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89-593: Baghdad Governorate is one of the most developed parts of Iraq, with better infrastructure than much of Iraq, though heavily damaged from the US-led invasion in 2003 and continuing violence during the Iraq War . It used to have one of the highest rates for terrorism in the world with suicide bombers, however terrorist attacks have been rare since the territorial defeat of ISIL in Iraq in late 2017. Baghdad has at least 12 bridges spanning

178-456: A sectarian civil war between Iraq's Shia majority and Sunni minority, and contributed to a lengthy insurgency. In response, the US deployed an additional 170,000 troops during the 2007 troop surge , which helped stabilize parts of the country. In 2008, President Bush agreed to withdraw all US combat troops, a process completed in 2011 under President Barack Obama . The primary justifications for

267-524: A battle to seize the major road junction. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around Talil Airfield . Iraq Body Count project Iraq Body Count project ( IBC ) is a web-based effort to record civilian deaths resulting from the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq . Included are deaths attributable to coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and criminal violence, which refers to excess civilian deaths caused by criminal action resulting from

356-682: A day, are "separately archived on the site, with a unique URL", are "widely cited or referenced by other sources", are in English, and have "fully public (preferably free) web-access" Primary sources used by the media are listed in the 2003 to 2005 IBC report. The sources are followed by the number of deaths reported from that source. The IBC overview page states: "Results and totals are continually updated and made immediately available here and on various IBC web counters which may be freely displayed on any website or homepage, where they are automatically updated without further intervention." Civilian deaths in

445-474: A larger fraction of deaths due to insurgents and a lesser proportion of deaths due to US and Iraqi government forces." A further claim has been that IBC does little or nothing to correct misuse of their figures by public officials or media organizations. It is claimed that the media often misuse IBC's estimate of the total number dead. It is also claimed that the media use the IBC's estimate in order to ignore or downplay

534-524: A militant known as Abdallah al-Iraqi had been sent to Iraq several times between 1997 and 2000 for help in acquiring poisons and gasses. Abdallah al-Iraqi characterized the relationship he forged with Iraqi officials as successful." As a follow-up to Powell's presentation, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy , Australia, Denmark , Japan , and Spain proposed a resolution authorizing

623-446: A million deaths , including more than 100,000 civilians. Many deaths occurred during the insurgency and subsequent civil war. The conflict had lasting geopolitical effects, contributing to the emergence of the 2013–2017 War in Iraq , which caused over 155,000 deaths and displaced millions of Iraqis. The war severely damaged the US' international reputation, and Bush's popularity declined sharply. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair 's support for

712-719: A policy of containment . This policy involved numerous economic sanctions by the UN Security Council ; the enforcement of Iraqi no-fly zones declared by the US and the UK to protect the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan and Shias in the south from aerial attacks by the Iraqi government, and ongoing inspections to ensure Iraq's compliance with United Nations resolutions concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction . The inspections were carried out by

801-506: A third of the reports, there is simply no reason to believe that even a large fraction of Iraqi civilian combat-related deaths are ever reported in the Western media, much less, have the two independent reports necessary to be recorded in the IBC database. Do these few agencies really have enough Iraqi reporters on retainer to cover the country? Are these reporters really able comprehensively to cover deaths in insurgent-held parts of Iraq? How likely

890-614: Is Iraqi oil ," and questioning if Bush deliberately undermined the U.N. "because the secretary-general of the United Nations [was] a black man". In February 2003, the US Army's top general, Eric Shinseki , told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take "several hundred thousand soldiers" to secure Iraq. Two days later, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the post-war troop commitment would be less than

979-561: Is always a delay between the date on which incidents occur and the addition of their numbers to the IBC database. Another factor is that some reports emerge weeks or even months later - for instance the emergence of Baghdad city morgue reports for 2005 in early 2006. The 6 December line above was taken from the IBC total as it stood on 6 December 2005, but the emergence of the morgue figures later increased IBC's figures for that period to 31,818–35,747. The majority of civilians death from 2003 to 2011 were attributed to unknown actors. Following are

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1068-405: Is it that two reporters from distinct media outlets are going to be present at a given site where deaths occur? How many of the thousands of US bombings have been investigated by any reporter, Western or Iraqi? Simply to state these questions is to emphasize the fragmentary nature of the reporting that occurs and thus the limitations of the IBC database." In a 28 April 2006 BBC Newsnight interview

