "Americans, Iraqis and workers from more than three dozen other countries."^[64] 10,569 wounded or injured.^[59] Contractors "cook meals, do laundry, repair infrastructure, translate documents, analyze intelligence, guard prisoners, protect military convoys, deliver water in the heavily fortified Green Zone and stand sentry at buildings – often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."^[65] A July 4, 2007, Los Angeles Times article reported 182,000 employees of U.S.-government-funded contractors and subcontractors (118,000 Iraqi, 43,000 other, 21,000 U.S.).^[60]^[66]

Overview: Iraqi injury estimates by source

Iraqi Human Rights Ministry	The Human Rights Ministry of the Iraqi government recorded 250,000 Iraqi injuries between 2003 and 2012.^[67] The ministry had earlier reported that 147,195 injuries were recorded for the period 2004–2008.^[68]
Iraqi Government	Iraqi Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh reported that 239,133 Iraqi injuries were recorded by the government between 2004 and 2011.^[69]
Iraq war logs	Classified US military documents released by WikiLeaks in October 2010, recorded 176,382 injuries, including 99,163 civilian injuries between January 2004 and December 2009.^[70]
Iraq Body Count	The Iraq Body Count project reported that there were at least 20,000 civilian injuries in the earliest months of the war between March and July 2003.^[71] A follow-up report noted that at least 42,500 civilians were reported wounded in the first two years of the war between March 2003 and March 2005.^[72]
UN Assistance Mission for Iraq	The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) reported that there were 36,685 Iraqi injuries during the year 2006.^[73]
Iraqi Health Ministry	The Health Ministry of the Iraqi government reported that 38,609 Iraqi injuries had occurred during the year 2007, based on statistics derived from official Iraqi health departments' records. Baghdad had the highest number of injuries (18,335), followed by Nineveh (6,217), Basra (1,387) and Kirkuk (655).^[74]

Additional statistics for the Iraq War

Overview of casualties by type

(see the rest of the article below for more info)

Dead

Iraqis:
Deadliest single insurgent bombings:^[75]
- August 14, 2007. Truck bombs – 2007 Yazidi communities bombings (in northwestern Iraq):
  - 796 killed.
Other deadly days:
- November 23, 2006, (281 killed) and April 18, 2007, (233 killed):
  - "4 bombings in Baghdad kill at least 183. ... Nationwide, the number of people killed or found dead on Wednesday [, April 18, 2007, ] was 233, which was the second deadliest day in Iraq since Associated Press began keeping records in May 2005. Five car bombings, mortar rounds and other attacks killed 281 people across Iraq on November 23, 2006, according to the AP count."^[76]

Wounded in action

As of January 12, 2007, 500 U.S. troops have undergone amputations due to the Iraq War. Toes and fingers are not counted.^[77]
As of September 30, 2006, 725 American troops have had limbs amputated from wounds received in Iraq and Afghanistan.^[78]
A 2006 study by the Walter Reed Medical Center, which serves more critically injured soldiers than most VA hospitals, concluded that 62 percent of patients there had suffered a brain injury.^[79]
In March 2003, U.S. military personnel were wounded in action at a rate averaging about 350 per month. As of September 2007, this rate has increased to about 675 per month.^[56]

Injured/fallen ill

U.S. military: number unknown.
- An October 18, 2005, USA Today article reports:
  - "More than one in four U.S. troops have come home from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical or mental health treatment, according to The Pentagon's first detailed screening of service members leaving a war zone."^[80]
Iraqi combatants: number unknown

Refugees

As of November 4, 2006, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.^[81]

Iraqi invasion casualties

Franks reportedly estimated soon after the invasion that there had been 30,000 Iraqi casualties as of April 9, 2003.^[82] That number comes from the transcript of an October 2003 interview of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with journalist Bob Woodward. But neither could remember the number clearly, nor whether it was just for deaths, or both deaths and wounded.

A May 28, 2003, Guardian article reported that "Extrapolating from the death-rates of between 3% and 10% found in the units around Baghdad, one reaches a toll of between 13,500 and 45,000 dead among troops and paramilitaries."^[83]

An October 20, 2003, study by the Project on Defense Alternatives at Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, estimated that for March 19, 2003, to April 30, 2003, the "probable death of approximately 11,000 to 15,000 Iraqis, including approximately 3,200 to 4,300 civilian noncombatants."^[84]^[85]

The Iraq Body Count project (IBC) documented a higher number of civilian deaths up to the end of the major combat phase (May 1, 2003). In a 2005 report,^[86] using updated information, the IBC reported that 7,299 civilians are documented to have been killed, primarily by U.S. air and ground forces. There were 17,338 civilian injuries inflicted up to May 1, 2003. The IBC says its figures are probably underestimates because: "many deaths will probably go unreported or unrecorded by officials and media."^[19]

Iraqi civilian casualties

A soldier carries a wounded Iraqi child into the Charlie Medical Centre at Camp Ramadi, Iraq (March 20, 2007).

A disabled 28-year-old Iraqi woman lost both of her legs during combat operations (May 7, 2006)

Iraq Body Count project (IBC)

An independent British-American group, the Iraq Body Count project (IBC project) compiles reported Iraqi civilian deaths resulting from war since the 2003 invasion and ensuing insurgency and civil war, including those caused directly by coalition military action, Iraqi military actions, the Iraqi insurgency, and those resulting from excess crime. The IBC maintains that the occupying authority has a responsibility to prevent these deaths under international law.

The IBC project has recorded a range of at least 185,194 – 208,167 total violent civilian deaths through June 2020 in their database.^[8]^[19] The Iraq Body Count (IBC) project records its numbers based on a "comprehensive survey of commercial media and NGO-based reports, along with official records that have been released into the public sphere. Reports range from specific, incident based accounts to figures from hospitals, morgues, and other documentary data-gathering agencies." The IBC was also given access to the WikiLeaks disclosures of the Iraq War Logs.^[9]^[87]

Iraq Body Count project data shows that the type of attack that resulted in the most civilian deaths was execution after abduction or capture. These accounted for 33% of civilian deaths and 29% of these deaths involved torture. The following most common causes of death were small arms gunfire at 20%, suicide bombs at 14%, vehicle bombs at 9%, roadside bombs at 5%, and air attacks at 5%.^[88]

The IBC project, reported that by the end of the major combat phase of the invasion period up to April 30, 2003, 7,419 civilians had been killed, primarily by U.S. air-and-ground forces.^[8]^[86]

The IBC project released a report detailing the deaths it recorded between March 2003 and March 2005^[86] in which it recorded 24,865 civilian deaths. The report says the U.S. and its allies were responsible for the largest share (37%) with 9,270 deaths. The remaining deaths were attributed to anti-occupation forces (9%), crime (36%) and unknown agents (11%). It also lists the primary sources used by the media – mortuaries, medics, Iraqi officials, eyewitnesses, police, relatives, U.S.-coalition, journalists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), friends/associates and other.

According to a 2010 assessment by John Sloboda, director of Iraq Body Count, 150,000 people including 122,000 civilians were killed in the Iraq War with U.S. and Coalition forces responsible for at least 22,668 insurgents as well as 13,807 civilians, with the rest of the civilians killed by insurgents, militias, or terrorists.^[89]

The IBC project has been criticized by some, including scholars, who believe it counts only a small percentage of the number of actual deaths because of its reliance on media sources.^[30]^[90]^[91]^[92]^[93] The IBC project's director, John Sloboda, has stated, "We've always said our work is an undercount, you can't possibly expect that a media-based analysis will get all the deaths."^[94] However, the IBC project rejects many of these criticisms as exaggerated or misinformed.^[95]

According to a 2013 Lancet article, the Iraq Body Count is "a non-peer-reviewed but innovative online and media-centred approach that passively counted non-combatant civilian deaths as they were recorded in the media and available morgue reports. In passive surveillance no special effort is made to find those deaths that go unreported. The volunteer staff collecting data for the IBC have risked criticism that their data are inherently biased because of scarcity or absence of independent verification, variation in original sources of information, and underestimation of mortality from violence... In research circles, random cross-sectional cluster sampling survey methods are deemed to be a more rigorous epidemiological method in conflict settings."^[96]

Civilian deaths by perpetrator

In 2011, the IBC published data in PLOS Medicine on 2003-2008 civilian deaths in Iraq by perpetrator and cause of death. The study broke down civilian deaths by perpetrator into the following categories:^[97]

74% unidentified perpetrator: defined as "those who target civilians (i.e., no identifiable military target is present), while appearing indistinguishable from civilians: for example, a suicide bomber disguised as a civilian in a market. Unknown (i.e., unidentified) perpetrators in Iraq include sectarian combatants and Anti-Coalition combatants who maintain a civilian appearance while targeting civilians."

11% anti-coalition forces: defined as "un-uniformed combatants identified by attacks on coalition targets" during the event. Anti-Coalition combatants in the event of targeting purely civilians would instead be classed under the "unidentified perpetrator" category.

12% coalition forces: identified by uniforms or use of air attacks.

IBC table of violent civilian deaths

Following are the yearly IBC Project violent civilian death totals, broken down by month from the beginning of 2003. Table below is copied irregularly from the source page, and is soon out-of-date as data is continually updated at the source. As of June 12, 2023 the top of the IBC database page with the table says 186,901 – 210,296 "Documented civilian deaths from violence". That page also says: "Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence."^[8]

Monthly civilian deaths from violence, 2003 onwards^[8]
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Yearly totals
2003	3	2	3986	3448	545	597	646	833	566	515	487	524	12,152
2004	610	663	1004	1303	655	910	834	878	1042	1033	1676	1129	11,737
2005	1222	1297	905	1145	1396	1347	1536	2352	1444	1311	1487	1141	16,583
2006	1546	1579	1957	1805	2279	2594	3298	2865	2567	3041	3095	2900	29,526
2007	3035	2680	2728	2573	2854	2219	2702	2483	1391	1326	1124	997	26,112
2008	861	1093	1669	1317	915	755	640	704	612	594	540	586	10,286
2009	372	409	438	590	428	564	431	653	352	441	226	478	5,382
2010	267	305	336	385	387	385	488	520	254	315	307	218	4,167
2011	389	254	311	289	381	386	308	401	397	366	288	392	4,162
2012	531	356	377	392	304	529	469	422	400	290	253	299	4,622
2013	357	360	403	545	888	659	1145	1013	1306	1180	870	1126	9,852
2014	1097	972	1029	1037	1100	4088	1580	3340	1474	1738	1436	1327	20,218
2015	1490	1625	1105	2013	1295	1355	1845	1991	1445	1297	1021	1096	17,578
2016	1374	1258	1459	1192	1276	1405	1280	1375	935	1970	1738	1131	16,393
2017	1119	982	1918	1816	1871	1858	1498	597	490	397	346	291	13,183
2018	474	410	402	303	229	209	230	201	241	305	160	155	3,319
2019	323	271	123	140	167	130	145	93	151	361	274	215	2,393
2020	114	148	73	52	74	64	49	82	54	70	74	54	908
2021	64	56	49	66	49	46	87	60	41	65	23	63	669
2022	62	46	42	31	82	44	67	80	68	63	65	90	740
2023	56	52	76	85	45								314

People's Kifah

The Iraqi political party People's Kifah, or Struggle Against Hegemony (PK) said that its survey conducted between March and June 2003 throughout the non-Kurdish areas of Iraq tallied 36,533 civilians killed in those areas by June 2003. While detailed town-by-town totals were given by the PK spokesperson, details of methodology are very thin and raw data is not in the public domain. A still-less-detailed report on this study appeared some months later on Al Jazeera's website, and covered casualties up to October 2003.^[98]

Iraqi refugees crisis

Roughly 40 percent of Iraq's middle class is believed to have fled, the U.N. reported in 2007. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return. All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted by militias, Iraqi insurgents and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of 2006, according to Human Rights Watch, and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been killed and 250 kidnapped since the 2003 U.S. invasion.^[99]

Coalition military casualties

Coalition deaths by country

USA: 4,492
UK: 179
Italy: 33
Poland: 23
Ukraine: 18
Bulgaria: 13
Spain: 11
Denmark: 7
El Salvador: 5
Georgia: 5
Slovakia: 4
Latvia: 3
Romania: 3
Australia: 2
Estonia: 2
Netherlands: 2
Thailand: 2
Azerbaijan: 1
Czech Republic: 1
Fiji: 1
Hungary: 1
Kazakhstan: 1
South Korea: 1

TOTAL: 4,810

Most U.S. casualties, like these in a C-17 military transport aircraft, return to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. (unknown date)

For the latest casualty numbers see the overview chart at the top of the page.

Since the official handover of power to the Iraqi Interim Government on June 28, 2004, coalition soldiers have continued to come under attack in towns across Iraq.

National Public Radio, iCasualties.org, and GlobalSecurity.org have month-by-month charts of American troop deaths in the Iraq War.^[15]^[100]^[101]

A U.S. Marine killed in April 2003 is carried away after receiving his Last Rites.

The combined total of coalition and contractor casualties in the conflict is now over ten times that of the 1990–1991 Gulf War. In the Gulf War, coalition forces suffered around 378 deaths, and among the Iraqi military, tens of thousands were killed, along with thousands of civilians.

Troops fallen ill, injured, or wounded

See the overview chart at the top of the page for recent numbers.

On August 29, 2006, The Christian Science Monitor reported:^[102] "Because of new body armor and advances in military medicine, for example, the ratio of combat-zone deaths to those wounded has dropped from 24 percent in Vietnam to 13 percent in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, the numbers of those killed as a percentage of overall casualties is lower."

Many U.S. veterans of the Iraq War have reported a range of serious health issues, including tumors, daily blood in urine and stool, sexual dysfunction, migraines, frequent muscle spasms, and other symptoms similar to the debilitating symptoms of "Gulf War syndrome" reported by many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, which some believe is related to the U.S.'s use of radioactive depleted uranium.^[103]

A study of U.S. veterans published in July 2004 in The New England Journal of Medicine on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that 5 percent to 9.4 percent (depending on the strictness of the PTSD definition used) suffered from PTSD before deployment. After deployment, 6.2 percent to 19.9 percent suffered from PTSD. For the broad definition of PTSD that represents an increase of 10.5 percent (19.9 percent – 9.4 percent = 10.5 percent). That is 10,500 additional cases of PTSD for every 100,000 U.S. troops after they have served in Iraq. ePluribus Media, an independent citizen journalism collective, is tracking and cataloging press-reported possible, probable, or confirmed incidents of post-deployment or combat-zone cases in its PTSD Timeline.^[104]

Information on injuries suffered by troops of other coalition countries is less readily available, but a statement in Hansard indicated that 2,703 U.K. soldiers had been medically evacuated from Iraq for wounds or injuries as of October 4, 2004, and that 155 U.K. troops were wounded in combat in the initial invasion.^[105]

Leishmaniasis has been reported by U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, including visceral leishmaniasis.^[106] Leishmaniasis, spread by biting sand fleas, was diagnosed in hundreds of U.S. troops compared to just 32 during the first Gulf War.^[107]

Accidents and negligence

As of August 2008, sixteen American troops have died from accidental electrocutions in Iraq according to the Defense Department.^[108] One soldier had been electrocuted in a shower, while another had been electrocuted in a swimming pool. KBR, the contractor responsible, had been warned by employees of unsafe practices, and was criticised following the revelations.^[109]

Nightline controversy

Ted Koppel, host of ABC's Nightline, devoted his entire show on April 30, 2004, to reading the names of 721 of the 737 U.S. troops who had died thus far in Iraq. (The show had not been able to confirm the remaining sixteen names.) Claiming that the broadcast was "motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq", the Sinclair Broadcast Group took the action of barring the seven ABC network-affiliated stations it controls from airing the show. The decision to censor the broadcast drew criticism from both sides, including members of the armed forces, opponents of the war, MoveOn.org, and most notably Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, who denounced the move as "unpatriotic" and "a gross disservice to the public".^[110]^[111]^[112]

Amputees

As of January 18, 2007, there were at least 500 American amputees due to the Iraq War. In 2016, the number was estimated to be 1,650 U.S. troops.^[113] The 2007 estimate suggests amputees represent 2.2% of the 22,700 U.S. troops wounded in action (5% for soldiers whose wounds prevented them returning to duty).^[77]

Traumatic brain injuries

By March 2009, the Pentagon estimated as many as 360,000 U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts may have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI), including 45,000 to 90,000 veterans with persistent symptoms requiring specialized care.^[114]

In February 2007, one expert from the VA estimated that the number of undiagnosed TBIs were higher than 7,500.^[115]

According to USA Today, by November 2007 there were more than an estimated 20,000 US troops who had signs of brain injuries without being classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.^[116]

Mental illness and suicide

A top U.S. Army psychiatrist, Colonel Charles Hoge, said in March 2008 that nearly 30% of troops on their third deployment suffered from serious mental-health problems, and that one year was not enough time between combat tours.^[117]

A March 12, 2007, Time article^[118] reported on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. About one third of the 103,788 veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seen at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities between September 30, 2001, and September 30, 2005, were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder, such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. More than half of those diagnosed, 56 percent, were suffering from more than one disorder. The most common combination was post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

In January 2008, the U.S. Army reported that the rate of suicide among soldiers in 2007 was the highest since the Army started counting in 1980. There were 121 suicides in 2007, a 20-percent jump over the prior year. Also, there were around 2100 attempted suicides and self-injuries in 2007.^[119] Other sources reveal higher estimates.^[120]

Time magazine reported on June 5, 2008:

Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. ... About a third of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq say they can't see a mental-health professional when they need to. When the number of troops in Iraq surged by 30,000 last year, the number of Army mental-health workers remained the same – about 200 – making counseling and care even tougher to get.^[117]

In the same article Time also reported on some of the reasons for the prescription drug use:

That imbalance between seeing the price of war up close and yet not feeling able to do much about it, the survey suggests, contributes to feelings of "intense fear, helplessness or horror" that plant the seeds of mental distress. "A friend was liquefied in the driver's position on a tank, and I saw everything", was a typical comment. Another: "A huge f______ bomb blew my friend's head off like 50 meters from me." Such indelible scenes – and wondering when and where the next one will happen – are driving thousands of soldiers to take antidepressants, military psychiatrists say. It's not hard to imagine why.^[117]

Concern has been expressed by mental health professionals about the effects on the emotional health and development of returning veterans' infants and children, due to the increased rates of interpersonal violence, posttraumatic stress, depression, and substance abuse that have been reported among these veterans.^[121]^[122]^[123] Moreover, the stressful effects of physical casualties and loss pose enormous stress for the primary caregiver that can adversely affect her or his parenting, as well as the couple's children directly.^[124] The mental health needs of military families in the aftermath of combat exposure and other war-related trauma have been thought likely to be inadequately addressed by the military health system that separates mental health care of the returning soldier from his or her family's care, the latter of whom is generally covered under a contracted, civilian managed-care system.^[122]^[121]

Iraqi insurgent casualties

Total insurgent deaths are hard to estimate.^[125]^[126] In 2003, 597 insurgents were killed, according to the U.S. military.^[127] From January 2004 through December 2009 (not including May 2004 and March 2009), 23,984 insurgents were estimated to have been killed based on reports from Coalition soldiers on the frontlines.^[128] In the two missing months from the estimate, 652 were killed in May 2004,^[9] and 45 were killed in March 2009.^[129] In 2010, another 676 insurgents were killed.^[130] In January and March through October 2011, 451 insurgents were killed.^[131]^[132]^[133]^[134]^[135]^[136]^[137]^[138]^[139] Based on all of these estimates some 26,405 insurgents/militia were killed from 2003, up until late 2011.

