17 | Civilian casualties

100. Mr Ingram also clarified the MOD’s definition of a civilian:

“For our purposes, the term ‘civilian’ applies to all Iraqis. Besides peaceful

law‑abiding men, women and children, it includes those former regime loyalists who

have since April continued to bomb, kill and maim their fellow Iraqi countrymen and

women and Coalition troops.”

101. On 6 February, in response to a written Parliamentary Question from Mr Price,

Mr Ingram stated:

“As at 2 February, since the end of major combat operations 37 alleged fatalities had

been reported by British units of which 18 have been the subject of investigations.

All those not subject to investigation involved assailants attacking British forces and

in defending themselves the soldiers involved were acting clearly within their Rules

of Engagement.”74

102. That was the first public statement, of which the Inquiry is aware, of the number

of civilians killed by UK forces in Iraq.

103. IBC reported on 7 February 2004 that the number of “non‑combatant civilian”

deaths in Iraq during 2003 “as a result of the US/UK‑led invasion and Occupation of

Iraq” might have passed 10,000.75

104. IBC commented:

“Pushing the total past the 10,000 mark were recent reports of Iraqi policemen killed

since Saddam’s fall in April. It is unsurprising that, as the CPA [Coalition Provisional

Authority] and Occupying forces bunker themselves behind concrete fortresses, their

most exposed and least well‑protected front‑line defence, members of the ‘new’ Iraqi

civil defence and police forces, have suffered disproportionately.”

105. On 23 April, at his request, Mr Blair received 19 “unvarnished accounts” of

progress on security, the political process and reconstruction in Iraq (see Section 9.2).

106. In his response to those accounts, Mr Blair asked for answers to four specific

questions, including:

“How many civilians have been killed in Iraq, and how? The figure of 15,000 is out

there as a fact – is it accurate?”76

107. The Cabinet Office responded to that question on 30 April, as part of a detailed

update on the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces.77 It advised that there were

no accurate estimates of the number of Iraqi casualties since the start of combat

74 House of Commons, Official Report, 6 February 2004, column 1104W.

75 Iraq Body Count, 7 February 2004, Civilian deaths in ‘noble’ Iraq mission pass 10,000.

76 Letter Rycroft to Owen, 26 April 2004, ‘Iraq: 15 Reports for the Prime Minister’.

77 Minute Dodd to Quarrey, 30 April 2004, ‘Iraqi Security Force Capabilities’.

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