1157-407: Is no substitute: a defence of Iraq Body Count". In their reply, IBC argues that their critics have several key facts wrong. IBC argues that while their estimate is likely to be below the full toll, their critics' errors have led the critics to exaggerate the likely extent of such an undercount. Finally, IBC argues, the available evidence does not support their critics' claims of a pro-US bias infecting

1246-674: Is particularly sparse for Iraqi nuclear programs." Similarly, the British government found no evidence that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq posed no threat to the West, a conclusion British diplomats shared with the US government. Key US allies in NATO , such as the United Kingdom, agreed with the US actions, while France and Germany were critical of plans to invade Iraq, arguing instead for continued diplomacy and weapons inspections. After considerable debate,

1335-418: Is possible that our count has excluded some victims as a result." Stephen Soldz , who runs the website "Iraq Occupation and Resistance Report", writes in a 5 February 2006 ZNet article (in reference to the 2003-2005 IBC report ): "Given, as indicated in that report, that ten media outlets provided over half the IBC reports and three agencies [Associated Press, Agence France Presse, and Reuters] provided over

1424-617: Is reported, and the date on which it was reported. However, this has been criticized as insufficient because it typically does not list the original sources for the information: that is, the NGO, journalist or government responsible for the number presented. Hence, any inherent bias due to the lack of reliable reports from independent or Allied sources is not readily available to the reader. The IBC overview page states that its sources include "public domain newsgathering agencies with web access". They include sources that are from sites updated at least once

1513-673: The German Federal Intelligence Service and the British Secret Intelligence Service that the source was untrustworthy, Powell's presentation included information based on the claims of Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball" , an Iraqi emigrant living in Germany who also later admitted that his claims had been false. Powell also claimed that Iraq was covertly harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda networks. Additionally, Powell alleged that al-Qaeda

1602-455: The Iraqi army in the north. The battle against Ansar al-Islam, known as Operation Viking Hammer , led to the death of a substantial number of militants and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat. At 5:34 am Baghdad time on 20 March 2003 (9:34 pm, 19 March EST) the surprise military invasion of Iraq began. There was no declaration of war. The 2003 invasion of Iraq

1691-768: The Lancet study that came out in October 2004. Journalists included Lila Guterman, John Pilger , and George Monbiot In a 27 January 2005 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education Lila Guterman wrote: The Lancet released the paper on 29 October, the Friday before the election, when many reporters were busy with political coverage. That day, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune each dedicated only about 400 words to

1780-554: The Second Gulf War , was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition , which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein . The conflict persisted as an insurgency arose against coalition forces and the newly established Iraqi government. US forces were officially withdrawn in 2011. In 2014,

1869-598: The Tigris river - joining the east and west of the city. The governorate's northeast includes multiple Mesopotamian Marshes . The Sadr City district is the most densely populated area in Iraq. Baghdad is governed by the Baghdad Provincial Council. Representatives to the Baghdad Provincial Council were elected by their peers from the lower councils of the administrative districts in Baghdad in numbers proportional to

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1958-621: The United Nations , declared the invasion illegal under international law, as it violated the UN Charter . The 2016 Chilcot Report , a British inquiry, concluded the war was unnecessary, as peaceful alternatives had not been fully explored. In 2005, Iraq held multi-party elections , and Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006, a position he held until 2014. His government's policies alienated Iraq's Sunni minority, exacerbating sectarian tensions. The war led to an estimated 150,000 to over

2047-644: The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). UNSCOM, in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency , worked to ensure that Iraq destroyed its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and facilities. In the decade following the Gulf War, the United Nations passed 16 Security Council resolutions calling for the complete elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Member states communicated their frustration over

2136-582: The al-Faw Peninsula to secure the oil fields there and the important ports, supported by warships of the Royal Navy , Polish Navy , and Royal Australian Navy . The United States Marine Corps ' 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit , attached to 3 Commando Brigade and the Polish Special Forces unit GROM , attacked the port of Umm Qasr , while the British Army 's 16 Air Assault Brigade secured

2225-512: The " Iraq Resolution ", which authorized the President to "use any means necessary" against Iraq. Americans polled in January 2003 widely favored further diplomacy over an invasion. Later that year, however, Americans began to agree with Bush's plan (see popular opinion in the United States on the invasion of Iraq ). The US government engaged in an elaborate domestic public relations campaign to promote

2314-463: The "Iraq Western Media Body Count". These biases and inadequacies, they claim, mean IBC's count is low by up to a factor of 10, and that it specifically minimizes the proportion of deaths caused by US forces. Stephen Soldz wrote a 5 February 2006 article titled "When Promoting Truth Obscures the Truth: More on Iraqi Body Count and Iraqi Deaths". It stated: "Of course, in conditions of active rebellion,