However, this number could be low compared to reality as it only counts combat deaths against US-led forces; insurgents also frequently clashed between each other and those killed by noncombat causes are not counted. There have been contradictions between the figures released by the U.S. military and those released by the Iraqi government. For example, the U.S. military's number of insurgents killed in 2005, is 3,247, which is in contrast to the Iraqi government's figure of 1,734, however, fear of civilians fatalities, numbers were lowered.^[140] In 2007, 4,544 militants were killed according to the Iraqi ministries,^[141] while the U.S. military claimed 6,747 died. Also, in 2008, 2,028 insurgents were reported killed^[142] and in 2009, with the exception of the month of June, 488 were killed according to the Iraqi Defence Ministry.^[143] These numbers are also not in line with the U.S. military estimate of some 3,984 killed in 2008 and 2009.^[144]

U.S. military- and Iraqi Defence Ministry-provided numbers, including suicide bombers

2011 – 451 (not including February & August)
2010 – 676
2009 – 488 (not including June)
2008 – 2,028
2007 – 6,747 (U.S. military), 4,544 (Iraqi Defence Ministry)
2006 – 3,902
2005 – 3,247 (U.S. military), 1,734 (Iraqi Defence Ministry)
2004 – 6,801
2003 – 603

In addition as of August 22, 2009, approximately 1,719 suicide-bombers had also been reported killed.

2009–73
2008 – 257
2007 – 442^[145]
2006 – 297^[145]^[146]
2005 – 478^[147]
2004 – 140^[147]
2003 (from August to December) – 32^[148]

Grand total – 21,221–26,405 insurgents dead

On September 28, 2006, an Al Qaeda leader claimed that 4,000 foreign insurgents had been killed in the war.^[149]

On June 6, 2008, an Iraqi Army official revealed that about 6,000 Al Qaeda fighters were among the insurgents killed since the start of the war up until April 2008.^[150]

The US military also reported on the number of suspected insurgents who were detained, arrested, or captured. From June 2003 through August 2007 the US military reported that 119,752 were detained, compared to 18,832 that had been killed.^[151]

Contractor casualties

By July 2007, the Department of Labor recorded 933 deaths of contractors in Iraq.^[152] By April 2007, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction stated that the number of civilian contractor deaths on US-funded projects in Iraq was 916.^[61] In January 2007, the Houston Chronicle reported that the Pentagon did not track contractor deaths in Iraq.^[153] In January 2017, an estimated 7,761 contractors had been injured in Iraq, but their nationality was not known.^[153] By the end 2006, civilian contractors suffered "3,367 injuries serious enough to require four or more days off the job."^[154] The Labor Department had these numbers because it tracked workers' compensation claims by injured workers or families of slain contractors under the federal Defense Base Act.^[153]

Health outcomes

By November 2006, there were reports of a significant deterioration of the Iraq health care system as a result of the war.^[155]^[35]

In 2007, an Iraqi Society of Psychiatrists and WHO study found that 70% of 10,000 primary school students in the Sha'ab section of north Baghdad are suffering from trauma-related symptoms.^[156]

Subsequent articles in The Lancet and Al Jazeera have suggested that the number of cases of birth defects, cancer, miscarriages, illnesses and premature births may have increased dramatically after the first and second Iraq wars, due to the presences of depleted uranium and chemicals introduced during American attacks, especially around Fallujah, Basra and Southern Iraq.^[96]^[157]

Total Iraqi casualties

Estimates of the total number of Iraqi war-related deaths for certain periods of time are highly disputed.

Iraq Living Conditions Survey (2004)

A study commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), called the Iraq Living Conditions Survey (ILCS), sampled almost 22,000 households across all Iraqi provinces. It estimated 24,000 war-related violent deaths by May 2004 (with a 95 percent confidence interval from 18,000 to 29,000). This study did not attempt to measure what portion of its estimate was made up of civilians or combatants. It would include Iraqi military killed during the invasion, as well as "insurgents" or other fighters thereafter.^[158] This study has been criticized for various reasons. For more info see the section in Lancet surveys of Iraq War casualties that compares the Lancet and UNDP ILCS studies.

Lancet (2004)

The October 2004 Lancet study^[159] done by public health experts from Johns Hopkins University and published on October 29, 2004, in The Lancet medical journal, estimated that 100,000 "excess" Iraqi deaths from all causes had occurred since the U.S. invasion began. The study did not attempt to measure how many of these were civilian, but the study's authors have said they believe that the "vast majority" were non-combatants, based on 7% of the casualties being women and 46% being children under the age of 15 (including Falluja data). To arrive at these excess death figures, a survey was taken from 988 Iraqi households in 33 clusters throughout Iraq, in which the residents were asked how many people lived there and how many births and deaths there had been since the war began. They then compared the death rate with the average from the 15 months before the war. Iraqis were found to be 1.5 times more likely to die from all causes after the invasion (rising from 0.5% to 0.79% per year) than in the 15 months preceding the war, producing an estimate of 98,000 excess deaths. This figure excluded data from one cluster in Falluja, which was deemed too much of an outlier for inclusion in the national estimate. If it included data from Falluja, which showed a higher rate of violent deaths than the other 32 clusters combined, the increased death rate would be raised from 1.5 to 2.5-fold, violent deaths would be 58 times more likely with most of them due to air-strikes by coalition forces, and an additional 200,000 fatalities would be estimated.^[160]

Iraqiyun estimate (2005)

The Iraqi non-governmental organisation, Iraqiyun, estimated 128,000 deaths from the invasion until July 2005.^[32] A July 2005 United Press International (UPI) article said the number came from the chairman of the Iraqiyun humanitarian organization in Baghdad, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani. He said 55 percent of those killed were women, and children aged 12 and under. The UPI article reported: "Iraqiyun obtained data from relatives and families of the deceased, as well as from Iraqi hospitals in all the country's provinces. The 128,000 figure only includes those whose relatives have been informed of their deaths and does not include those were abducted, assassinated or simply disappeared."^[161] A 2010 book by Nicolas Davies reported the Iraqiyun estimate, and that Iraqiyun was affiliated with the political party of Interim President Ghazi Al-Yawer. Davies wrote: "The report specified that it included only confirmed deaths reported to relatives, omitting significant numbers of people who had simply disappeared without trace amid the violence and chaos."^[162]^[163]

Lancet (2006)

The October 2006 Lancet study by Gilbert Burnham (of Johns Hopkins University) and co-authors^[32]^[33] estimated total excess deaths (civilian and non-civilian) related to the war of 654,965 excess deaths up to July 2006. The 2006 study was based on surveys conducted between May 20 and July 10, 2006. More households were surveyed than during the 2004 study, allowing for a 95% confidence interval of 392,979 to 942,636 excess Iraqi deaths. Those estimates were far higher than other available tallies at the time.^[164]

The Burnham et al. study has been described as the most controversial study in survey research on armed conflict,^[165] and its findings have been widely disputed in the academic literature.^[166]^[167]^[168]^[169]^[170]^[171]^[172]^[173] Shortly after publication, the study's estimate and methodology came under criticism from a number of sources, including the United States government, academics, and the Iraq Body Count.^[174] At the time, other experts praised the methodology of the study.^[175]^[176]^[177] John Tirman, who commissioned and directed the funding for the study defended the study.^[178]^[179]^[180]^[181]^[182] A 2008 systematic review of casualty estimates in the Iraq War in the journal Conflict and Health concluded that the highest quality studies have used "population-based methods" that have "yielded the highest estimates.^[183] A 2016 study described the Lancet study as seen "widely viewed among peers as the most rigorous investigations of Iraq War–related mortality among Iraqi civilians," and argued that part of the criticism "may have been politically motivated."^[184]

A number of peer-reviewed studies criticized the Lancet study on the basis of its methodology and exaggerated casualty numbers.^[185]^[186]^[187]^[188]^[189]^[190]^[191]^[192]^[193]^[168]^[194]^[195]^[196] The authors of the Lancet study were also accused of ethical breaches in terms of how the survey was conducted and in how the authors responded to requests for data and information.^[191]^[192]^[166]^[194] In 2009, the lead author of the Lancet study was censured by American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) for refusing to provide "several basic facts about" the study.^[197] AAPOR had over a 12-year period only formally censured two other individuals.^[194]^[166] In 2012, Michael Spagat noted that six peer-reviewed studies had identified shortcomings in the Lancet study, and that the Lancet authors had yet to make a substantive response to the critiques.^[194] According to Spagat, there is "ample reason" to discard Lancet study estimate.^[194] Columbia University statistician Andrew Gelman said in 2014 that "serious flaws have been demonstrated" in the Lancet study,^[198] and in 2015 that his impression was that the Lancet study "had pretty much been discredited".^[199] Joshua Goldstein, professor emeritus of International Relations at American University, wrote that critics of the study "have argued convincingly that the sample method was biased."^[200] According to University of Delaware sociologist Joel Best in his book Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data, "it seems likely that [the Lancet estimate] was too large".^[201] Conflict scholars Nils Petter Gleditsch, Erik Melander and Henrik Urdal said there were "major biases" in the study, leading to oversampling of households affected by violence.^[171]

A 2008 study in the Journal of Peace Research found that the 2006 Lancet study may have considerably overestimated Iraq War casualties, that the study made "unusual" methodological choices, and called on the 2006 Lancet study authors to make all of their data available.^[185] The 2008 study was awarded "Article of the Year – 2008" by the Journal of Peace Research, with the jury of Lars-Erik Cederman (ETH Zürich), Jon Hovi (University of Oslo) and Sara McLaughlin Mitchell (University of Iowa) writing that the "authors show convincingly that previous studies which are based on a cross-street cluster-sampling algorithm (CSSA) have significantly overestimated the number of casualties in Iraq."^[186] American University political scientist Thomas Zeitzoff said the Journal of Peace Research study showed the Lancet study to be "wildly inaccurate" due to its reliance on information from biased samples.^[202]

Michael Spagat criticized the 2006 Lancet study in a 2010 article for the journal Defence and Peace Economics. Spagat wrote that he found "some evidence relating to data fabrication and falsification" and "this evidence suggests that this survey cannot be considered a reliable or valid contribution towards knowledge about the extent of mortality in Iraq since 2003".^[191] Spagat also chided the Lancet study for "ethical violations to the survey's respondents including endangerment, privacy breaches and violations in obtaining informed consent".^[191] In a letter to the journal Science, Spagat said that the Lancet study had failed replication in a study by the WHO (the Iraq Family Health Survey).^[192] Spagat noted that the lead author of the 2006 study had been censured by the American Association for Public Opinion Research for "repeatedly refusing to disclose the corresponding information for his survey".^[192]

The Iraq Family Health Survey published by WHO researchers in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the 2006 Lancet study results "considerably overestimated the number of violent deaths" and that the results are highly improbable.^[193] In comparing the two studies, peace researcher Kristine Eck of Uppsala University notes that the IFHS study which covered the same period as the Lancet survey "was based on a much larger sample (9,345 households compared to Burnham et al's 1,849) in far more clusters (1,086 clusters compared to Burnham et al's 47)."^[165] In comparing the two studies, Joachim Kreutz of Stockholm University and Nicholas Marsh of PRIO said the IFHS study produced "a more reliable estimate."^[203] Oxford University political scientist Adam Roberts wrote that the IFHS study was "more rigorous."^[195]

Burnham, Edward J. Mills, and Frederick M. Burkle noted that the IFHS's data indicated that Iraqi mortality increased by a factor of 1.9 following the invasion, compared to the factor of 2.4 found by Burnham et al., which translates to some 433,000 excess Iraqi deaths (violent and non-violent). Timothy R. Gulden considered it implausible that fewer than one-third of these excess deaths would have been violent in nature. Francisco J. Luquero and Rebecca F. Grais argued that the IFHS's lengthy survey and use of IBC data as a proxy for particularly dangerous areas likely resulted in an underestimate of violent mortality, while Gulden hypothesized that respondents may have been reluctant to report violent deaths to researchers working with the Iraqi government.^[204] In a similar vein, Tirman observed that the Iraqi Health Ministry was affiliated with Shi'ite sectarians at the time, remarking that there was evidence that many violent deaths may have been recategorized as "non-violent" to avoid government retribution: "For example, the number of deaths by auto accidents rose by four times the pre-invasion rate; had this single figure been included in the violent deaths category, the overall estimate would have risen to 196,000."^[205] Gulden even commented that "the IFHS results are easily in line with the finding of more than 600,000 violent deaths in the study by Burnham et al." However, the authors of the IFHS rejected such claims: "Because the level of underreporting is almost certainly higher for deaths in earlier time periods, we did not attempt to estimate excess deaths. The excess deaths reported by Burnham et al. included only 8.2% of deaths from nonviolent causes, so inclusion of these deaths will not increase the agreement between the estimates from the IFHS and Burnham et al."^[204]

A graph in the Lancet article purportedly demonstrating that its conclusions are in line with violence trends measured by the IBC and Defense Department used cherry-picked data and had two Y-axes;^[206]^[207] the authors conceded that the graph was flawed, but the Lancet never retracted it.^[208]^[209]

Iraq Health Minister estimate (2006)

In early November 2006 Iraq's Health Minister Ali al-Shemari said that he estimated between 100,000 and 150,000 people had been killed since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion.^[35]^[36]^[210]^[211] The Taipei Times reported on his methodology: "Al-Shemari said on Thursday [, November 9, 2006,] that he based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues and hospitals – though such a calculation would come out closer to 130,000 in total."^[36] The Washington Post reported: "As al-Shemari issued the startling new estimate, the head of the Baghdad central morgue said Thursday he was receiving as many as 60 violent death victims each day at his facility alone. Dr. Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaidi said those deaths did not include victims of violence whose bodies were taken to the city's many hospital morgues or those who were removed from attack scenes by relatives and quickly buried according to Muslim custom."^[211]

From a November 9, 2006, International Herald Tribune article:^[35]

Each day we lost 100 persons, that means per month 3,000, per year it's 36,000, plus or minus 10 percent", al-Shemari said. "So by three years, 120,000, half-year 20,000, that means 140,000, plus or minus 10 percent", he said, explaining how he came to the figures. "This includes all Iraqis killed – police, ordinary people, children", he said, adding that people who were kidnapped and later found dead were also included in his estimate. He said the figures were compiled by counting bodies brought to "forensic institutes" or hospitals.

From a November 11, 2006, Taipei Times article:^[36]

An official with the ministry also confirmed the figure yesterday [November 10, 2006], but later said that the estimated deaths ranged between 100,000 and 150,000. "The minister was misquoted. He said between 100,000–150,000 people were killed in three-and-a-half years", the official said.

United Nations (2006)

The United Nations reported that 34,452 violent deaths occurred in 2006, based on data from morgues, hospitals, and municipal authorities across Iraq.^[31]

D3 Systems poll (2007)

From February 25 to March 5, 2007, D3 Systems [173] conducted a poll for the BBC, ABC News, ARD and USA Today.^[212]^[213]^[214]^[215]^[216]^[217]

ABC News reported: "One in six says someone in their own household has been harmed. ... 53 percent of Iraqis say a close friend or immediate family member has been hurt in the current violence. That ranges from three in 10 in the Kurdish provinces to, in Baghdad, nearly eight in 10."^[213]

The methodology was described thus: "This poll... was conducted February 25 – March 5, 2007, through in-person interviews with a random national sample of 2,212 Iraqi adults, including oversamples in Anbar province, Basra city, Kirkuk and the Sadr City section of Baghdad. The results have a 2.5-point error margin."^[213]^[215]^[218]

There was a field staff of 150 Iraqis in all. That included 103 interviewers, interviewing selected respondents at 458 locales across the country.^[215] "This poll asked about nine kinds of violence (car bombs, snipers or crossfire, kidnappings, fighting among opposing groups or abuse of civilians by various armed forces)."^[215]

Question 35 asked: "Have you or an immediate family member – by which I mean someone living in this household – been physically harmed by the violence that is occurring in the country at this time?" Here are the results^[215] in percentages:

Groups	Yes	No
All	17	83
Sunni	21	79
Shiite	17	83
Kurdish	7	93

17% of respondents reported that at least one member of the household had been "physically harmed by the violence that is occurring in the country at this time." The survey did not ask whether multiple household members had been harmed.

Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey (2007, 2008)

A September 14, 2007, estimate by Opinion Research Business (ORB), an independent British polling agency, suggested that the total Iraqi violent death toll due to the Iraq War since the U.S.-led invasion was in excess of 1.2 million (1,220,580). These results were based on a survey of 1,499 adults in Iraq from August 12–19, 2007.^[27]^[28] ORB published an update in January 2008 based on additional work carried out in rural areas of Iraq. Some 600 additional interviews were undertaken and as a result of this the death estimate was revised to 1,033,000 with a given range of 946,000 to 1,120,000.^[26]^[219]

Participants of the ORB survey were asked the following question: "How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (ie as a result of violence rather than a natural death such as old age)? Please note that I mean those who were actually living under your roof."

