The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
Most
violence was directed at “for lack of a better word, the common
Iraqi
civilian”.
For over 50 percent of the individuals killed in 2006 there was “…
no
identifying
data, no apparent or recorded reason, and no discernible
affiliation
or target.
All we know of these people is that they were killed; this fact
alone
suggests
that our capacity to understand, analyze, and effectively respond
to the
bloodshed
is limited by a lack of information.”
237.
In April 2009,
researchers from King’s College London, Royal Holloway,
University
of London
and IBC used IBC’s record of Iraqi non‑combatant civilian deaths to
analyse
the nature
and effects of various weapons.
238.
The
researchers concluded that in events with at least one Iraqi
non‑combatant
civilian
casualty, the methods that killed the most non‑combatant civilians
per event
were aerial
bombing (17 per event), combined use of aerial and ground
weapons
(17 per
event) and suicide bombers on foot (16 per event). Aerial bombs
killed on
average
nine more non‑combatant civilians per event (17) than aerial
missiles (8).
The team commented:
“It seems
clear from these findings that to protect civilians from
indiscriminate
harm, as
required by international humanitarian law … military and civilian
policies
should
prohibit aerial bombing in civilian areas unless it can be
demonstrated – by
monitoring
of civilian casualties for example – that civilians are being
protected.”
On 22
October 2010, WikiLeaks released 391,832 US Army Field Reports,
covering the
period from
1 January 2004 to 31 December 2009 (except for the months of May
2004
and March
2009).151
WikiLeaks
stated that the Field Reports detailed 109,032 deaths
in
Iraq over
that period, comprising:
•
66,081
“civilian” deaths;
•
23,984 “enemy”
deaths (“those labelled as insurgents”);
•
15,196 “host
nation” deaths (Iraqi Government forces); and
•
3,771
“friendly” deaths (coalition forces).
IBC
reported that, based on an “early analysis”, the Field Reports
contained
15,000 previously
unreported civilian deaths.152
Once a full
analysis was complete,
casualty
data would be integrated into IBC’s record.
IBC stated
that the majority of the previously unreported deaths came from
small incidents
comprising
one to three deaths. That was not unexpected, as larger incidents
attracted
more media
coverage than smaller incidents.
151
WikiLeaks,
22 October 2010, Iraq War
Logs.
152
Iraq Body
Count, 22 October 2010, 15,000
previously unknown civilian deaths contained in the Iraq
war
Logs
released by WikiLeaks.
212