17 |
Civilian casualties
the dead
and injured, it was not possible to know whether the UK was meeting
its
obligations
under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian
population in
Iraq. It
urged the Government to commission a comprehensive, independent
inquiry to
determine
how many Iraqi citizens had died or been injured since March 2003,
and the
cause of
those casualties.
183.
The campaign
also argued that information on casualties was needed to
plan
184.
At Prime
Minister’s Questions on the same day, Mr Blair said that he
did not agree
that the UK
needed to hold a full, independent inquiry into civilian casualties
to comply
with its
international legal obligations, and stated that the figures from
the Iraqi MOH
were the
most accurate available.120
He
continued:
“… those
who are killing innocent people in Iraq today … are the terrorists
and
insurgents
… Any action that the multinational force or the Iraqi Army is
taking in Iraq
is intended
to defeat those people …”
185.
The IPU
provided the Cabinet Office with a contribution to the Cabinet
Office
trial on 13
December.121
The IPU
analysis captured casualty figures for the five weeks
from
1 November, sourced from the Iraqi MOH, the BBC, IBC, the Iraq
Coalition
Casualty
Count project and Sky News. The casualty figures were broken down
into two
categories:
killed by insurgents; and killed by coalition forces.
186.
The total
casualty figures produced by the Iraqi MOH were the highest among
the
five
sources in four of the five weeks.
187.
The figures
produced by the Iraqi MOH showed that casualties caused by
the
coalition
were higher than casualties caused by insurgents in four of the
five weeks.
Figures
from all other sources showed that casualties caused by insurgents
were higher
than
casualties caused by the coalition in all five weeks.
188.
The IPU
commented that, apart from the Iraqi MOH, the sources were “of no
real
value”. The
comparison of the figures did suggest, however, that the Iraqi MOH
figures
were
incomplete. This could be due to delayed reporting of deaths at
hospitals or bodies
not being
taken to hospitals. The Iraqi MOH had reported that its figures did
not include
the Kurdish
provinces.
189.
The IPU also
commented that the analysis would not answer the demands
from
MPs and
others that the UK should produce its own estimate of Iraqi
civilian casualties.
The only
way a proper comparative analysis of the Iraqi MOH figures could be
made
was to set
them alongside figures produced by the US and UK
military.
119
Count the
Casualties, 8 December 2004, 46
prominent figures call on Prime Minister to commission
independent
inquiry into Iraqi casualties.
120
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 8
December 2004, column 1164.
121
Letter IPU
[junior official] to Cabinet Office [junior official], 13 December
2004, ‘Iraq: Civilian Casualties’.
203