This ORB estimate has been strongly criticised as exaggerated and ill-founded in peer reviewed literature.^[220]^[194] According to Carnegie Mellon University historian Jay D. Aronson, "Because this was a number that few people could take seriously (given the incredible magnitude of violence that would have had to take place daily for such a number to be even remotely possible), the ORB study has largely been ignored."^[196]

Iraq Family Health Survey (IFHS, 2008)

The Iraq Family Health Survey published in 2008 in The New England Journal of Medicine surveyed 9,345 households across Iraq and was carried out in 2006 and 2007. It estimated 151,000 deaths due to violence (95% uncertainty range, 104,000 to 223,000) from March 2003 through June 2006.^[193]

The study was done by the "Iraq Family Health Survey Study Group", a collaborative effort of six organizations: the Federal Ministry of Health, Baghdad; Kurdistan Ministry of Planning, Erbil; Kurdistan Ministry of Health, Erbil; Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology, Baghdad; World Health Organization Iraq office, Amman, Jordan; World Health Organization, Geneva.^[193]

The Associated Press and Health Ministry (2009)

In April 2009, the Associated Press reported that Iraq Health Ministry had recorded (via death certificates issued by hospitals and morgues) a total of 87,215 violent deaths of Iraqi citizens between January 1, 2005, and February 28, 2009. The number excludes thousands of missing persons and civilians whose deaths were unrecorded; the government official who provided the data told the AP that if included, the number of dead for that period would be 10 to 20 percent higher.^[6]^[7]

The Associated Press used the Health Ministry tally and other data (including counts of casualties for 2003–2004, and after March 1, 2009, from hospital sources and media reports, in major part the Iraq Body Count) to estimate that more than 110,600 Iraqis were killed from the start of the war to April 2009. Experts interviewed by the AP found this estimate to be credible and an "important baseline" although necessarily an estimate because of unrecorded deaths, especially in inaccessible areas. While mass graves discovered over time shed more light on deaths in the Iraq War, the AP noted that "how many remain will never be known."^[6]^[7]

PLOS Medicine (2013)

A 2013 study by Hagopian et al. in PLOS Medicine estimated that 461,000 Iraqis died as a result of the Iraq War.^[4] The study used a similar methodology as the 2006 Lancet study and had the lead author of the 2006 study as one of the 12 authors.^[221] According to one of the authors, Amy Hagopian, half of the casualties not resulting from violence were due to inadequate treatment of cardiovascular disease.^[222] Upon the study's publication, Michael Spagat, a critic of the 2006 Lancet study, said that the 2013 study seemed "to fix most of the methodological flaws of the 2006 paper".^[221] Spagat however noted that he found the large confidence interval of the 2013 study disconcerting.^[221] Other critics of the 2006 Lancet study mirrored Spagat's views, noting that the 2013 study was an improvement but that the large confidence interval was concerning.^[222]

A 2017 study by Spagat and Van Weezel replicated the 2013 study by Hagopian et al. and found that the 500,000 casualty estimate by Hagopian et al. was not supported by data.^[223] Spagat and Van Weezel said that Hagopian et al. made many methodological errors.^[223] Hagopian et al. defended their original study, arguing that Van Weezel and Spagat misunderstood their method.^[91] Van Weezel and Spagat answered, saying that the response by Hagopian et al. "avoids the central points, addresses only secondary issues and makes ad hominem attacks."^[224]

Some media estimates

In December 2005 President Bush said there were 30,000 Iraqi dead. White House spokesman Scott McClellan later said it was "not an official government estimate", and was based on media reports.^[225]^[226]

For 2006, a January 2, 2007, Associated Press article reports: "The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defence and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers had been killed in the violence that raged across the country last year. The Associated Press figure, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths."^[227] The Australian reports in a January 2, 2007, article: "A figure of 3700 civilian deaths in October '[2006]', the latest tally given by the UN based on data from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, was branded exaggerated by the Iraqi Government."^[228] Iraqi government estimates include "people killed in bombings and shootings but not deaths classed as 'criminal'." Also, they "include no deaths among the many civilians wounded in attacks who may die later from wounds. Nor do they include many people kidnapped whose fate remains unknown."^[228]

A June 25, 2006, Los Angeles Times article, "War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000",^[229] reported that their estimate of violent deaths consisted "mostly of civilians" but probably also included security forces and insurgents. It added that, "Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths in the chaotic first year after the invasion, when there was no functioning Iraqi government, and continued spotty reporting nationwide since." Here is how the Times got its number: "The Baghdad morgue received 30,204 bodies from 2003 through mid-2006, while the Health Ministry said it had documented 18,933 deaths from 'military clashes' and 'terrorist attacks' from April 5, 2004, to June 1, 2006. Together, the toll reaches 49,137. However, samples obtained from local health departments in other provinces show an undercount that brings the total well beyond 50,000. The figure also does not include deaths outside Baghdad in the first year of the invasion."

Reviews

A 2008 review of Iraqi death estimates concluded that 600,000 deaths between 2003 and 2006 likely undercounted total mortality:^[183]

Studies assessed as the highest quality, those using population-based methods, yielded the highest estimates... Our review indicates that, despite varying estimates, the mortality burden of the war and its sequelae on Iraq is large... Of the population-based studies, the Roberts and Burnham studies provided the most rigorous methodology as their primary outcome was mortality... not surprisingly their studies have been roundly criticized given the political consequences of their findings and the inherent security and political problems of conducting this type of research.

A 2016 review came to similar conclusions,^[184] stating that estimates of very high Iraqi casualties published in the journal Lancet are

"...widely viewed among peers as the most rigorous investigations of Iraq War–related mortality among Iraqi civilians; we agree with this assessment and believe that the [PLOS] study is also scientifically rigorous... [Iraqi civilian deaths] in fact, may have been underestimated by these scientifically conservative studies."

According to a 2017 review by Keith Krause of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, "the consensus seems to be that around 150,000 people died violently as a result of the fighting between 2003 and 2006."^[230]

Undercounting

Some studies estimating the casualties due to the war in Iraq say there are various reasons why the estimates and counts may be low.

Morgue workers have alleged that official numbers underestimate the death toll.^[231] The bodies of some casualties do not end up in morgue and thus may go unrecorded.^[232] In 2006, The Washington Post reported: "Police and hospitals often give widely conflicting figures of those killed in major bombings. In addition, death figures are reported through multiple channels by government agencies that function with varying efficiency."^[211]

A January 31, 2008 Perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine contains the following discussion of undercounting Iraqi civilian casualties in household surveys:

... sometimes it was problematic or too dangerous to enter a cluster of households, which might well result in an undercount; data from the Iraq Body Count on the distribution of deaths among provinces were used to calculate estimates in these instances. If the clustering of violent deaths wasn't accurately captured, that could also increase uncertainty. The sampling frame was based on a 2004 count, but the population has been changing rapidly and dramatically because of sectarian violence, the flight of refugees, and overall population migration. Another source of bias in household surveys is underreporting due to the dissolution of some households after a death, so that no one remains to tell the former inhabitants' story.^[233]

The Washington Post noted in 2008 that

research has shown that household surveys typically miss 30 to 50 percent of deaths. One reason is that some families that have suffered violent deaths leave the survey area. ... Some people are kidnapped and disappear, and others turn up months or years later in mass graves. Some are buried or otherwise disposed of without being recorded. In particularly violent areas, local governments have effectively ceased to function, and there are ineffective channels for collecting and passing information between hospitals, morgues and the central government.^[25]

The October 2006 Lancet study^[32]^[33] states:

Aside from Bosnia, we can find no conflict situation where passive surveillance [used by the IBC] recorded more than 20% of the deaths measured by population-based methods [used in the Lancet studies]. In several outbreaks, disease and death recorded by facility-based methods underestimated events by a factor of ten or more when compared with population-based estimates. Between 1960 and 1990, newspaper accounts of political deaths in Guatemala correctly reported over 50% of deaths in years of low violence but less than 5% in years of highest violence.^[32]

The report describes no other specific examples except for this study of Guatemala.

Juan Cole wrote in October 2006 that even though heavy fighting could be observed, none of the Iraqi casualties in the skirmishes were reported on, which suggests undercounting.^[234]

A July 28, 2004, opinion piece by Robert Fisk published by The Independent reports that "some families bury their dead without notifying the authorities."^[235]

Stephen Soldz, who runs the website "Iraq Occupation and Resistance Report", wrote in a February 5, 2006, article:^[236]

Of course, in conditions of active rebellion, the safer areas accessible to Western reporters are likely to be those under US/Coalition control, where deaths are, in turn, likely to be due to insurgent attacks. Areas of insurgent control, which are likely to be subject to US and Iraqi government attack, for example most of Anbar province, are simply off-limits to these reporters. Thus, the realities of reporting imply that reporters will be witness to a larger fraction of deaths due to insurgents and a lesser proportion of deaths due to US and Iraqi government forces.

An October 19, 2006, The Washington Post article^[174] reports:

The deaths reported by officials and published in the news media represent only a fraction of the thousands of mutilated bodies winding up in Baghdad's overcrowded morgue each month. ... Bodies are increasingly being dumped in and around Baghdad in fields staked out by individual Shiite militias and Sunni insurgent groups. Iraqi security forces often refuse to go to the dumping grounds, leaving the precise number of bodies in those sites unknown. Civilian deaths, unlike those of American troops, often go unrecorded.

The Australian reported in January 2007 that Iraqi government casualty estimates do not count deaths classed as 'criminal', deaths of civilians who get wounded and die later from the wounds, or kidnap victims who have not been found.^[228]

The Iraq Body Count project (IBC) stated in November 2004 that "we have always been quite explicit that our own total is certain to be an underestimate of the true position, because of gaps in reporting or recording".^[237]

Underreporting by U.S. authorities

An April 2005 article by The Independent^[238] reports:

A week before she was killed by a suicide bomber, humanitarian worker Marla Ruzicka forced military commanders to admit they did keep records of Iraqi civilians killed by US forces. ... in an essay Ms Ruzicka wrote a week before her death on Saturday and published yesterday, the 28-year-old revealed that a Brigadier General told her it was "standard operating procedure" for US troops to file a report when they shoot a non-combatant. She obtained figures for the number of civilians killed in Baghdad between February 28 and April 5 [2005], and discovered that 29 had been killed in firefights involving US forces and insurgents. This was four times the number of Iraqi police killed.

The December 2006 report of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) found that the United States has filtered out reports of violence in order to disguise its perceived policy failings in Iraq.^[239] A December 7, 2006, McClatchy Newspapers article^[239] reports that the ISG found that U.S. officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence on one day in July 2006, yet "a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light more than 1,100 acts of violence." The article further reports:

The finding confirmed a September 8 McClatchy Newspapers report that U.S. officials excluded scores of people killed in car bombings and mortar attacks from tabulations measuring the results of a drive to reduce violence in Baghdad. By excluding that data, U.S. officials were able to boast that deaths from sectarian violence in the Iraqi capital had declined by more than 52 percent between July and August, McClatchy newspapers reported.

From the ISG report itself:

A murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the source of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the database. A roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count.^[239]

Casualties caused by criminal and political violence

U.S. Army medics lift a wounded Iraqi police officer into an ambulance (March 2007)

In May 2004, Associated Press completed a survey^[232] of the morgues in Baghdad and surrounding provinces. The survey tallied violent deaths from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, through April 30, 2004.

From the AP article:

In Baghdad, a city of about 5.6 million, 4,279 people were recorded killed in the 12 months through April 30, [2004], according to figures provided by Kais Hassan, director of statistics at Baghdad's Medicolegal Institute, which administers the city's morgues. "Before the war, there was a strong government, strong security. There were a lot of police on the streets and there were no illegal weapons", he said during an AP reporter's visit to the morgue. "Now there are few controls. There is crime, revenge killings, so much violence." The figure does not include most people killed in big terrorist bombings, Hassan said. The cause of death in such cases is obvious so bodies are usually not taken to the morgue, but given directly to victims' families. Also, the bodies of killed fighters from groups like the al-Mahdi Army are rarely taken to morgues.

Accidental trauma deaths from car accidents, falls, etc. are not included in the numbers. The article reports that the numbers translate to 76 killings per 100,000 people in Baghdad, compared to 39 in Bogotá, Colombia, 7.5 in New York City, and 2.4 in neighboring Jordan. The article states that there were 3.0 killings per 100,000 people in Baghdad in 2002 (the year before the war). Morgues surveyed in other parts of Iraq also reported large increases in the number of homicides. Karbala, south of Baghdad, increased from an average of one homicide per month in 2002 to an average of 55 per month in the year following the invasion; in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, where there were no homicides in 2002, the rate had grown to an average of 17 per month; in the northern province of Kirkuk, the rate had increased from 3 per month in 2002 to 34 per month in the survey period.^[232]

