The Web of Evil

The 9,500 and 2,500 figures were a slight rounding-up (allowing for time) of the numbers in the Iraq Body Count report. If they turn out to be above the actual numbers, they're unlikely to be so for long.

The 25,000-ish estimate is of all civilian deaths; within that, 9% were killed by insurgents, while 37% were killed by the good guys.

Given that the Americans aren't detonating explosive-laden cars in crowded civilian areas every day, their hefty percentage is still pretty impressive. Good shootin', boys!

I've fixed that link to the Iraq Body Count site, but here's some of the pertinent figures anyway.

Who was killed?

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

When did they die?

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

Who did the killing?

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

What was the most lethal weaponry?

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