25,000 Iraqi civilians killed since 2003, 42,000 wounded. Success!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1700874,00.html

Yesterday in London figures were published estimating that more than 25,000 civilians have been killed and 42,000 wounded in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003. A report by Iraq Body Count, an activist group, and Oxford Research Group, claimed the death toll for the 12 months to the end of March was 11,351, almost double the toll for the previous year.

About 20 per cent of the victims were women and children, according to the report, which is based on media reports, mortuary and medical witness statements, and official Iraqi ministry statements. American-led forces were blamed for 37 per cent of the deaths, “criminals” for 36 per cent and anti-occupation forces for 9 per cent. The balance could not be attributed to any single group.

Most of the killings slip by virtually unnoticed, almost routine in a country where death is so commonplace. Of the 23 people killed yesterday in scattered shootings, 13 died in an attack on a bus carrying Iraqi workers to an American army base northeast of the city. Most of the dead are brought to one of Baghdad’s main hospitals for a post-mortem examination, then taken by families for burial, mainly in the giant Shi a cemetery in Najaf to the south.
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you just can't ignore those sunny statistics! but most do.

---------20 per cent of the victims were women and children---------

Pity Westmoreland is no longer with us to tell us we're winning.

they had an interview with a shaykh who collects unclaimed bodies and gives them a religious burial. The man appeared to be sincere, calling all his brothers, quoting the Qur'an on the preciousness of human life, etc. Anyway, he's been doing this since Saddam was in power. When that was the case, he buried like maybe 15 a month. Since the US invaded, the number has jumped TENFOLD.

And Blair says the Iraq war has nothing to do with current terrorism in Britain and elsewhere.

1) Invade an oil-rich country where ethnic tensions have been held in check via brutal dictatorship.
2) ?
3) Profit!