References

^ Wang, Haidong; et al. (8–14 October 2014). "Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". The Lancet. 388 (10053): 1459–1544. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31012-1. PMC 5388903. PMID 27733281. Indeed, it has been challenging to accurately document the number of casualties from wars and deaths resulting from malnutrition, infections, or disruption in health services during wars.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
^ Adhikari, Neill KJ; et al. (16–22 October 2010). "Critical care and the global burden of critical illness in adults". The Lancet. 376 (9749): 1339–1346. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60446-1. PMC 7136988. PMID 20934212. However, during times of war, we should remember that evidence from systematic household cluster sampling suggests that most excess deaths, and, by extension, most demands for intensive care, do not arise from violence but from medical disorders resulting from the breakdown of public health infrastructure (eg, cholera), or from the discontinuation of treatment of chronic diseases caused by interruption of pharmaceutical supplies.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
^ Tapp, Christine; et al. (7 March 2008). "Iraq War mortality estimates: A systematic review". Conflict and Health. 2 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/1752-1505-2-1. PMC 2322964. PMID 18328100. Of the population-based studies, the Roberts and Burnham studies provided the most rigorous methodology as their primary outcome was mortality. Their methodology is similar to the consensus methods of the SMART initiative, a series of methodological recommendations for conducting research in humanitarian emergencies. [...] However, not surprisingly their studies have been roundly criticized given the political consequences of their findings and the inherent security and political problems of conducting this type of research. Some of these criticisms refer to the type of sampling, duration of interviews, the potential for reporting bias, the reliability of its pre-war estimates, and a lack of reproducibility. The study authors have acknowledged their study limitations and responded to these criticisms in detail elsewhere. They now also provide their data for reanalysis to qualified groups for further review, if requested. [...] The IBC was largely established as an activist response to US refusals to conduct mortality counts. This account, however, is problematic as it relies solely on news reports that would likely considerably underestimate the total mortality.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hagopian, Amy; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Takaro, Tim K.; Esa Al Shatari, Sahar A.; Rajaratnam, Julie; Becker, Stan; Levin-Rector, Alison; Galway, Lindsay; Hadi Al-Yasseri, Berq J.; Weiss, William M.; Murray, Christopher J.; Burnham, Gilbert; Mills, Edward J. (October 15, 2013). "Mortality in Iraq Associated with the 2003–2011 War and Occupation: Findings from a National Cluster Sample Survey by the University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study". PLOS Medicine. 10 (10): e1001533. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001533. PMC 3797136. PMID 24143140.
^ Levy, Barry S.; Sidel, Victor W. (March 2016). "Documenting the Effects of Armed Conflict on Population Health". Annual Review of Public Health. 37: 205–218. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021913. PMID 26989827. S2CID 32121791. Although the Roberts and Burnham studies faced some criticism in the news media and elsewhere, part of which may have been politically motivated, these studies have been widely viewed among peers as the most rigorous investigations of Iraq War–related mortality among Iraqi civilians; we agree with this assessment and believe that the Hagopian study is also scientifically rigorous. Although the methodology and results in the four studies cited here have varied somewhat, it is clear that the Iraq War caused, directly and indirectly, a very large number of deaths among Iraqi civilians—which, in fact, may have been underestimated by these scientifically conservative studies. A paper by Tapp and colleagues and a recent report by three country affiliates of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War have extensively reviewed these four epidemiological studies as well as other studies that attempted to assess the impact of the Iraq War on morbidity and mortality.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Associated Press via NBC News. April 24, 2009. Report: 110,600 Iraqis killed since invasion . Full AP article.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Associated Press via Boston Herald. April 23, 2009. "AP Impact: Secret Tally Has 87,215 Iraqis Dead" Archived October 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Iraq Body Count database Archived July 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. From the Iraq Body Count project. The database page says: "Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Staff writer (October 23, 2010). "Iraq War Logs: What the Numbers Reveal" Archived January 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count.
^ ^a ^b Rogers, Simon (October 23, 2010). "Wikileaks Iraq: Data Journalism Maps Every Death – Data Journalism Allows Us To Really Interrogate the Wikileaks Iraq War Logs Release. Here Is the Statistical Breakdown – and Data for You To Download" Archived January 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Data Blog – Facts Are Sacred (blog on The Guardian). Retrieved November 20, 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Iraq: The War Logs" Archived December 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian.
^ ^a ^b Carlstrom, Gregg (October 22, 2010; last modified October 24, 2010 (at November 21, 2010)). "WikiLeaks Releases Secret Iraq File – Al Jazeera Accesses 400,000 Secret US Military Documents, Which Reveal the Inside Story of the Iraq War" Archived October 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
^ "The WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Greatest Data Leak in US Military History". Der Spiegel. October 22, 2010. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Leigh, David (October 22, 2010). "Iraq War Logs Reveal 15,000 Previously Unlisted Civilian Deaths – Leaked Pentagon Files Contain Records of More than 100,000 Fatalities Including 66,000 Civilians" Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Editors – Katz, Jeffrey; Doug Roberts, Doug; Sutherland, J.J. (undated). "The Toll of War – U.S. Troop Fatalities in Iraq since March 2003 – A Month-by-Month Count of U.S. Troops Killed in the Conflict" Archived May 11, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (bar chart of various death toll estimates). NPR. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
^ Staff writer (October 24, 2010). "Secret Iraq Files – US Turned Blind Eye To Torture" Archived November 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
^ Staff writer (undated). "Iraq War Logs – Related Articles, Background Features and Opinions about this Topic" Archived February 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (gateway/portal page of site). Der Spiegel. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
^ Staff writer (October 22, 2010). "WikiLeaks Iraq FAQs – What the Logs Really Say" Archived October 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Der Spiegel. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Iraq Body Count project Archived November 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Source of IBC quote on undercounting by media is here .
^ "Iraq Family Health Survey". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
^ Press release (January 9, 2008). "New Study Estimates 151,000 Violent Iraqi Deaths Since 2003 Invasion" Archived December 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Alkhuzai AH, Ahmad IJ, Hweel MJ, Ismail TW, et al. (2008). "Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002 to 2006". The New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (2): 484–93. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa0707782. PMID 18184950. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
^ Staff writer (January 10, 2008). "New Study Says 151,000 Iraqi Dead – One of the Biggest Surveys So Far of Iraqis Who Have Died Violently Since the US-Led Invasion of 2003 Has Put the Figure at About 151,000". BBC News. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Boseley, Sarah (January 10, 2008). "151,000 Civilians Killed Since Iraq Invasion – Figures Up to June 2006 from Household Survey – Government Accepts New estimate on Death Toll. The Guardian. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Brown, Davia; Partlow, Joshua (January 10, 2008)."New Estimate of Violent Deaths Among Iraqis Is Lower" Archived November 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Update on Iraqi Casualty Data" Archived February 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine by Opinion Research Business. January 2008.
^ ^a ^b "More than 1,000,000 Iraqis Murdered" Archived October 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. September 2007. Opinion Research Business. PDF report: "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ ^a ^b Susman, Tina (September 14, 2007). "Poll: Civilian Death Toll in Iraq May Top 1 Million" Archived May 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Los Angeles Times (via commondreams.org). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Beaumont, Peter; Walters, Joanna (September 16, 2007). "Greenspan Admits Iraq Was About Oil, As Deaths Put at 1.2 Million" Archived December 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Observer (via commondreams.org). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Staff writer (September 18, 2007). "The Media Ignore Credible Poll Revealing 1.2 Million Violent Deaths in Iraq" Archived November 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Media Lens. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ ^a ^b (registration required) Tavernise, Sabrina (January 17, 2007). "Iraqi Death Toll Exceeded 34,000 in '06, U.N. Says" Archived November 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e 2006 Lancet study. "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2015. (242 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, October 11, 2006
^ ^a ^b ^c Supplement to 2006 Lancet study: "The Human Cost of the War in Iraq: A Mortality Study, 2002–2006" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 17, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2007. (603 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Shannon Doosy, Elizabeth Dzeng, Riyadh Lafta, and Les Roberts.
^ Opinion essay (numerous signatories) (October 21, 2006). "The Iraq Deaths Study Was Valid and Correct" Archived January 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Age. Retrieved September 2, 2010
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Iraqi Health Minister Estimates as Many as 150,000 Iraqis Killed by Insurgents". November 9, 2006. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Staff writer (November 11, 2006). "Iraqi Death Toll Estimates Go as High as 150,000" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Agence France-Presse/Associated Press (via Taipei Times). Retrieved September 6, 2010.
^ Costs of War Archived February 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. (costsofwar.org). Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. See "About" page Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Human Cost of the Post-9/11 Wars: Lethality and the Need for Transparency Archived February 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. November 2018. By Neta C. Crawford, a project director at Costs of War Project Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
^ Half Million Killed by America's Global War on Terror 'Just Scratches the Surface' of Human Destruction Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Nov 9, 2018. By Jessica Corbett, staff writer, Common Dreams.
^ The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed at least 500,000 people, according to a new report that breaks down the toll Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Nov 9, 2018. By Daniel Brown, Business Insider.
^ 260 killed in 2003,[1] Archived June 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 15,196 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009),[2] Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine 67 killed in March 2009,[3] Archived February 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine and 1,100 killed in 2010,"Fewer Iraqi civilians, more security forces killed in 2010 - CNN". Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2014. thus giving a total of 16,623 dead
^ Database (undated; updated "every two weeks"). "Iraq Index – Tracking Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq" Archived May 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Brookings Institution. Retrieved September 3, 2010. (For the latest total of Iraqi police and military killed download the PDF file of the most recent Iraq Index, and look in the table of contents.)
^ Database (undated). "Operation Iraqi Freedom" "Iraqi Deaths" Archived March 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. iCasualties.org. Retrieved September 3, 2010. (An iCasualties.org breakdown of deaths in Iraq. See the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) column.)
^ 597 killed in 2003,[4] Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, 23,984 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009),[5] Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine 652 killed in May 2004,[6] Archived December 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine 45 killed in March 2009,[7] Archived September 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine 676 killed in 2010,[8] Archived August 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine 366 killed in 2011 (with the exception of February),[9] Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine [10] Archived February 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine [11] Archived August 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine [12] Archived February 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine"Death toll spikes for Iraqis, US troops". Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2011.[13] Archived December 8, 2011, at Bibliotheca Alexandrina"239 people killed in Iraq in August and killed by the U.S. Military". Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2011."Gulf Times – Qatar's top-selling English daily newspaper - Gulf/Arab World". Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2011. thus giving a total of 26,320 dead
^ iCasualties: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count – Journalists Killed Archived August 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). IRAQ: Journalists in Danger Archived July 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Media Workers Killed in Iraq Since March 2003 Archived September 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Ryan, Missy (November 21, 2007). "War-Weary Aid Groups Weigh Risk, Need in Iraq". Open Publishing. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ NGOs Coordination Committee in Iraq Archived April 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Pike, John. "U.S. Casualties in Iraq". Retrieved December 10, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM U.S. CASUALTY STATUS as of July 19, 2021, 10 a.m. EDT" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
^ ^a ^b iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al.., "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count" Archived February 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
^ ^a ^b "Forces: U.S. & Coalition Casualties" Archived June 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. CNN, From March 2003 onwards.
^ Many official U.S. tables at "Military Casualty Information" Archived March 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ "latest injury, disease, and other-medical totals" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Global War on Terrorism – Operation Iraqi Freedom, By Month" Archived June 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. United States Department of Defense. "Prepared by: Defense Manpower Data Center. Statistical Information Analysis Division."
^ Iraq Coalition Casualties: Military Fatalities Archived March 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
^ iCasualties OIF: Fatalities By Country Archived April 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
^ ^a ^b Debusmann, Bernd (July 3, 2007). "In Outsourced U.S. Wars, Contractor Deaths Top 1,000" Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 10,569 wounded and 933 deaths in Iraq. 224 are U.S. citizens.
^ ^a ^b iCasualties OIF: Contractor Deaths Archived March 20, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Incomplete list.
^ ^a ^b "Reconstruction Report: 916 Death Claims for Civilian Contractors in Iraq". USA Today. April 30, 2007.
^ "Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction: April 2007 Report" Archived February 24, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. "April 30, 2007 Quarterly Report to Congress (Highlights, All Sections and Appendices)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2010. (10.8 MB)
^ Broder, John M.; Risen, James (May 19, 2007). "Death Toll for Contractors Reaches New High in Iraq" Archived November 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2010. "workers from more than three dozen other countries".
^ Roberts, Michelle (February 24, 2007). "Contractor Deaths Add Up in Iraq" Archived June 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via the Deseret Morning News). Retrieved September 2, 2010. "... often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."
^ Miller, T. Christian (July 4, 2007). "Private Contractors Outnumber U.S. Troops in Iraq" . Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 182,000 contractors: "21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis".
^ "70,000 people killed in Iraq since 2003, says Human Rights Ministry" Archived January 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. AKnews March 14, 2012
^ "Breakdown of Iraqis killed in war from 2004 to 2008" Archived March 31, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press October 14, 2009
^ "More than 69,000 Iraqis killed between "2004–2011" – al-Dabbagh" Archived December 29, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Aswat al-Iraq February 29, 2012
^ "The War in Numbers" by James Ball, October 22, 2010
^ "Adding Indifference to Injury" Archived January 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count August 7, 2003
^ "A Dossier of Civilian Casualties in Iraq 2003–2005" Archived August 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count July 19, 2005
^ "Human Rights Report 1 November – 31 December 2006" Archived September 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. UN Assistance Mission for Iraq
^ "MoH reveals figures of 2007 violence victims" Archived May 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. National Iraqi News Agency June 21, 2008
^ Staff writer (January 17, 2007). "Chronology – The Deadliest Bomb Attacks in Iraq" Archived March 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters (via AlertNet). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Hurst, Steven; Frayer, Lauren. "4 Bombings in Baghdad Kill at Least 183". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ ^a ^b Weisskopf, Michael (January 18, 2007). "A Grim Milestone: 500 Amputees" Archived January 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Time. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Zimmerman, Eilene (November 8, 2006). "Getting Amputees Back on Their Feet – Navy's One-Stop, State-of-the-Art Rehabilitation Center in California Helps War Injured Realize Goals" Archived November 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Brain trauma a 'silent epidemic' among Iraq veterans Archived January 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. By Moni Basu. November 19, 2006. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
^ Zoroya, Gregg (October 18, 2005). "1 in 4 Iraq Vets Ailing on Return" Archived September 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Higgins, Alexander. "U.N.: 100,000 Iraq Refugees Flee Monthly". Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 4, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ "Secretary of Defense Interview with Bob Woodward". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2006-07-30. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
^ Steele, Jonathan (May 28, 2003). "Body Counts – The Western Media Focused on the Number of Civilians Killed in Afghan War, But the Country's Ill-Prepared Armed Forces Suffered Far Greater Losses". The Guardian. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Press release (October 28, 2003). "New Study Finds: 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War; 30 Percent are Non-Combatants; Death Toll Hurts Postwar Stability Efforts, Damages US Image Abroad" Archived October 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Project on Defense Alternatives (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Conetta, Carl (October 23, 2003). "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict – Project on Defense Alternative Research Monograph #8" Archived August 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Project on Defense Alternatives (via Commonwealth Institute). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "A Dossier of Civilian Casualties 2003–2005" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 24, 2006. Retrieved November 24, 2006. (650 KB). Iraq Body Count project. Report covers from March 20, 2003, to March 19, 2005, based on data available by June 14, 2005.
^ "Methods". Iraq Body Count. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
^ Hicks, Madelyn Hsiao-Rei; Dardagan, Hamit; Serdán, Gabriela Guerrero; Bagnall, Peter M.; Sloboda, John A.; Spagat, Michael (16 April 2009). "The Weapons That Kill Civilians — Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq, 2003–2008". New England Journal of Medicine. 360 (16): 1585–1588. doi:10.1056/NEJMp0807240. PMID 19369663. S2CID 37206162.
^ Katz, Yaakov (2010-10-29). "Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics". The Jerusalem Post.
^ Staff writer (April 28, 2006). "Iraq Body Count – Media Lens Responds" Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Newsnight. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Hagopian, Amy (2018). "How to estimate (and not to estimate) war deaths: A reply to van Weezel and Spagat". Research & Politics. 5: 205316801775390. doi:10.1177/2053168017753901.
^ Siegler, Anne; Roberts, Leslie; Balch, Erin; Bargues, Emmanuel; Bhalla, Asheesh; Bills, Corey; Dzeng, Elizabeth; Epelboym, Yan; Foster, Tory (July 2008). "Media coverage of violent deaths in iraQ: an opportunistic capture-recapture assessment". Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 23 (4): 369–371. doi:10.1017/s1049023x00006026. ISSN 1049-023X. PMID 18935953. S2CID 45808392.
^ Carpenter, Dustin; Fuller, Tova; Roberts, Les (June 2013). "WikiLeaks and Iraq Body Count: the sum of parts may not add up to the whole-a comparison of two tallies of Iraqi civilian deaths". Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 28 (3): 223–229. doi:10.1017/S1049023X13000113. ISSN 1049-023X. PMID 23388622. S2CID 41646092.
^ Fuller, David. (April 28, 2006) "Virtual War Follows Iraq Conflict" Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News (via Newsnight). Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ "Speculation is no substitute: a defence of Iraq Body Count" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
^ ^a ^b Burkle, Frederick; Garfield, Richard (16 March 2013). "Civilian mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq". The Lancet. 381 (9870): 877–879. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62196-5. PMID 23499026. S2CID 20887504.
^ Hicks MH-R, Dardagan H, Guerrero Serdán G, Bagnall PM, Sloboda JA, Spagat M (2011). Violent Deaths of Iraqi Civilians, 2003–2008: Analysis by Perpetrator, Weapon, Time, and Location. PLoS Med 8(2): e1000415. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000415.
^ Janabi, Ahmed (July 31, 2004). "Iraqi Group: Civilian Toll over 37,000". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on September 11, 2005. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ Lochhead, Carolyn (January 16, 2007). "Conflict in Iraq – Iraq Refugee Crisis Exploding – 40% of Middle Class Believed To Have Fled Crumbling Nation" Archived May 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ iCasualties: OIF US Fatalities by month Archived August 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. At iCasualties.org
^ U.S. Casualties in Iraq Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. At GlobalSecurity.org
^ Knickerbocker, Brad (August 29, 2006). "In Iraq, Fewer Killed, More Are Wounded – New Data Show Better Technology and Tactics Are Keeping Fatalities Down, But Injuries Remain High" Archived March 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Hastings, Deborah (August 12, 2006). "Is An Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers?". Associated Press (via Common Dreams NewsCenter. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ (registration required) Hoge, M.D., Charles W.; Castro, PhD, Carl A.; Messer, PhD, Stephen C.; McGurk, PhD, Dennis; Cotting, PhD, Dave I.; and Koffman, M.D., M.P.H., Robert L. (July 1, 2004). "Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care" Archived January 21, 2005, at the Wayback Machine. The New England Journal of Medicine.
^ "House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 4 October 2004". The United Kingdom Parliament. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Korzeniewski, K; Olszański, R (2004). "Leishmaniasis among soldiers of stabilization forces in Iraq. Review article". Int Marit Health. 55 (1–4): 155–63. PMID 15881551.
^ A REGION INFLAMED: MEDICINE; Hundreds of U.S. Troops Infected by Parasite Borne by Sand Flies, Army Says By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR.December 6, 2003 https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/06/world/region-inflamed-medicine-hundreds-us-troops-infected-parasite-borne-sand-flies.html Archived January 10, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
^ Staff writer (July 25, 2008). "Pentagon: 16 Soldiers Died from Electric Shock". Associated Press (via USA Today. Archived from the original on May 30, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ (registration required) Risen, James (May 4, 2008). "Despite Alert, Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.'s". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
^ "'Nightline' Sparks Controversy". Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
^ "PM – Controversy over reportage of dead US soldiers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on May 12, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
^ "Nightline Anchor Ted Koppel to Leave Abc News in December". PBS NewsHour. 2005-03-31. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
^ NANCY MONTGOMERY (March 18, 2017). "2016 marks first year without combat amputation since Afghan, Iraq wars began". Stars and Stripes.
^ Zoroya, Gregg (March 4, 2009). "360,000 Veterans May Have Brain Injuries" Archived September 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Mason, Michael (February 23, 2007). "Dead Men Walking – What Sort of Future Do Brain-Injured Iraq Veterans Face?" Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Discover. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
^ Zoroya, Gregg (November 22, 2007). "20,000 Vets' Brain Injuries Not Listed in Pentagon Tally" Archived January 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Thompson, Mark (June 5, 2008). "America's Medicated Army" Archived January 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Time. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Wallis, Claudia (March 12, 2007). "Casualty of War: Mental Health" Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Time. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Staff writer (January 31, 2008). "Army Report Reveals 121 Suspected Suicides Among Soldiers in 2007, 20 Percent Increase Over 2006" Archived February 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via Fox News). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ 18 veterans commit suicide each day. April 26, 2010. Army Times.
^ ^a ^b Schechter, D.S.; Davis, B.E. (2007). "Parenting in Times of Crisis". Pediatric Annals. 36 (4): 216–222. doi:10.3928/0090-4481-20070401-11. PMID 17469302.
^ ^a ^b "Psychiatric Annals". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
^ Sayers, S.L.; Farrow, V.A.; Ross, J.; Oslin, D.W. (2009). "Family Problems Among Recently Returned Military Veterans Referred for a Mental Health Evaluation". Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 70 (2): 163–170. doi:10.4088/jcp.07m03863. PMID 19210950. S2CID 23797701.
^ McFarlane, A.C. (2009). "Military Deployment: The Impact on Children and Family Adjustment and the Need for Care". Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 22 (4): 369–373. doi:10.1097/yco.0b013e32832c9064. PMID 19424067. S2CID 33825488.
^ Staff writer (July 26, 2005). "50,000 Iraqi Insurgents Dead, Caught" Archived December 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Times. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Staff writer (September 8, 2004). "Civilian, Insurgent Deaths Hard To Tally – Neither U.S. Nor Iraq Regime Keeps Count" Archived August 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Scripps Howard News Service (via Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Michaels, Jim (September 27, 2007). "19,000 Insurgents Killed in Iraq Since '03". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 28, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Leigh, David (October 22, 2010). "Iraq war logs reveal 15,000 previously unlisted civilian deaths". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
^ "March violence claims 252 Iraqi lives | ReliefWeb". Reliefweb.int. April 1, 2009. Archived from the original on September 3, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
^ Viola Gienger (December 30, 2010). "Iraq Civilian Deaths Drop for Third Year as Toll Eases After U.S. Drawdown". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ "Jan Iraq death toll highest in four months". The Age. February 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ "Two U.S. troops killed in Iraq". United Press International. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ "Iraq monthly death toll falls in April". Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ "Iraq death toll in May lowest in 2011". March 22, 2018. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ "Homepage – Daily News Egypt". Archived from the original on January 11, 2012.
^ "Iraq death toll for July second highest in 2011". MSN. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ 239 people killed in Iraq in August and killed by the U.S. military Archived January 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
^ Death toll in Iraq falls in September Archived October 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ Iraq death toll up sharply in October Archived November 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ Staff writer (January 4, 2006). "Nearly 6,000 Killed in Iraq Violence in 2005" Archived October 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. People's Daily. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ "Civilian casualties drop dramatically in Iraq". Reuters. Reuters. December 31, 2007. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ Staff writer (January 1, 2009). "Iraq Hails Lowest Monthly Death Toll in Nearly Three Years – Government Figures Reveal 6,226 Iraqis Killed in Iraq in 2008, Down from 6,772 in 2007" Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Middle East Online. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ "Rantburg article". Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
^ 25,287 killed from 2003 through 2009, of which 19,429 were killed up to September 22, 2007, [14] Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine with and additional 1,865 killed until the end of 2007, leaving 3,984 to have died in 2008 and 2009
^ ^a ^b Calderwood, James (April 2, 2007). "Suicide Bombings in Iraq on the Rise". Associated Press (via Fox News). Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Jervis, Rick (May 9, 2006). "Car Bombings Down in Iraq, Military Says". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Jervis, Rick (January 22, 2006). "Attacks in Iraq Jumped in 2005". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ http://www.e-prism.org/images/memo78.pdf Archived February 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine page 80, Figure 5
^ "Al Qaeda Leader: Over 4,000 Foreign Insurgents Killed in Iraq". September 28, 2006. Archived from the original on November 11, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ (subscription required) Staff writer (June 6, 2008). "Six Thousand Al Qaida Fighters Killed in Iraq Says Top Official" Archived June 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. iraqupdates.com. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ "Insurgent ‘body count’ records released." Archived July 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Stars and Stripes. October 1, 2007.
^ "In outsourced U.S. wars, contractor deaths top 1,000". Reuters. 2007. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ivanovich, David; Clanton, Brett (January 28, 2007). "Contractor Deaths in Iraq Nearing 800 – Toll Has Surged in Past Months, But Civilians Still Line Up for the Jobs" Archived February 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Roberts, Michelle (February 23, 2007). "Iraq Contractor Deaths Go Little Noticed". The Guardian.^{[dead link]}
^ Roug, Louise (November 11, 2006). "Decrepit Healthcare Adds to Toll in Iraq" . Los Angeles Times.
^ Palmer, James (March 19, 2007). "Protestors Plead for Peace – Civilian Toll: Iraqis Exhibit More Mental Health Problems" Archived November 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Jamail, Dahr (March 16, 2013). "Iraq's wars, a legacy of cancer". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
^ "Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004". United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on May 29, 2006.
^ Roberts, Les; Lafta, Riyadh; Garfield, Richard; Khudhairi, Jamal; Burnham, Gilbert (October 29, 2004). "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey". The Lancet. 368 (9545): 1421–8. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.88.4036. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(06)69491-9. PMID 17055943. S2CID 23673934.
^ "Study Puts Iraqi Toll at 100,000". CNN. October 29, 2004. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.
^ Iraqi civilian casualties Archived November 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. United Press International. July 12, 2005. Archived here "Iraqi civilian casualties | Iraq Mortality". Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2010. too.
^ Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq. Book by Nicolas J.S. Davies. Published June 2010. ISBN 1-934840-98-X, ISBN 978-1-934840-98-6. Iraqiyun info is from page 139.
^ "Unreported Iraqi war deaths revealed by Wikileaks are only the tip of an iceberg." Archived December 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine By Nicolas Davies. October 24, 2010. Article is here [15] Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, too.
^ Kahl, Colin H. (2007). "In the Crossfire or the Crosshairs? Norms, Civilian Casualties, and U.S. Conduct in Iraq". International Security. 32 (1): 7–46. doi:10.1162/isec.2007.32.1.7. ISSN 0162-2889. S2CID 57570400.
^ ^a ^b Kristine Eck, "Survey Research in Conflict and Post-conflict Societies" in Understanding Peace Research: Methods and Challenges^{[permanent dead link]} (eds. Kristine Hoglund & Magnus Oberg), Routledge: 2011, p. 171.
^ ^a ^b ^c Montclos, Marc-Antoine Pérouse de (2016). "Numbers Count: Dead Bodies, Statistics, and the Politics of Armed Conflicts". Violence, Statistics, and the Politics of Accounting for the Dead. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development. Springer, Cham. pp. 47–69. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12036-2_3. ISBN 978-3-319-12035-5.
^ Axinn, William G.; Ghimire, Dirgha; Williams, Nathalie E. (2012). "Collecting Survey Data during Armed Conflict". Journal of Official Statistics. 28 (2): 153–171. ISSN 0282-423X. PMC 3571111. PMID 23420645.
^ ^a ^b Spagat, Michael; Mack, Andrew; Cooper, Tara; Kreutz, Joakim (2009). "Estimating War Deaths: An Arena of Contestation". The Journal of Conflict Resolution. 53 (6): 934–950. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.511.6965. doi:10.1177/0022002709346253. JSTOR 20684623. S2CID 154416100.
^ Jewell, Nicholas P.; Spagat, Michael; Jewell, Britta L. (2018). "Accounting for Civilian Casualties: From the Past to the Future". Social Science History. 42 (3): 379–410. doi:10.1017/ssh.2018.9. ISSN 0145-5532. the Iraq mortality survey of Burnham et al. (2006) was highly controversial and had major weaknesses (Spagat 2010), some of which led to an official censure by a professional association of survey researchers.
^ Axinn, William G.; Ghimire, Dirgha; Williams, Nathalie E. (2012). "Collecting Survey Data during Armed Conflict". Journal of Official Statistics. 28 (2): 153–171. ISSN 0282-423X. PMC 3571111. PMID 23420645. the methods they used to obtain their unusually high estimate were subsequently widely criticized
^ ^a ^b "Introduction - Patterns of Armed Conflict Since 1945". What Do We Know About Civil War?. Rowman & Littlefield. 2016.
^ Seybolt, Taylor B.; Aronson, Jay D.; Fischhoff, Baruch, eds. (July 11, 2013). Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict. Studies in Strategic Peacebuilding. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199977307. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2018. In letters to the editor of The Lancet, and subsequent commentaries and peer-reviewed articles, scientists, statisticians, public health advocates, and medical researchers voiced concern about a range of technical and ethical issues, from the methods for choosing the households to be surveyed to the prac- tices used by interviewers to gather information from individuals. There were also con- cerns about the pre-war mortality rates chosen to compare with the post-invasion rates, as well as a host of other issues.
^ (PRIO), Peace Pesearch Institute Oslo. "Armed Conflict Deaths Disaggregated by Gender". Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Knickmeyer, Ellen (October 19, 2006). "One-Day Toll in Iraq Combat Is Highest for U.S. in Months – At Least 12 Killed in Fresh Attacks on Iraqi Police Facilities" Archived May 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Badkhen, Anna (October 12, 2006). "Critics Say 600,000 Iraqi Dead Doesn't Tally – But Pollsters Defend Methods Used in Johns Hopkins Study" Archived March 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Bennett-Jones, Owen (March 26, 2007). "Iraqi Deaths Survey 'Was Robust'" Archived March 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. BBC World Service (via BBC News'). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ "Hall, Katharine (2008). "An Argument for Documenting Casualties; Violence against Iraqi Civilians 2006". The RAND Corporation. Retrieved December 5, 2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
^ "Right-Wingers Can't Cover Up Iraq's Death Toll Catastrophe" Archived March 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. By John Tirman. January 21, 2008. AlterNet.
^ PR Watch / By Diane Farsetta (March 1, 2008). "How Many Iraqis Have Really Died?". AlterNet. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
^ AlterNet / By John Tirman (July 19, 2011). "1 Million Dead in Iraq? 6 Reasons the Media Hide the True Human Toll of War – And Why We Let Them". AlterNet. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
^ "The Human Cost of the War in Iraq". Mit.edu. Archived from the original on October 28, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
^ "John Tirman: Was There a War in Iraq?". HuffPost. February 13, 2012. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Tapp, Christine; Burkle, Frederich; Wilson, Kumanan; Takaro, Tim; Guyatt, Gordon; Amad, Hani; Mills, Edward (2008). "Iraq War mortality estimates: a systematic review". Conflict and Health. 2 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/1752-1505-2-1. PMC 2322964. PMID 18328100.
^ ^a ^b Levy, Barry; Sidel, Victor (2016). "Documenting the effects of armed conflict on population health". Annual Review of Public Health. 37: 205–218. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021913. PMID 26989827.
^ ^a ^b Johnson, Neil F.; Spagat, Michael; Gourley, Sean; Onnela, Jukka-Pekka; Reinert, Gesine (September 1, 2008). "Bias in Epidemiological Studies of Conflict Mortality". Journal of Peace Research. 45 (5): 653–663. doi:10.1177/0022343308094325. ISSN 0022-3433. S2CID 14800086.
^ ^a ^b (PRIO), Peace Pesearch Institute Oslo. "Article of the Year – 2008 – Journal of Peace Research – PRIO". prio.org. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
^ Daponte, Beth Osborne (2007). "Wartime estimates of Iraqi civilian casualties". International Review of the Red Cross. 89 (868): 943–957. doi:10.1017/S1816383108000167. ISSN 1607-5889. S2CID 42173386.
^ "Retrospective two-stage cluster sampling for mortality in Iraq | WARC". www.warc.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
^ Rosenblum, Michael A; van der Laan, Mark J. (January 7, 2009). "Confidence Intervals for the Population Mean Tailored to Small Sample Sizes, with Applications to Survey Sampling". The International Journal of Biostatistics. 5 (1): Article 4. doi:10.2202/1557-4679.1118. ISSN 1557-4679. PMC 2827893. PMID 20231867.
^ Marker, David A. (2008). "Review: Methodological Review of "Mortality after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq: A Cross-Sectional Cluster Sample Survey"". The Public Opinion Quarterly. 72 (2): 345–363. doi:10.1093/poq/nfn009. JSTOR 25167629.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Spagat, Michael (February 1, 2010). "Ethical and Data-Integrity Problems in the Second Lancet Survey of Mortality in Iraq". Defence and Peace Economics. 21 (1): 1–41. doi:10.1080/10242690802496898. ISSN 1024-2694. S2CID 59093432.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Spagat, Michael (May 1, 2009). "Iraq Study Failed Replication Test". Science. 324 (5927): 590. doi:10.1126/science.324_590a. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 19407183.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Iraq Family Health Survey Study Group (January 31, 2008). "Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002 to 2006". New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (5): 484–493. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa0707782. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 18184950. S2CID 3186924.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Spagat, Michael (April 20, 2012). Estimating the Human Costs of War: The Sample Survey Approach. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195392777.013.0014. S2CID 12494743.
^ ^a ^b Roberts, Adam (2 June 2010). "Lives and Statistics: Are 90% of War Victims Civilians?". Survival. 52 (3): 115–136. doi:10.1080/00396338.2010.494880. S2CID 153458692.
^ ^a ^b Aronson, Jay D. (2013). "The Politics of Civilian Casualty Counts". In Seybolt, Taylor B.; Aronson, Jay D.; Fischhoff, Baruch (eds.). Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict. pp. 29–49. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199977307.003.0003. ISBN 978-0-19-997730-7.
^ "AAPOR Finds Gilbert Burnham in Violation of Ethics Code". Archived from the original on February 9, 2018.
^ Gelman, Andrew (2014). "Questioning The Lancet, PLOS, And Other Surveys On Iraqi Deaths, An Interview With Univ. of London Professor Michael Spagat". Archived from the original on February 10, 2018.
^ Gelman, Andrew (April 27, 2015). "Controversial 2006 estimate of Iraq deaths remains controversial". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
^ Goldstein, Joshua (2011). "Winning the War on War". www.winningthewaronwar.com. Dutton/Plume (Penguin). Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
^ Best, Joel (2013). Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-27998-8.^{[page needed]}
^ Zeitzoff, Thomas (May 26, 2016). "Why the Method Matters". Political Violence at a Glance. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
^ "Small Arms, Crime and Conflict: Global Governance and the Threat of Armed Violence". Routledge.com. 2012. pp. 59–60. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Burnham, G. M (July 24, 2008). "Correspondence: Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq, 2002–2006". The New England Journal of Medicine. 359 (4): 431–434. doi:10.1056/NEJMc080419. PMID 18650523.
^ Tirman, John (2011). The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars. Oxford University Press. pp. 327–329. ISBN 978-0-19-983149-4.
^ Dougherty, Josh (January 2007). "Mortality in Iraq". The Lancet. 369 (9556): 102–103. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60062-2. PMID 17223464. S2CID 46202829.
^ Guha-Sapir, Debarati; Degomme, Olivier; Pedersen, Jon (January 2007). "Mortality in Iraq". The Lancet. 369 (9556): 102, author reply 103–4. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60061-0. PMID 17223465. S2CID 31275972.
^ Spagat, Michael (April 13, 2018). "Fudged statistics on the Iraq War death toll are still circulating today". The Conversation. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
^ Burnham, Gilbert; Lafta, Riyadh; Doocy, Shannon; Roberts, Les (January 2007). "Mortality in Iraq – Authors' reply". The Lancet. 369 (9556): 103–104. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60063-4. S2CID 54236383.
^ Todd, Robb S. (November 9, 2006). "Official: 150,000 Iraqis Killed Since 2003 – Iraqi Health Minister Says Three Injured for Every Person Killed Since U.S.-Led Invasion" Archived October 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. CBS News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hurst, Steven R. (November 10, 2006). "Iraqi Official: 150,000 Civilians Dead" Archived January 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via The Washington Post). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Staff writer (March 19, 2007). "Iraq Poll 2007: In Graphics" Archived March 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Langer, Gary (March 19, 2007). "Voices From Iraq 2007: Ebbing Hope in a Landscape of Loss – National Survey of Iraq" Archived October 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. ABC News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ "The Polling Unit: Archives 2007" Archived May 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. ABC News. See links in March 2007 section titled "March 2007 National Survey of Iraq".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ABC News/USA Today/BBC/ARD Poll Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. March 19, 2007. Detailed results with tables, charts, and graphs.
^ "Iraq Poll 2007" Archived April 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. D3 Systems poll (February 25 to March 5, 2007) for BBC, ABC News, ARD and USA Today.
^ Page, Susan (March 19, 2007). "Democracy's Support Sinks" Archived August 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 3, 2010. PDF report Archived August 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
^ Staff writer (March 19, 2007). "Iraq Poll: Note on Methodology – National Survey of Iraq" Archived October 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. March 19, 2007. ABC News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ "Revised Casualty Analysis. New Analysis 'Confirms' 1 Million+ Iraq Casualties" Archived February 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. January 28, 2008. Opinion Research Business. Word Viewer for.doc files.
^ "Conflict Deaths in Iraq: A Methodological Critique of the ORB Survey Estimate" Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine By Michael Spagat and Josh Dougherty
^ ^a ^b ^c "A Better Stab at Estimating How Many Died in the Iraq War". Pacific Standard. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Iraq war claimed half a million lives, study finds". Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
^ ^a ^b Spagat, Michael; van Weezel, Stijn (October 1, 2017). "Half a million excess deaths in the Iraq war: Terms and conditions may apply". Research & Politics. 4 (4): 2053168017732642. doi:10.1177/2053168017732642. ISSN 2053-1680.
^ Spagat, Michael (2018). "Terms and conditions still apply: A rejoinder to Hagopian et al". Research & Politics. 5: 205316801875785. doi:10.1177/2053168018757858.
^ George W. Bush, "President Discusses War on Terror and Upcoming Iraqi Elections" Archived September 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. White House transcript. December 12, 2005. Says 30,000 Iraqi dead.
^ Staff writer (December 12, 2005). "Bush: Iraqi Democracy Making Progress – President Compares Iraq's Struggle to America's Founding" Archived December 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. CNN. Retrieved September 3, 2010. "I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis", Bush said. CNN writes: "White House spokesman Scott McClellan later said Bush was basing his statement on media reports, 'not an official government estimate.'"
^ Staff writer (January 3, 2007). "Bruised and Battered: Iraqi Toll Crosses 16000 in ’06" Archived January 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via The Indian Express). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c MacDonald, Alastair (January 2, 2007). "Iraq Civilian Deaths Hit New Record". The Australian. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ Roug, Louise; Smith, Doug (June 25, 2006). "War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000 – Higher Than the U.S. Estimate But Thought To Be Undercounted, the Tally Is Equivalent to 570,000 Americans Killed in Three Years" Archived March 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Los Angeles Times (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Krause, Keith (April 1, 2017). "Bodies count: the politics and practices of war and violent death data". Human Remains and Violence. 3 (1): 90–115. doi:10.7227/HRV.3.1.7. ISSN 2054-2240.
^ "Though Numbers Unclear, Iraqi Deaths Touch Many". NPR. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cooney, Daniel (May 23, 2004). "5,500 Iraqis Killed, Morgue Records Show" Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via The United Jerusalem Foundation). Retrieved September 3, 2010. (Article is here [16] Archived May 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine also (via the China Daily). Retrieved September 3, 2010.)
^ Brownstein, Catherine A.; Brownstein, John S. (31 January 2008). "Estimating Excess Mortality in Post-Invasion Iraq". New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (5): 445–447. doi:10.1056/NEJMp0709003. PMID 18184951.
^ Cole, Juan (October 11, 2006). "655,000 Dead in Iraq since Bush Invasion" Archived February 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Informed Comment (blog at juancole.com). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Fisk, Robert (July 28, 2004). "Baghdad Is a City That Reeks with the Stench of the Dead" (opinion piece). The Independent. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Soldz, Stephen (February 5, 2006). "When Promoting Truth Obscures the Truth: More on Iraqi Body Count and Iraqi Deaths" Archived May 4, 2006, at the Library of Congress Web Archives. ZNet. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Press release (November 7, 2004). "IBC Response to the Lancet Study Estimating '100,000' Iraqi Deaths" Archived October 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count project. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ Buncombe, Andrew (April 20, 2005). "Aid Worker Uncovered America's Secret Tally of Iraqi Civilian Deaths" Archived January 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The Independent (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Landay, Jonathan S. (December 7, 2006). "Study Says Violence in Iraq Has Been Underreported" Archived December 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. McClatchy Newspapers (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