2403-456: The 2003 military intervention by the USA and its allies. The count includes civilian deaths caused by coalition military action and by military or paramilitary responses to the coalition presence (e.g. insurgent and terrorist attacks). It also includes excess civilian deaths caused by criminal action resulting from the breakdown in law and order which followed the coalition invasion." The project quotes

2492-499: The Bush administration's national security team actively debated an invasion of Iraq. On the day of the attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld asked his aides for: "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit Saddam Hussein at the same time. Not only Osama bin Laden ." President Bush spoke with Rumsfeld on 21 November and instructed him to conduct a confidential review of OPLAN 1003 ,

2581-500: The Charter point of view, it was illegal." The first Central Intelligence Agency team entered Iraq on 10 July 2002. This team was composed of members of the CIA's Special Activities Division and was later joined by members of the US military's elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Together, they prepared for an invasion by conventional forces. These efforts consisted of persuading

2670-515: The IAEA "found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq"; the IAEA concluded that certain items which could have been used in nuclear enrichment centrifuges, such as aluminum tubes, were in fact intended for other uses. In March 2003, Blix said progress had been made in inspections, and no evidence of WMD had been found. In October 2002, the US Congress passed

2759-402: The IBC database. The IBC report for March 2003 to March 2005 states: "We have not made use of Arabic or other non-English language sources, except where these have been published in English. The reasons are pragmatic. We consider fluency in the language of the published report to be a key requirement for accurate analysis, and English is the only language in which all team members are fluent. It

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2848-848: The Iraq War Logs Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600 Iraqi deaths in total Statistical estimates Lancet survey ** (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636) Iraq Family Health Survey *** (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000) Opinion Research Business ** : (March 2003 – August 2007): 1,033,000 (95% CI: 946,258–1,120,000) PLOS Medicine Study** : (March 2003 – June 2011): 405,000 (60% violent) (95% CI: 48,000–751,000) Invasion (2003) Post-invasion insurgency (2003–2006) Civil war (2006–2008) Insurgency (2008–2011) The Iraq War ( Arabic : حرب العراق , romanized :  ḥarb al-ʿirāq ), also referred to as

2937-422: The Iraq war ( cumulative ): The figures above are those that appeared in real time on the IBC counters on or around those dates. However, those in the first line were increased radically in the following days and weeks. IBC's current Max figure for the entire invasion phase, up to 30 April 2003, now stands at 7,299. Because IBC performs analyses (e.g., accounts for multiple reports, eliminates overlaps, etc.), there

3026-444: The Iraq war. IBC was among several media organizations and NGO's given pre-release access to the documents, and IBC co-founder John Sloboda delivered a speech at the press conference for the release by WikiLeaks . IBC published three pieces on their website detailing their analysis of the war logs. Among the main findings were that the war logs, "contain an estimated 15,000 previously unknown civilian deaths," and that addition of

3115-611: The Iraqi government became official US foreign policy with the enactment of the Iraq Liberation Act . The act provided $ 97 million for Iraqi "democratic opposition organizations" to "establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq." This legislation contrasted with the terms set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 , which focused on weapons and weapons programs and made no mention of regime change. One month after

3204-548: The October 2004 excess mortality study published in the Lancet Medical Journal, which estimated a far higher figure. Critics of IBC argue that the Lancet study is the most accurate estimate so far and is more reliable than IBC's estimate. Other criticism of various kinds came from journalists Stephen Soldz, Dahr Jamail, and Jeff Pflueger In April 2006, IBC published a lengthy response to their critics entitled "Speculation

3293-493: The Senate voted in favor of it. Only one Republican Senator, Lincoln Chafee , voted against it. The Senate's lone Independent, Jim Jeffords , voted against it. Retired US Marine, former Navy Secretary and future US senator Jim Webb wrote shortly before the vote, "Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade." In the same period, Pope John Paul II publicly condemned

3382-541: The UK at a Labour Party conference he said: "As a preemptive action today, however well-justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future... I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are when you set them off, innocent people will die." Of 209 House Democrats in Congress, 126 voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 , although 29 of 50 Democrats in

3471-463: The UN Security Council adopted a compromise resolution, UN Security Council Resolution 1441 , which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised "serious consequences" for non-compliance. Security Council members France and Russia made clear that they did not consider these consequences to include the use of force to overthrow the Iraqi government. The US and UK ambassadors to