External links

"Likely Humanitarian Scenarios", UN internal memo predicting 100,000 direct and 400,000 indirect casualties as a result of the invasion.
"iraqimemorial.org", online database and traveling exhibition of proposals and projects to memorialize the civilian casualties in Iraq.
"Eyes Wide Open" Archived February 3, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, a traveling exhibition on the human cost of war

Related propaganda and phrases

This campaign featured a variety of new terminology, much of it initially coined by the U.S. government or military; many of the phrases carried an implicit bias. The name "Operation Iraqi Freedom," for example, expresses one viewpoint of the purpose of the invasion, and is almost never used outside the United States. Also notable was the usage "death squads" to refer to fedayeen paramilitary forces. Members of the Saddam Hussein government were called by disparaging nicknames - e.g., "Chemical Ali" (Ali Hassan al-Majid), "Baghdad Bob" or "Comical Ali" (Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf), and "Mrs. Anthrax" or "Chemical Sally" (Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash). Saddam Hussein was systematically referred to as "Saddam," which some Westerners mistakenly believed to be disparaging. (Although there is no consensus about how to refer to him in English, "Saddam" is acceptable usage, and is how people in Iraq and the Middle East generally refer to him. [174])

Terminology introduced or popularized during the war include:

"Axis of Evil," originally used by President Bush during a State of the Union address on January 29, 2002 to describe the countries of Iraq, Iran and North Korea. [175]
"Coalition of the willing," a term that originated in the Clinton era (eg: interview, President Clinton, ABC, June 8, 1994), and used by the Bush Administration to describe the countries contributing troops in the invasion, of which the U.S. and U.K. were the primary members.
"Decapitating the regime," a euphemism for either overthrowing the government or killing Saddam Hussein.
"Embedding," United States practice of assigning civilian journalists to U.S. military units.
"Minder," an Iraqi government official assigned to watch over a foreign correspondent
"Old Europe," Rumsfeld's term used to describe the divisions between European governments: "You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe."
"Regime change," a euphemism for overthrowing a government.
"Shock and Awe," the strategy of reducing an enemy's will to fight through displays of overwhelming force.
"It is what it is", a truism stated by Rumsfeld. For example, "you can call that defense, as I do, or you can call it pre-emptive, but it is what it is."

Many slogans and terms coined came to be used by President Bush's political opponents, or those opposed to the war. For example, in April of 2003 John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the presidential election, said at a campaign rally: "What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States." [176]

Media coverage

Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq media coverage

Media coverage of this war was different in certain ways from that of the Persian Gulf War. Victoria Clarke, the Assistant Defense Secretary (formerly with Hill and Knowlton, the PR firm infamous for promoting the false baby-incubator story during the first Persian Gulf War)[177] devised the Pentagon's policy of "embedding" reporters with military units. Viewers in the United States were able to watch U.S. tanks rolling into Baghdad live on television, with a split screen image of Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, the Iraqi Minister of Information, claiming that U.S. forces were not in the city. Many foreign observers of the media and especially the television coverage in the USA felt that it was excessively partisan and in some cases "gung-ho."

Critics of the war, especially those on the political left argued that media organizations should attemt to be objective or neutral in presenting the facts of the invasion, and should not be deferential to claims made by the politicians or the military leaders of their country. In Europe in particular such critics have long argued that the American press and news media are generally uncritical of US government claims and "spin". The fact that American news programs accepted the administration's war terminology like "Operation Iraqi Freedom" uncritically, and that many American reporters were "embedded" with American military units and wore US flags in their lapels, were seen as inappropriate behavior.

European coverage was more critical of the invasion, and tended to put a greater emphasis on coalition setbacks and losses and civilian deaths than the US media [178] [179]. Supporters of the war, especially American conservatives often characterized European media coverage as anti-American and "left-wing." During an interview with UK news company ITN, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was asked if he would like to apologise for taking his country into the war. Blair responded saying "I don't believe I did anything wrong".

Arab media coverage of the conflict was criticized as biased towards the old Iraqi regime. For example, the Chicago Tribune on April 10, 2003 reported that the defeat sent a shockwave of incredulity across the Middle East, and quoted a Damascus housewife who believed that jubilant Iraqis were being paid to act that way in front of the cameras [180].

Another difference was the wide and independent coverage on the World Wide Web, demonstrating that for web-surfers in rich countries and the elites in poorer countries, the Internet had become mature as a medium, giving about half a billion people access to different versions of events.

First-hand reports by Iraqis, however, were spotty during the war itself, since internet penetration in Iraq was already very weak (with an estimate of 12,000 users in Iraq in 2002). The deliberate destruction of Iraqi telecommunication facilities by US forces made Internet communication even more difficult. The web did offer some first-hand reports from bloggers such as Salam Pax, and additional information was available on soldier blogs.

Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network, which was formed in 1996, gained worldwide attention for its coverage of the war. Their broadcasts were popular in much of the Arab world, but also to some degree in Western nations, with major American networks such as CNN and MSNBC re-broadcasting some of their coverage. Al-Jazeera was well-known for their graphic footage of civilian deaths and direct broadcasts of individuals threatening the citizenry if they cooperated in establishing a new government, which American news media branded as overly sensationalistic. The English website of Al-Jazeera was brought down during the middle of the Iraq war by Internet vandals.

Military leaders shut off the BBC connection to HMS Ark Royal after grumbling among sailors that it was biased in favor of Iraqi reports. [181] By contrast, a study by Justin Lewis at Cardiff University found that the BBC reports had been somewhat sanitized, and did not question pro-war assumptions.

Belgian journalist Alain Hertoghe published a book accusing the French press in particular and the European press in general of not being objective in its coverage of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Hertoghe's book, La Guerre à Outrances (The War of Outrages), criticizes French press coverage of the war as being pessimistic of the U.S.-led coalition's chance of success and continually focusing on challenges faced during the invasion. Hertoghe also claims in his book that the European media became so wrapped up in its own particular biases against the United States that they fed disinformation to their readers and viewers and misled them as to the unfolding events. His selection of press articles to illustrate his point has been criticised as somewhat selective. Since being published, Hertoghe has been fired from his position at French newspaper La Croix. It was claimed that only one major French newspaper had published a review of his book.

International initiatives [182] have protested against U.S. media for downplaying and misinterpreting protests as anti-Americanism, and have accused them of foul language. There was a personal, insulting tone to some of the pro-war commentary in the U.S. and Britain; examples include commentator Christopher Hitchens calling Jacques Chirac "A balding Joan of Arc in drag" [183], the New York Post referring to France, Germany and Russia as the "Axis of weasels" [184], and New York Times columnist William Safire stating that "Chirac and his poodle Putin have severely damaged the United Nations" [185].

Questions have also been raised about U.S. media coverage, given that in the U.S. a pre-war Washington Post poll showed that 69% of the population thought it "likely" or "very likely" that Iraq was involved in the planning of the 9/11 attacks, although no evidence of an Iraqi connection to the attack has ever been found. [186]

Journalist Peter Arnett was fired by MSNBC and National Geographic after he declared in an interview with the Iraqi information ministry that he believed the U.S. strategy of "shock and awe" had failed. He also went on to tell Iraqi State TV that he had told "Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government, and the willingness to fight for their country," and that reports from Baghdad about civilian deaths had helped antiwar protesters undermine the Bush administration's strategy. The interview was given 10 days before the fall of Baghdad.

On 2 April 2003, in a speech given in New York City, British Home Secretary David Blunkett commented on what he believed to be sympathetic and corrupt reporting of Iraq by Arab news sources. He told the audience that "It's hard to get the true facts if the reporters of Al Jazeera are actually linked into, and are only there because they are provided with facilities and support from, the régime." [187] Ironically, his speech came only hours before Al Jazeera was ejected from Baghdad by the Iraqi government.

U.S. media coverage during the Vietnam War included photographs of the flag-draped coffins of American military personnel killed in action. During the invasion and occupation of Iraq, however, as in most other US wars, the Bush administration prohibited release of such photographs, and, according to Senator Patrick Leahy, scheduled the return of wounded soldiers for after midnight so that the press would not see them. [188] A number of Dover photographs were eventually released in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by blogger Russ Kick. The practice of transporting wounded soldiers to the US at night was documented by both the Drudge Report and Salon.com. [189] This ban was instituted in 2000 by the Clinton administration, and mirrors a similar ban put in place during the Gulf War [190], though it appears not to have been enforced as tightly during previous military operations.

Veterans Organizations

Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq veterans organizations

In 2004, the first national veterans service organization, or VSO, specifically for veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, was created. The organization, known as the Iraq War Veterans Organization, was created by Russell Terry, and includes as directors Daniel Rosenthal, William T. Hutchinson, Robert Page, and Chuck Roots. Their website is www.iraqwarveterans.org [191]

References

Donnelly, Thomas. Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century. Report of the Project for the New American Century, September 2000. Available online.

McCain, John. Finishing the Job in Iraq Air Force Magazine, July 2004. [192]

^ CNN.com/Inside Politics (2002). Senate approves Iraq war resolution. Accessed on June 06 2005.

^ Paul, U.S. Representative Ron, Office of (2002). Paul Calls for Congressional Declaration of War with Iraq. Accessed on June 06 2005.

^ Washington Post (2002). Bush Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote. Accessed on June 06 2005.

External links

Informed Comment. Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion by Professor Juan Cole
Civilian Death Toll
Amnesty International Report on Iraq
Borgen Project: Cost of the Iraq War
Iraq: Amnesty International seeks clarification on house demolitions by US troops in Iraq
Iraq: full texts of speeches and key documents archived by The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2005.
Iraq: Forcible return of refugees and asylum-seekers is contrary to international law
Iraq: Tribunal established without consultation
Memorandum on concerns related to legislation introduced by the Coalition Provisional Authority
National Priorities Project Cost of the Iraqi War Estimate
Reconstruction must ensure the human rights of Iraqis
Video Seminar on Iraq Coalition Politics: 20 April 2005, sponsored by the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security at the University of Illinois.
War in Iraq: Day by Day Guide
Iraq War NEWS DIGEST-Iraq and the U.S.A.
Iraq Special Weapons News
Attacks on journalists in Iraq - IFEX
Archaeologists Review Loss of Valuables in Museum Looting

[Wang_et_al_2016-1] Wang, Haidong; et al. (8–14 October 2014). "Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". The Lancet. 388 (10053): 1459–1544. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31012-1. PMC 5388903. PMID 27733281. Indeed, it has been challenging to accurately document the number of casualties from wars and deaths resulting from malnutrition, infections, or disruption in health services during wars.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)

[Adhikari_et_al_2010-2] Adhikari, Neill KJ; et al. (16–22 October 2010). "Critical care and the global burden of critical illness in adults". The Lancet. 376 (9749): 1339–1346. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60446-1. PMC 7136988. PMID 20934212. However, during times of war, we should remember that evidence from systematic household cluster sampling suggests that most excess deaths, and, by extension, most demands for intensive care, do not arise from violence but from medical disorders resulting from the breakdown of public health infrastructure (eg, cholera), or from the discontinuation of treatment of chronic diseases caused by interruption of pharmaceutical supplies.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)

[Tapp_et_al_2008-3] Tapp, Christine; et al. (7 March 2008). "Iraq War mortality estimates: A systematic review". Conflict and Health. 2 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/1752-1505-2-1. PMC 2322964. PMID 18328100. Of the population-based studies, the Roberts and Burnham studies provided the most rigorous methodology as their primary outcome was mortality. Their methodology is similar to the consensus methods of the SMART initiative, a series of methodological recommendations for conducting research in humanitarian emergencies. [...] However, not surprisingly their studies have been roundly criticized given the political consequences of their findings and the inherent security and political problems of conducting this type of research. Some of these criticisms refer to the type of sampling, duration of interviews, the potential for reporting bias, the reliability of its pre-war estimates, and a lack of reproducibility. The study authors have acknowledged their study limitations and responded to these criticisms in detail elsewhere. They now also provide their data for reanalysis to qualified groups for further review, if requested. [...] The IBC was largely established as an activist response to US refusals to conduct mortality counts. This account, however, is problematic as it relies solely on news reports that would likely considerably underestimate the total mortality.

[Hagopian-4] Hagopian, Amy; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Takaro, Tim K.; Esa Al Shatari, Sahar A.; Rajaratnam, Julie; Becker, Stan; Levin-Rector, Alison; Galway, Lindsay; Hadi Al-Yasseri, Berq J.; Weiss, William M.; Murray, Christopher J.; Burnham, Gilbert; Mills, Edward J. (October 15, 2013). "Mortality in Iraq Associated with the 2003–2011 War and Occupation: Findings from a National Cluster Sample Survey by the University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study". PLOS Medicine. 10 (10): e1001533. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001533. PMC 3797136. PMID 24143140.

[Levy_Sidel_2016-5] Levy, Barry S.; Sidel, Victor W. (March 2016). "Documenting the Effects of Armed Conflict on Population Health". Annual Review of Public Health. 37: 205–218. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021913. PMID 26989827. S2CID 32121791. Although the Roberts and Burnham studies faced some criticism in the news media and elsewhere, part of which may have been politically motivated, these studies have been widely viewed among peers as the most rigorous investigations of Iraq War–related mortality among Iraqi civilians; we agree with this assessment and believe that the Hagopian study is also scientifically rigorous. Although the methodology and results in the four studies cited here have varied somewhat, it is clear that the Iraq War caused, directly and indirectly, a very large number of deaths among Iraqi civilians—which, in fact, may have been underestimated by these scientifically conservative studies. A paper by Tapp and colleagues and a recent report by three country affiliates of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War have extensively reviewed these four epidemiological studies as well as other studies that attempted to assess the impact of the Iraq War on morbidity and mortality.

[ap2009apr24nbc-6] Associated Press via NBC News. April 24, 2009. Report: 110,600 Iraqis killed since invasion . Full AP article.

[ap2009apr24-7] Associated Press via Boston Herald. April 23, 2009. "AP Impact: Secret Tally Has 87,215 Iraqis Dead" Archived October 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.

[ibcdatabase-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Iraq Body Count database Archived July 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. From the Iraq Body Count project. The database page says: "Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence."

[iraqbodycountlogs-9] Staff writer (October 23, 2010). "Iraq War Logs: What the Numbers Reveal" Archived January 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count.

[guardianlogs3-10] Rogers, Simon (October 23, 2010). "Wikileaks Iraq: Data Journalism Maps Every Death – Data Journalism Allows Us To Really Interrogate the Wikileaks Iraq War Logs Release. Here Is the Statistical Breakdown – and Data for You To Download" Archived January 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Data Blog – Facts Are Sacred (blog on The Guardian). Retrieved November 20, 2010.

[guardianlogs-11] "Iraq: The War Logs" Archived December 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian.

[aljazeeralogs2-12] Carlstrom, Gregg (October 22, 2010; last modified October 24, 2010 (at November 21, 2010)). "WikiLeaks Releases Secret Iraq File – Al Jazeera Accesses 400,000 Secret US Military Documents, Which Reveal the Inside Story of the Iraq War" Archived October 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[spiegel-13] "The WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Greatest Data Leak in US Military History". Der Spiegel. October 22, 2010. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

[guardianlogs2-14] Leigh, David (October 22, 2010). "Iraq War Logs Reveal 15,000 Previously Unlisted Civilian Deaths – Leaked Pentagon Files Contain Records of More than 100,000 Fatalities Including 66,000 Civilians" Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian. Retrieved November 20, 2010.

[nprchart-15] Editors – Katz, Jeffrey; Doug Roberts, Doug; Sutherland, J.J. (undated). "The Toll of War – U.S. Troop Fatalities in Iraq since March 2003 – A Month-by-Month Count of U.S. Troops Killed in the Conflict" Archived May 11, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (bar chart of various death toll estimates). NPR. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[aljazeeralogs-16] Staff writer (October 24, 2010). "Secret Iraq Files – US Turned Blind Eye To Torture" Archived November 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[derspiegellogs-17] Staff writer (undated). "Iraq War Logs – Related Articles, Background Features and Opinions about this Topic" Archived February 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (gateway/portal page of site). Der Spiegel. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[derspiegellogs2-18] Staff writer (October 22, 2010). "WikiLeaks Iraq FAQs – What the Logs Really Say" Archived October 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Der Spiegel. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[IBC-19] Iraq Body Count project Archived November 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Source of IBC quote on undercounting by media is here .

[WHOifhs-20] "Iraq Family Health Survey". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2020-12-10.

[WHOifhs2-21] Press release (January 9, 2008). "New Study Estimates 151,000 Violent Iraqi Deaths Since 2003 Invasion" Archived December 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[nejm358-22] Alkhuzai AH, Ahmad IJ, Hweel MJ, Ismail TW, et al. (2008). "Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002 to 2006". The New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (2): 484–93. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa0707782. PMID 18184950. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018.

[bbcNewStudy-23] Staff writer (January 10, 2008). "New Study Says 151,000 Iraqi Dead – One of the Biggest Surveys So Far of Iraqis Who Have Died Violently Since the US-Led Invasion of 2003 Has Put the Figure at About 151,000". BBC News. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[guardianNewStudy-24] Boseley, Sarah (January 10, 2008). "151,000 Civilians Killed Since Iraq Invasion – Figures Up to June 2006 from Household Survey – Government Accepts New estimate on Death Toll. The Guardian. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[NewEstimate-25] Brown, Davia; Partlow, Joshua (January 10, 2008)."New Estimate of Violent Deaths Among Iraqis Is Lower" Archived November 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[update-26] "Update on Iraqi Casualty Data" Archived February 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine by Opinion Research Business. January 2008.

[ORB-27] "More than 1,000,000 Iraqis Murdered" Archived October 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. September 2007. Opinion Research Business. PDF report: "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[LAtimes2007sept14-28] Susman, Tina (September 14, 2007). "Poll: Civilian Death Toll in Iraq May Top 1 Million" Archived May 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Los Angeles Times (via commondreams.org). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[ORB3-29] Beaumont, Peter; Walters, Joanna (September 16, 2007). "Greenspan Admits Iraq Was About Oil, As Deaths Put at 1.2 Million" Archived December 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Observer (via commondreams.org). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[medialens-30] Staff writer (September 18, 2007). "The Media Ignore Credible Poll Revealing 1.2 Million Violent Deaths in Iraq" Archived November 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Media Lens. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[nytimes-31] (registration required) Tavernise, Sabrina (January 17, 2007). "Iraqi Death Toll Exceeded 34,000 in '06, U.N. Says" Archived November 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times.

[lancet2006-32] 2006 Lancet study. "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2015. (242 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, October 11, 2006

[supplement-33] Supplement to 2006 Lancet study: "The Human Cost of the War in Iraq: A Mortality Study, 2002–2006" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 17, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2007. (603 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Shannon Doosy, Elizabeth Dzeng, Riyadh Lafta, and Les Roberts.

[34] Opinion essay (numerous signatories) (October 21, 2006). "The Iraq Deaths Study Was Valid and Correct" Archived January 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Age. Retrieved September 2, 2010

[tribune-35] "Iraqi Health Minister Estimates as Many as 150,000 Iraqis Killed by Insurgents". November 9, 2006. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[taipei-36] Staff writer (November 11, 2006). "Iraqi Death Toll Estimates Go as High as 150,000" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Agence France-Presse/Associated Press (via Taipei Times). Retrieved September 6, 2010.

[costsofwar.org-37] Costs of War Archived February 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. (costsofwar.org). Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. See "About" page Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine.

[crawford2018nov-38] Human Cost of the Post-9/11 Wars: Lethality and the Need for Transparency Archived February 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. November 2018. By Neta C. Crawford, a project director at Costs of War Project Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

[commondreams2018nov9-39] Half Million Killed by America's Global War on Terror 'Just Scratches the Surface' of Human Destruction Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Nov 9, 2018. By Jessica Corbett, staff writer, Common Dreams.

[businessinsider2018nov9-40] The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed at least 500,000 people, according to a new report that breaks down the toll Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Nov 9, 2018. By Daniel Brown, Business Insider.

[41] 260 killed in 2003,[1] Archived June 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 15,196 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009),[2] Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine 67 killed in March 2009,[3] Archived February 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine and 1,100 killed in 2010,"Fewer Iraqi civilians, more security forces killed in 2010 - CNN". Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2014. thus giving a total of 16,623 dead

[Brookings-42] Database (undated; updated "every two weeks"). "Iraq Index – Tracking Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq" Archived May 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Brookings Institution. Retrieved September 3, 2010. (For the latest total of Iraqi police and military killed download the PDF file of the most recent Iraq Index, and look in the table of contents.)

[icasualtiesISF-43] Database (undated). "Operation Iraqi Freedom" "Iraqi Deaths" Archived March 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. iCasualties.org. Retrieved September 3, 2010. (An iCasualties.org breakdown of deaths in Iraq. See the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) column.)

[44] 597 killed in 2003,[4] Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, 23,984 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009),[5] Archived July 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine 652 killed in May 2004,[6] Archived December 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine 45 killed in March 2009,[7] Archived September 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine 676 killed in 2010,[8] Archived August 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine 366 killed in 2011 (with the exception of February),[9] Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine [10] Archived February 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine [11] Archived August 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine [12] Archived February 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine"Death toll spikes for Iraqis, US troops". Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2011.[13] Archived December 8, 2011, at Bibliotheca Alexandrina"239 people killed in Iraq in August and killed by the U.S. Military". Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2011."Gulf Times – Qatar's top-selling English daily newspaper - Gulf/Arab World". Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2011. thus giving a total of 26,320 dead

[icasualties33-45] Casualties: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count – Journalists Killed Archived August 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.

[journalists-46] Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). IRAQ: Journalists in Danger Archived July 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.

[mediasupport-47] Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Media Workers Killed in Iraq Since March 2003 Archived September 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.

[reuters2007nov21-48] Ryan, Missy (November 21, 2007). "War-Weary Aid Groups Weigh Risk, Need in Iraq". Open Publishing. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[aidworkers-49] NGOs Coordination Committee in Iraq Archived April 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.

[50] Pike, John. "U.S. Casualties in Iraq". Retrieved December 10, 2020.

[defenselink-51] "OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM U.S. CASUALTY STATUS as of July 19, 2021, 10 a.m. EDT" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.

[icasualties-52] Casualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al.., "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count" Archived February 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.

[cnnSPECIALS2003-53] "Forces: U.S. & Coalition Casualties" Archived June 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. CNN, From March 2003 onwards.

[mil-54] Many official U.S. tables at "Military Casualty Information" Archived March 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[55] "latest injury, disease, and other-medical totals" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2011.

[DODbyMonth-56] "Global War on Terrorism – Operation Iraqi Freedom, By Month" Archived June 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. United States Department of Defense. "Prepared by: Defense Manpower Data Center. Statistical Information Analysis Division."

[icasualties5-57] Iraq Coalition Casualties: Military Fatalities Archived March 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

[icasualties2-58] Casualties OIF: Fatalities By Country Archived April 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.

[contractors7-59] Debusmann, Bernd (July 3, 2007). "In Outsourced U.S. Wars, Contractor Deaths Top 1,000" Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 10,569 wounded and 933 deaths in Iraq. 224 are U.S. citizens.

[icasualties4-60] Casualties OIF: Contractor Deaths Archived March 20, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Incomplete list.

[usatoday916-61] "Reconstruction Report: 916 Death Claims for Civilian Contractors in Iraq". USA Today. April 30, 2007.

[inspector-62] "Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction: April 2007 Report" Archived February 24, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

[inspectorpdf-63] Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. "April 30, 2007 Quarterly Report to Congress (Highlights, All Sections and Appendices)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2010. (10.8 MB)

[contractors5-64] Broder, John M.; Risen, James (May 19, 2007). "Death Toll for Contractors Reaches New High in Iraq" Archived November 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2010. "workers from more than three dozen other countries".

[contractors3-65] Roberts, Michelle (February 24, 2007). "Contractor Deaths Add Up in Iraq" Archived June 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via the Deseret Morning News). Retrieved September 2, 2010. "... often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."

[contractors6-66] Miller, T. Christian (July 4, 2007). "Private Contractors Outnumber U.S. Troops in Iraq" . Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 182,000 contractors: "21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis".

[67] "70,000 people killed in Iraq since 2003, says Human Rights Ministry" Archived January 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. AKnews March 14, 2012

[68] "Breakdown of Iraqis killed in war from 2004 to 2008" Archived March 31, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press October 14, 2009

[69] "More than 69,000 Iraqis killed between "2004–2011" – al-Dabbagh" Archived December 29, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Aswat al-Iraq February 29, 2012

[70] "The War in Numbers" by James Ball, October 22, 2010

[71] "Adding Indifference to Injury" Archived January 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count August 7, 2003

[72] "A Dossier of Civilian Casualties in Iraq 2003–2005" Archived August 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count July 19, 2005

[73] "Human Rights Report 1 November – 31 December 2006" Archived September 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. UN Assistance Mission for Iraq

[74] "MoH reveals figures of 2007 violence victims" Archived May 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. National Iraqi News Agency June 21, 2008

[75] Staff writer (January 17, 2007). "Chronology – The Deadliest Bomb Attacks in Iraq" Archived March 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters (via AlertNet). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[76] Hurst, Steven; Frayer, Lauren. "4 Bombings in Baghdad Kill at Least 183". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[iraqamputees-77] Weisskopf, Michael (January 18, 2007). "A Grim Milestone: 500 Amputees" Archived January 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Time. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[78] Zimmerman, Eilene (November 8, 2006). "Getting Amputees Back on Their Feet – Navy's One-Stop, State-of-the-Art Rehabilitation Center in California Helps War Injured Realize Goals" Archived November 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[79] Brain trauma a 'silent epidemic' among Iraq veterans Archived January 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. By Moni Basu. November 19, 2006. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

[80] Zoroya, Gregg (October 18, 2005). "1 in 4 Iraq Vets Ailing on Return" Archived September 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[boston.com-number-81] Higgins, Alexander. "U.N.: 100,000 Iraq Refugees Flee Monthly". Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 4, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[82] "Secretary of Defense Interview with Bob Woodward". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2006-07-30. Retrieved 2020-12-10.

[83] Steele, Jonathan (May 28, 2003). "Body Counts – The Western Media Focused on the Number of Civilians Killed in Afghan War, But the Country's Ill-Prepared Armed Forces Suffered Far Greater Losses". The Guardian. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[84] Press release (October 28, 2003). "New Study Finds: 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War; 30 Percent are Non-Combatants; Death Toll Hurts Postwar Stability Efforts, Damages US Image Abroad" Archived October 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Project on Defense Alternatives (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[85] Conetta, Carl (October 23, 2003). "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict – Project on Defense Alternative Research Monograph #8" Archived August 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Project on Defense Alternatives (via Commonwealth Institute). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[Dossier-86] "A Dossier of Civilian Casualties 2003–2005" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 24, 2006. Retrieved November 24, 2006. (650 KB). Iraq Body Count project. Report covers from March 20, 2003, to March 19, 2005, based on data available by June 14, 2005.

[87] "Methods". Iraq Body Count. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.

[88] Hicks, Madelyn Hsiao-Rei; Dardagan, Hamit; Serdán, Gabriela Guerrero; Bagnall, Peter M.; Sloboda, John A.; Spagat, Michael (16 April 2009). "The Weapons That Kill Civilians — Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq, 2003–2008". New England Journal of Medicine. 360 (16): 1585–1588. doi:10.1056/NEJMp0807240. PMID 19369663. S2CID 37206162.

[katz-89] Katz, Yaakov (2010-10-29). "Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics". The Jerusalem Post.

[medialens2-90] Staff writer (April 28, 2006). "Iraq Body Count – Media Lens Responds" Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Newsnight. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[Hagopian_2018_205316801775390-91] Hagopian, Amy (2018). "How to estimate (and not to estimate) war deaths: A reply to van Weezel and Spagat". Research & Politics. 5: 205316801775390. doi:10.1177/2053168017753901.

[92] Siegler, Anne; Roberts, Leslie; Balch, Erin; Bargues, Emmanuel; Bhalla, Asheesh; Bills, Corey; Dzeng, Elizabeth; Epelboym, Yan; Foster, Tory (July 2008). "Media coverage of violent deaths in iraQ: an opportunistic capture-recapture assessment". Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 23 (4): 369–371. doi:10.1017/s1049023x00006026. ISSN 1049-023X. PMID 18935953. S2CID 45808392.

[93] Carpenter, Dustin; Fuller, Tova; Roberts, Les (June 2013). "WikiLeaks and Iraq Body Count: the sum of parts may not add up to the whole-a comparison of two tallies of Iraqi civilian deaths". Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 28 (3): 223–229. doi:10.1017/S1049023X13000113. ISSN 1049-023X. PMID 23388622. S2CID 41646092.

[94] Fuller, David. (April 28, 2006) "Virtual War Follows Iraq Conflict" Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News (via Newsnight). Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[95] "Speculation is no substitute: a defence of Iraq Body Count" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2009.

[lancet2013-96] Burkle, Frederick; Garfield, Richard (16 March 2013). "Civilian mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq". The Lancet. 381 (9870): 877–879. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62196-5. PMID 23499026. S2CID 20887504.

[97] Hicks MH-R, Dardagan H, Guerrero Serdán G, Bagnall PM, Sloboda JA, Spagat M (2011). Violent Deaths of Iraqi Civilians, 2003–2008: Analysis by Perpetrator, Weapon, Time, and Location. PLoS Med 8(2): e1000415. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000415.

[98] Janabi, Ahmed (July 31, 2004). "Iraqi Group: Civilian Toll over 37,000". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on September 11, 2005. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[99] Lochhead, Carolyn (January 16, 2007). "Conflict in Iraq – Iraq Refugee Crisis Exploding – 40% of Middle Class Believed To Have Fled Crumbling Nation" Archived May 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[100] Casualties: OIF US Fatalities by month Archived August 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. At iCasualties.org

[101] U.S. Casualties in Iraq Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. At GlobalSecurity.org

[102] Knickerbocker, Brad (August 29, 2006). "In Iraq, Fewer Killed, More Are Wounded – New Data Show Better Technology and Tactics Are Keeping Fatalities Down, But Injuries Remain High" Archived March 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[103] Hastings, Deborah (August 12, 2006). "Is An Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers?". Associated Press (via Common Dreams NewsCenter. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[104] (registration required) Hoge, M.D., Charles W.; Castro, PhD, Carl A.; Messer, PhD, Stephen C.; McGurk, PhD, Dennis; Cotting, PhD, Dave I.; and Koffman, M.D., M.P.H., Robert L. (July 1, 2004). "Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care" Archived January 21, 2005, at the Wayback Machine. The New England Journal of Medicine.

[105] "House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 4 October 2004". The United Kingdom Parliament. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[106] Korzeniewski, K; Olszański, R (2004). "Leishmaniasis among soldiers of stabilization forces in Iraq. Review article". Int Marit Health. 55 (1–4): 155–63. PMID 15881551.

[107] A REGION INFLAMED: MEDICINE; Hundreds of U.S. Troops Infected by Parasite Borne by Sand Flies, Army Says By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR.December 6, 2003 https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/06/world/region-inflamed-medicine-hundreds-us-troops-infected-parasite-borne-sand-flies.html Archived January 10, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

[108] Staff writer (July 25, 2008). "Pentagon: 16 Soldiers Died from Electric Shock". Associated Press (via USA Today. Archived from the original on May 30, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[109] (registration required) Risen, James (May 4, 2008). "Despite Alert, Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.'s". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2010.

[110] "'Nightline' Sparks Controversy". Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.

[111] "PM – Controversy over reportage of dead US soldiers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on May 12, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2018.

[112] "Nightline Anchor Ted Koppel to Leave Abc News in December". PBS NewsHour. 2005-03-31. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.

[113] NANCY MONTGOMERY (March 18, 2017). "2016 marks first year without combat amputation since Afghan, Iraq wars began". Stars and Stripes.

[114] Zoroya, Gregg (March 4, 2009). "360,000 Veterans May Have Brain Injuries" Archived September 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[115] Mason, Michael (February 23, 2007). "Dead Men Walking – What Sort of Future Do Brain-Injured Iraq Veterans Face?" Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Discover. Retrieved November 21, 2010.

[braininjuries-116] Zoroya, Gregg (November 22, 2007). "20,000 Vets' Brain Injuries Not Listed in Pentagon Tally" Archived January 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[time2008june-117] Thompson, Mark (June 5, 2008). "America's Medicated Army" Archived January 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Time. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[118] Wallis, Claudia (March 12, 2007). "Casualty of War: Mental Health" Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Time. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[119] Staff writer (January 31, 2008). "Army Report Reveals 121 Suspected Suicides Among Soldiers in 2007, 20 Percent Increase Over 2006" Archived February 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via Fox News). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[120] 18 veterans commit suicide each day. April 26, 2010. Army Times.

[auto-121] Schechter, D.S.; Davis, B.E. (2007). "Parenting in Times of Crisis". Pediatric Annals. 36 (4): 216–222. doi:10.3928/0090-4481-20070401-11. PMID 17469302.

[psychiatricannalsonline1-122] "Psychiatric Annals". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2010.

[123] Sayers, S.L.; Farrow, V.A.; Ross, J.; Oslin, D.W. (2009). "Family Problems Among Recently Returned Military Veterans Referred for a Mental Health Evaluation". Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 70 (2): 163–170. doi:10.4088/jcp.07m03863. PMID 19210950. S2CID 23797701.

[124] McFarlane, A.C. (2009). "Military Deployment: The Impact on Children and Family Adjustment and the Need for Care". Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 22 (4): 369–373. doi:10.1097/yco.0b013e32832c9064. PMID 19424067. S2CID 33825488.

[washtimes8711r-125] Staff writer (July 26, 2005). "50,000 Iraqi Insurgents Dead, Caught" Archived December 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Times. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[civilians08-126] Staff writer (September 8, 2004). "Civilian, Insurgent Deaths Hard To Tally – Neither U.S. Nor Iraq Regime Keeps Count" Archived August 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Scripps Howard News Service (via Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[usatoday1-127] Michaels, Jim (September 27, 2007). "19,000 Insurgents Killed in Iraq Since '03". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 28, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[128] Leigh, David (October 22, 2010). "Iraq war logs reveal 15,000 previously unlisted civilian deaths". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2016.

[129] "March violence claims 252 Iraqi lives | ReliefWeb". Reliefweb.int. April 1, 2009. Archived from the original on September 3, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2011.

[130] Viola Gienger (December 30, 2010). "Iraq Civilian Deaths Drop for Third Year as Toll Eases After U.S. Drawdown". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[131] "Jan Iraq death toll highest in four months". The Age. February 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[132] "Two U.S. troops killed in Iraq". United Press International. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[133] "Iraq monthly death toll falls in April". Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[134] "Iraq death toll in May lowest in 2011". March 22, 2018. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[135] "Homepage – Daily News Egypt". Archived from the original on January 11, 2012.

[136] "Iraq death toll for July second highest in 2011". MSN. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[137] 239 people killed in Iraq in August and killed by the U.S. military Archived January 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

[138] Death toll in Iraq falls in September Archived October 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[139] Iraq death toll up sharply in October Archived November 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[140] Staff writer (January 4, 2006). "Nearly 6,000 Killed in Iraq Violence in 2005" Archived October 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. People's Daily. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[141] "Civilian casualties drop dramatically in Iraq". Reuters. Reuters. December 31, 2007. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[142] Staff writer (January 1, 2009). "Iraq Hails Lowest Monthly Death Toll in Nearly Three Years – Government Figures Reveal 6,226 Iraqis Killed in Iraq in 2008, Down from 6,772 in 2007" Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Middle East Online. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[143] "Rantburg article". Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

[144] 25,287 killed from 2003 through 2009, of which 19,429 were killed up to September 22, 2007, [14] Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine with and additional 1,865 killed until the end of 2007, leaving 3,984 to have died in 2008 and 2009

[suicide_bombing_study-145] Calderwood, James (April 2, 2007). "Suicide Bombings in Iraq on the Rise". Associated Press (via Fox News). Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[146] Jervis, Rick (May 9, 2006). "Car Bombings Down in Iraq, Military Says". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[usatoday.com-147] Jervis, Rick (January 22, 2006). "Attacks in Iraq Jumped in 2005". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[D9982NH22-148] ttp://www.e-prism.org/images/memo78.pdf Archived February 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine page 80, Figure 5

[149] "Al Qaeda Leader: Over 4,000 Foreign Insurgents Killed in Iraq". September 28, 2006. Archived from the original on November 11, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[150] (subscription required) Staff writer (June 6, 2008). "Six Thousand Al Qaida Fighters Killed in Iraq Says Top Official" Archived June 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. iraqupdates.com. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[151] "Insurgent ‘body count’ records released." Archived July 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Stars and Stripes. October 1, 2007.

[152] "In outsourced U.S. wars, contractor deaths top 1,000". Reuters. 2007. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.

[contractors2-153] Ivanovich, David; Clanton, Brett (January 28, 2007). "Contractor Deaths in Iraq Nearing 800 – Toll Has Surged in Past Months, But Civilians Still Line Up for the Jobs" Archived February 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[154] Roberts, Michelle (February 23, 2007). "Iraq Contractor Deaths Go Little Noticed". The Guardian.^{[dead link]}

[155] Roug, Louise (November 11, 2006). "Decrepit Healthcare Adds to Toll in Iraq" . Los Angeles Times.

[156] Palmer, James (March 19, 2007). "Protestors Plead for Peace – Civilian Toll: Iraqis Exhibit More Mental Health Problems" Archived November 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

[jaz1-157] Jamail, Dahr (March 16, 2013). "Iraq's wars, a legacy of cancer". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.

[158] "Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004". United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on May 29, 2006.

[lancet2004-159] Roberts, Les; Lafta, Riyadh; Garfield, Richard; Khudhairi, Jamal; Burnham, Gilbert (October 29, 2004). "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey". The Lancet. 368 (9545): 1421–8. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.88.4036. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(06)69491-9. PMID 17055943. S2CID 23673934.

[160] "Study Puts Iraqi Toll at 100,000". CNN. October 29, 2004. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.

[iraqiyun2005-161] Iraqi civilian casualties Archived November 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. United Press International. July 12, 2005. Archived here "Iraqi civilian casualties | Iraq Mortality". Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2010. too.

[daviesbook-162] Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq. Book by Nicolas J.S. Davies. Published June 2010. ISBN 1-934840-98-X, ISBN 978-1-934840-98-6. Iraqiyun info is from page 139.

[davies2010oct24-163] "Unreported Iraqi war deaths revealed by Wikileaks are only the tip of an iceberg." Archived December 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine By Nicolas Davies. October 24, 2010. Article is here [15] Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, too.

[:13-164] Kahl, Colin H. (2007). "In the Crossfire or the Crosshairs? Norms, Civilian Casualties, and U.S. Conduct in Iraq". International Security. 32 (1): 7–46. doi:10.1162/isec.2007.32.1.7. ISSN 0162-2889. S2CID 57570400.

[:7-165] Kristine Eck, "Survey Research in Conflict and Post-conflict Societies" in Understanding Peace Research: Methods and Challenges^{[permanent dead link]} (eds. Kristine Hoglund & Magnus Oberg), Routledge: 2011, p. 171.

[:8-166] Montclos, Marc-Antoine Pérouse de (2016). "Numbers Count: Dead Bodies, Statistics, and the Politics of Armed Conflicts". Violence, Statistics, and the Politics of Accounting for the Dead. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development. Springer, Cham. pp. 47–69. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12036-2_3. ISBN 978-3-319-12035-5.

[167] Axinn, William G.; Ghimire, Dirgha; Williams, Nathalie E. (2012). "Collecting Survey Data during Armed Conflict". Journal of Official Statistics. 28 (2): 153–171. ISSN 0282-423X. PMC 3571111. PMID 23420645.

[:9-168] Spagat, Michael; Mack, Andrew; Cooper, Tara; Kreutz, Joakim (2009). "Estimating War Deaths: An Arena of Contestation". The Journal of Conflict Resolution. 53 (6): 934–950. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.511.6965. doi:10.1177/0022002709346253. JSTOR 20684623. S2CID 154416100.

[169] Jewell, Nicholas P.; Spagat, Michael; Jewell, Britta L. (2018). "Accounting for Civilian Casualties: From the Past to the Future". Social Science History. 42 (3): 379–410. doi:10.1017/ssh.2018.9. ISSN 0145-5532. the Iraq mortality survey of Burnham et al. (2006) was highly controversial and had major weaknesses (Spagat 2010), some of which led to an official censure by a professional association of survey researchers.

[170] Axinn, William G.; Ghimire, Dirgha; Williams, Nathalie E. (2012). "Collecting Survey Data during Armed Conflict". Journal of Official Statistics. 28 (2): 153–171. ISSN 0282-423X. PMC 3571111. PMID 23420645. the methods they used to obtain their unusually high estimate were subsequently widely criticized

[:14-171] "Introduction - Patterns of Armed Conflict Since 1945". What Do We Know About Civil War?. Rowman & Littlefield. 2016.

[:15-172] Seybolt, Taylor B.; Aronson, Jay D.; Fischhoff, Baruch, eds. (July 11, 2013). Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict. Studies in Strategic Peacebuilding. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199977307. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2018. In letters to the editor of The Lancet, and subsequent commentaries and peer-reviewed articles, scientists, statisticians, public health advocates, and medical researchers voiced concern about a range of technical and ethical issues, from the methods for choosing the households to be surveyed to the prac- tices used by interviewers to gather information from individuals. There were also con- cerns about the pre-war mortality rates chosen to compare with the post-invasion rates, as well as a host of other issues.

[173] (PRIO), Peace Pesearch Institute Oslo. "Armed Conflict Deaths Disaggregated by Gender". Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.

[Washingtonpost-ellen-174] Knickmeyer, Ellen (October 19, 2006). "One-Day Toll in Iraq Combat Is Highest for U.S. in Months – At Least 12 Killed in Fresh Attacks on Iraqi Police Facilities" Archived May 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[MNGUTLNP6C1-175] Badkhen, Anna (October 12, 2006). "Critics Say 600,000 Iraqi Dead Doesn't Tally – But Pollsters Defend Methods Used in Johns Hopkins Study" Archived March 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[176] Bennett-Jones, Owen (March 26, 2007). "Iraqi Deaths Survey 'Was Robust'" Archived March 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. BBC World Service (via BBC News'). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[177] "Hall, Katharine (2008). "An Argument for Documenting Casualties; Violence against Iraqi Civilians 2006". The RAND Corporation. Retrieved December 5, 2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2017.

[AlterNet2008jan21-178] "Right-Wingers Can't Cover Up Iraq's Death Toll Catastrophe" Archived March 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. By John Tirman. January 21, 2008. AlterNet.

[179] PR Watch / By Diane Farsetta (March 1, 2008). "How Many Iraqis Have Really Died?". AlterNet. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

[180] AlterNet / By John Tirman (July 19, 2011). "1 Million Dead in Iraq? 6 Reasons the Media Hide the True Human Toll of War – And Why We Let Them". AlterNet. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

[181] "The Human Cost of the War in Iraq". Mit.edu. Archived from the original on October 28, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

[182] "John Tirman: Was There a War in Iraq?". HuffPost. February 13, 2012. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

[tapp-183] Tapp, Christine; Burkle, Frederich; Wilson, Kumanan; Takaro, Tim; Guyatt, Gordon; Amad, Hani; Mills, Edward (2008). "Iraq War mortality estimates: a systematic review". Conflict and Health. 2 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/1752-1505-2-1. PMC 2322964. PMID 18328100.

[levysidel2016-184] Levy, Barry; Sidel, Victor (2016). "Documenting the effects of armed conflict on population health". Annual Review of Public Health. 37: 205–218. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021913. PMID 26989827.

[:10-185] Johnson, Neil F.; Spagat, Michael; Gourley, Sean; Onnela, Jukka-Pekka; Reinert, Gesine (September 1, 2008). "Bias in Epidemiological Studies of Conflict Mortality". Journal of Peace Research. 45 (5): 653–663. doi:10.1177/0022343308094325. ISSN 0022-3433. S2CID 14800086.

[:11-186] (PRIO), Peace Pesearch Institute Oslo. "Article of the Year – 2008 – Journal of Peace Research – PRIO". prio.org. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.

[187] Daponte, Beth Osborne (2007). "Wartime estimates of Iraqi civilian casualties". International Review of the Red Cross. 89 (868): 943–957. doi:10.1017/S1816383108000167. ISSN 1607-5889. S2CID 42173386.

[188] "Retrospective two-stage cluster sampling for mortality in Iraq | WARC". www.warc.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.

[189] Rosenblum, Michael A; van der Laan, Mark J. (January 7, 2009). "Confidence Intervals for the Population Mean Tailored to Small Sample Sizes, with Applications to Survey Sampling". The International Journal of Biostatistics. 5 (1): Article 4. doi:10.2202/1557-4679.1118. ISSN 1557-4679. PMC 2827893. PMID 20231867.

[190] Marker, David A. (2008). "Review: Methodological Review of "Mortality after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq: A Cross-Sectional Cluster Sample Survey"". The Public Opinion Quarterly. 72 (2): 345–363. doi:10.1093/poq/nfn009. JSTOR 25167629.

[:1-191] Spagat, Michael (February 1, 2010). "Ethical and Data-Integrity Problems in the Second Lancet Survey of Mortality in Iraq". Defence and Peace Economics. 21 (1): 1–41. doi:10.1080/10242690802496898. ISSN 1024-2694. S2CID 59093432.

[:2-192] Spagat, Michael (May 1, 2009). "Iraq Study Failed Replication Test". Science. 324 (5927): 590. doi:10.1126/science.324_590a. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 19407183.

[:12-193] Iraq Family Health Survey Study Group (January 31, 2008). "Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002 to 2006". New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (5): 484–493. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa0707782. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 18184950. S2CID 3186924.

[:6-194] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Spagat, Michael (April 20, 2012). Estimating the Human Costs of War: The Sample Survey Approach. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195392777.013.0014. S2CID 12494743.

[:16-195] Roberts, Adam (2 June 2010). "Lives and Statistics: Are 90% of War Victims Civilians?". Survival. 52 (3): 115–136. doi:10.1080/00396338.2010.494880. S2CID 153458692.

[:17-196] Aronson, Jay D. (2013). "The Politics of Civilian Casualty Counts". In Seybolt, Taylor B.; Aronson, Jay D.; Fischhoff, Baruch (eds.). Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict. pp. 29–49. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199977307.003.0003. ISBN 978-0-19-997730-7.

[197] "AAPOR Finds Gilbert Burnham in Violation of Ethics Code". Archived from the original on February 9, 2018.

[198] Gelman, Andrew (2014). "Questioning The Lancet, PLOS, And Other Surveys On Iraqi Deaths, An Interview With Univ. of London Professor Michael Spagat". Archived from the original on February 10, 2018.

[199] Gelman, Andrew (April 27, 2015). "Controversial 2006 estimate of Iraq deaths remains controversial". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.

[200] Goldstein, Joshua (2011). "Winning the War on War". www.winningthewaronwar.com. Dutton/Plume (Penguin). Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.

[201] Best, Joel (2013). Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-27998-8.^{[page needed]}

[202] Zeitzoff, Thomas (May 26, 2016). "Why the Method Matters". Political Violence at a Glance. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.

[203] "Small Arms, Crime and Conflict: Global Governance and the Threat of Armed Violence". Routledge.com. 2012. pp. 59–60. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.

[Correspondence-204] Burnham, G. M (July 24, 2008). "Correspondence: Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq, 2002–2006". The New England Journal of Medicine. 359 (4): 431–434. doi:10.1056/NEJMc080419. PMID 18650523.

[205] Tirman, John (2011). The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars. Oxford University Press. pp. 327–329. ISBN 978-0-19-983149-4.

[206] Dougherty, Josh (January 2007). "Mortality in Iraq". The Lancet. 369 (9556): 102–103. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60062-2. PMID 17223464. S2CID 46202829.

[207] Guha-Sapir, Debarati; Degomme, Olivier; Pedersen, Jon (January 2007). "Mortality in Iraq". The Lancet. 369 (9556): 102, author reply 103–4. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60061-0. PMID 17223465. S2CID 31275972.

[208] Spagat, Michael (April 13, 2018). "Fudged statistics on the Iraq War death toll are still circulating today". The Conversation. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.

[209] Burnham, Gilbert; Lafta, Riyadh; Doocy, Shannon; Roberts, Les (January 2007). "Mortality in Iraq – Authors' reply". The Lancet. 369 (9556): 103–104. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60063-4. S2CID 54236383.

[210] Todd, Robb S. (November 9, 2006). "Official: 150,000 Iraqis Killed Since 2003 – Iraqi Health Minister Says Three Injured for Every Person Killed Since U.S.-Led Invasion" Archived October 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. CBS News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[hurst-211] Hurst, Steven R. (November 10, 2006). "Iraqi Official: 150,000 Civilians Dead" Archived January 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via The Washington Post). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[212] Staff writer (March 19, 2007). "Iraq Poll 2007: In Graphics" Archived March 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[abcnews2007march19-213] Langer, Gary (March 19, 2007). "Voices From Iraq 2007: Ebbing Hope in a Landscape of Loss – National Survey of Iraq" Archived October 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. ABC News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[214] "The Polling Unit: Archives 2007" Archived May 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. ABC News. See links in March 2007 section titled "March 2007 National Survey of Iraq".

[ABCpdf-215] ABC News/USA Today/BBC/ARD Poll Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. March 19, 2007. Detailed results with tables, charts, and graphs.

[216] "Iraq Poll 2007" Archived April 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. D3 Systems poll (February 25 to March 5, 2007) for BBC, ABC News, ARD and USA Today.

[usatoday2007march19-217] Page, Susan (March 19, 2007). "Democracy's Support Sinks" Archived August 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. USA Today. Retrieved September 3, 2010. PDF report Archived August 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

[218] Staff writer (March 19, 2007). "Iraq Poll: Note on Methodology – National Survey of Iraq" Archived October 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. March 19, 2007. ABC News. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[orb2008jan28-219] "Revised Casualty Analysis. New Analysis 'Confirms' 1 Million+ Iraq Casualties" Archived February 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. January 28, 2008. Opinion Research Business. Word Viewer for.doc files.

[220] "Conflict Deaths in Iraq: A Methodological Critique of the ORB Survey Estimate" Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine By Michael Spagat and Josh Dougherty

[:3-221] "A Better Stab at Estimating How Many Died in the Iraq War". Pacific Standard. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.

[:4-222] "Iraq war claimed half a million lives, study finds". Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.

[:0-223] Spagat, Michael; van Weezel, Stijn (October 1, 2017). "Half a million excess deaths in the Iraq war: Terms and conditions may apply". Research & Politics. 4 (4): 2053168017732642. doi:10.1177/2053168017732642. ISSN 2053-1680.

[224] Spagat, Michael (2018). "Terms and conditions still apply: A rejoinder to Hagopian et al". Research & Politics. 5: 205316801875785. doi:10.1177/2053168018757858.

[225] George W. Bush, "President Discusses War on Terror and Upcoming Iraqi Elections" Archived September 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. White House transcript. December 12, 2005. Says 30,000 Iraqi dead.

[226] Staff writer (December 12, 2005). "Bush: Iraqi Democracy Making Progress – President Compares Iraq's Struggle to America's Founding" Archived December 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. CNN. Retrieved September 3, 2010. "I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis", Bush said. CNN writes: "White House spokesman Scott McClellan later said Bush was basing his statement on media reports, 'not an official government estimate.'"

[227] Staff writer (January 3, 2007). "Bruised and Battered: Iraqi Toll Crosses 16000 in ’06" Archived January 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via The Indian Express). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[australian-228] MacDonald, Alastair (January 2, 2007). "Iraq Civilian Deaths Hit New Record". The Australian. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

[LAtimes2006june25-229] Roug, Louise; Smith, Doug (June 25, 2006). "War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000 – Higher Than the U.S. Estimate But Thought To Be Undercounted, the Tally Is Equivalent to 570,000 Americans Killed in Three Years" Archived March 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Los Angeles Times (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[230] Krause, Keith (April 1, 2017). "Bodies count: the politics and practices of war and violent death data". Human Remains and Violence. 3 (1): 90–115. doi:10.7227/HRV.3.1.7. ISSN 2054-2240.

[231] "Though Numbers Unclear, Iraqi Deaths Touch Many". NPR. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.

[5,500_Iraqis-232] Cooney, Daniel (May 23, 2004). "5,500 Iraqis Killed, Morgue Records Show" Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press (via The United Jerusalem Foundation). Retrieved September 3, 2010. (Article is here [16] Archived May 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine also (via the China Daily). Retrieved September 3, 2010.)

[233] Brownstein, Catherine A.; Brownstein, John S. (31 January 2008). "Estimating Excess Mortality in Post-Invasion Iraq". New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (5): 445–447. doi:10.1056/NEJMp0709003. PMID 18184951.

[juancole2006oct11-234] Cole, Juan (October 11, 2006). "655,000 Dead in Iraq since Bush Invasion" Archived February 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Informed Comment (blog at juancole.com). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[235] Fisk, Robert (July 28, 2004). "Baghdad Is a City That Reeks with the Stench of the Dead" (opinion piece). The Independent. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[soldz-236] Soldz, Stephen (February 5, 2006). "When Promoting Truth Obscures the Truth: More on Iraqi Body Count and Iraqi Deaths" Archived May 4, 2006, at the Library of Congress Web Archives. ZNet. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[237] Press release (November 7, 2004). "IBC Response to the Lancet Study Estimating '100,000' Iraqi Deaths" Archived October 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Iraq Body Count project. Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[238] Buncombe, Andrew (April 20, 2005). "Aid Worker Uncovered America's Secret Tally of Iraqi Civilian Deaths" Archived January 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The Independent (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[mcclatchy-239] Landay, Jonathan S. (December 7, 2006). "Study Says Violence in Iraq Has Been Underreported" Archived December 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. McClatchy Newspapers (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved September 3, 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

[51]

[52]

[53]

[54]

[55]

[56]

[57]

[58]

[59]

[60]

[61]

[62]

[63]

[64]

[65]

[66]

[67]

[68]

[69]

[70]

[71]

[72]

[73]

[74]

[75]

[76]

[77]

[78]

[79]

[80]

[81]

[82]

[83]

[84]

[85]

[86]

[87]

[88]

[89]

[90]

[91]

[92]

[93]

[94]

[95]

[96]

[97]

[98]

[99]

[100]

@@ Line 249: / Line 249: @@
 On [[October 19]], [[2004]], the [[International Institute for Strategic Studies]] published its annual report stating that the war in Iraq had actually [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1331362,00.html increased the risk of terrorism against westerners in Arab countries][http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/20/content_2113192.htm].
+==Legitimacy and legality==
-==Legal aspects==
 {{main|Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq|Popular opposition to the 2003 Iraq war}}
 [[Image:AntiWarProtestLondon.jpg|thumb|[[Protests against the 2003 Iraq war|Global Protests]] around the world against the invasion]]
-===International law===
+===Invasion legitimacy===
-Most legal experts say that the US and other coalition governments' invasion of Iraq was an unprovoked assault on an independent country which breached [[international law]]. [http://www.icj.org/IMG/pdf/Iraq_war_18_03_03_.pdf], [http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,909275,00.html], [http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh99a1.htm]. Prior to invasion, the U.S. and U.K. attempted unsuccessfully to secure a U.N. resolution explicitly authorizing force on the grounds that Iraq was allegedly in violation of various previous resolutions. The U.S. structured its report to the [[U.N. Security Council]] around alleged intelligence from the [[CIA]] and [[MI5]] stating that Iraq allegedly possessed [[weapons of mass destruction]]. Legal justification rested upon Iraq's violation of several U.N. Resolutions, most recently [[UN Security Council Resolution 1441]]. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030205-1.html] U.S. president [[George W. Bush]] claimed Iraq's supposed WMDs posed a significant threat to the United States and its allies. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html][http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html] It is claimed that some of the evidence cited by the United States for Iraq's possession of illegal weapons was known at the time to be of doubtful value. In January 2006, the ''New York Times'' reported that "A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was 'unlikely.'"[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0118-03.htm]  The Iraqi government denied the existence of any such facilities or capabilities and called the reports lies and fabrications, which was backed by the post-war prima facie case that no WMDs were evident or found.[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/17/sprj.irq.iraq.summit/index.html] U.N. inspection teams capable of continuing the search were ordered out because war appeared imminent. The U.S. Iraq Survey Group Final Report concluded in its September 30, 2004 report that, "ISG has not found evidence that Saddam Husayn possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but the available evidence from its investigation—including detainee interviews and document exploitation—leaves open the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq although not of a militarily significant capability." The U.S. officially abandoned its search for WMDs in Iraq on [[January 12]], [[2005]].
+Many have argued that the legitimacy of the invasion could be disputed under [[international law]]. Prior to invasion, the U.S. and U.K. attempted unsuccessfully to secure a U.N. resolution explicitly authorizing force on the grounds that Iraq was allegedly in violation of various previous resolutions. The U.S. structured its report to the [[U.N. Security Council]] around alleged intelligence from the [[CIA]] and [[MI5]] stating that Iraq allegedly possessed [[weapons of mass destruction]]. Legal justification rested upon Iraq's violation of several U.N. Resolutions, most recently [[UN Security Council Resolution 1441]]. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030205-1.html] U.S. president [[George W. Bush]] claimed Iraq's supposed WMDs posed a significant threat to the United States and its allies. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html][http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html] It is claimed that some of the evidence cited by the United States for Iraq's possession of illegal weapons was known at the time to be of doubtful value. In January 2006, the ''New York Times'' reported that "A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was 'unlikely.'"[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0118-03.htm]  The Iraqi government denied the existence of any such facilities or capabilities and called the reports lies and fabrications, which was backed by the post-war prima facie case that no WMDs were evident or found.[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/17/sprj.irq.iraq.summit/index.html] U.N. inspection teams capable of continuing the search were ordered out because war appeared imminent. The U.S. Iraq Survey Group Final Report concluded in its September 30, 2004 report that, "ISG has not found evidence that Saddam Husayn possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but the available evidence from its investigation—including detainee interviews and document exploitation—leaves open the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq although not of a militarily significant capability." The U.S. officially abandoned its search for WMDs in Iraq on [[January 12]], [[2005]].
 To this date, WMDs have not been found in Iraq, see [[Duelfer Report]].[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/12/wmd.search/][http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-09-02-WMD-indepth_x.htm][http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-09-08-powell-iraq_x.htm]

Revision as of 11:01, 24 January 2006

Political and diplomatic aspects

Military aspects

Prelude

Rationale

Weapons of mass destruction

Sanctions

Human Rights

Libyan disarmament

Purported Iraqi intelligence plots

Purported links between the government of Iraq and terrorist organizations

Russian Warnings

Al-Qaeda

Other terrorist organizations

Legitimacy and legality

Invasion legitimacy

Countries supporting and opposing the invasion

Legality of the invasion

U.S. law

International law

Downing Street memo

Call for British investigation into legality

Calls for International Criminal Court investigation

Opposition view of the invasion

Invasion

Opening attack

Special Operations

Fall of Baghdad (April 2003)

Other areas

Summary of the invasion

Security, looting and war damage

"End of major combat operations" (May 2003)

Deaths

Tables

Additional statistics for the Iraq War

Iraqi invasion casualties

Iraqi civilian casualties

Iraq Body Count project (IBC)

Civilian deaths by perpetrator

IBC table of violent civilian deaths

People's Kifah

Iraqi refugees crisis

Coalition military casualties

Troops fallen ill, injured, or wounded

Accidents and negligence

Nightline controversy

Amputees

Traumatic brain injuries

Mental illness and suicide

Iraqi insurgent casualties

Contractor casualties

Health outcomes

Total Iraqi casualties

Iraq Living Conditions Survey (2004)

Lancet (2004)

Iraqiyun estimate (2005)

Lancet (2006)

Iraq Health Minister estimate (2006)

United Nations (2006)

D3 Systems poll (2007)

Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey (2007, 2008)

Iraq Family Health Survey (IFHS, 2008)

The Associated Press and Health Ministry (2009)

PLOS Medicine (2013)

Some media estimates

Reviews

Undercounting

Underreporting by U.S. authorities

Casualties caused by criminal and political violence

See also

References

External links

Related propaganda and phrases

Media coverage

Veterans Organizations

See also

References

Further reading

External links