3560-536: The UN publicly confirmed this reading of the resolution. Resolution 1441 set up inspections by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency . Saddam accepted the resolution on 13 November and inspectors returned to Iraq under the direction of UNMOVIC chairman Hans Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei . As of February 2003,

3649-508: The US and its allies were responsible for the largest share (37%) of the 24,865 deaths. The remaining deaths were attributed to anti-occupation forces (9%), crime (36%), and unknown agents (11%). Who did the killing? Who was killed? When did they die? What was the most lethal weaponry? How many were injured? In October 2010, the group WikiLeaks released the Iraq War Logs , a set of nearly 400,000 classified US military documents on

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3738-620: The US became re-engaged in Iraq, leading a new coalition under Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve , as the conflict evolved into the ongoing insurgency . The Iraq invasion was part of the Bush administration 's broader war on terror , launched in response to the September 11 attacks . In October 2002, the US Congress passed a resolution granting Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq. The war began on March 20, 2003, when

3827-492: The US moved towards a more aggressive Iraq policy. The Republican Party 's campaign platform in the 2000 election called for "full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act as "a starting point" in a plan to "remove" Saddam. Little formal movement towards an invasion occurred until the September 11 attacks , although plans were drafted and meetings were held from the first days of his administration. Following 9/11,

3916-408: The US, British and other forces expected. The Iraqi regime had prepared to fight both a conventional and irregular, asymmetric warfare at the same time, conceding territory when faced with superior conventional forces, largely armored, but launching smaller-scale attacks in the rear using fighters dressed in civilian and paramilitary clothes. Coalition troops launched air and amphibious assaults on

4005-587: The US, joined by the UK , Australia , and Poland , initiated a " shock and awe " bombing campaign. Following the bombings, coalition forces launched a ground invasion, defeating Iraqi forces and toppling the Ba'athist regime. Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003 and executed in 2006. The fall of Saddam's regime created a power vacuum, which, along with the Coalition Provisional Authority 's mismanagement, fueled

4094-516: The United States' knowledge on different aspects of the Iraqi WMD program ranged from essentially zero to about 75%, and that knowledge was particularly weak on aspects of a possible nuclear weapons program: "Our knowledge of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program is based largely – perhaps 90% – on analysis of imprecise intelligence," they concluded. "Our assessments rely heavily on analytic assumptions and judgment rather than hard evidence. The evidentiary base

4183-691: The United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops , estimated to number upwards of 70,000. According to General Franks, there were eight objectives of the invasion: "First, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. Second, to identify, isolate, and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Third, to search for, to capture, and to drive out terrorists from that country. Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate to terrorist networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate to

4272-435: The above quote here are IBC yearly death totals (not counting the initial 7000 invasion deaths): The IBC released a report detailing the civilian deaths it had recorded between 20 March 2003 and 19 March 2005. From page 26: "The analyses in this dossier cover the first two years of the military intervention in Iraq from 20 March 2003 to 19 March 2005, and are based on data which was available by 14 June 2005." The report says

4361-456: The article said, 'is certain to generate intense controversy.' But the Times has not published any further news articles about the paper. This view of IBC was based on the belief that IBC figures are extremely low due to pro-US media bias and inadequate reporting due to its heavy (though not exclusive) reliance on Western media sources, which has led some of these critics to claim IBC should be called

4450-566: The breakdown in law and order which followed the coalition invasion. As of February 2019, the IBC has recorded 183,249 – 205,785 civilian deaths. The IBC has a media-centered approach to counting and documenting the deaths. Other sources have provided differing estimates of deaths, some much higher. See Casualties of the Iraq War . The project uses reports from English-language news media (including Arabic media translated into English), NGO-based reports, and official records that have been released into

4539-477: The commanders of several Iraqi military divisions to surrender rather than oppose the invasion, and identifying all the initial leadership targets during very high risk reconnaissance missions. Most importantly, their efforts organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion. Together this force defeated Ansar al-Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan before the invasion and then defeated

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4628-500: The count. If a number is quoted from an anti-coalition source, and the Allies fail to give a sufficiently specific alternate number, the anti-coalition figure is entered into IBC's database as both a maximum and a minimum. The same works vice versa. The project argues that these potential over- and undercounts by different media sources would tend to balance out. IBC's online database shows the newspaper, magazine or website where each number

4717-511: The fact that the Bush administration knew that Iraq had no nuclear weapons and had no information about whether Iraq had biological weapons. He began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq in his 12 September 2002 address to the UN Security Council . However, a 5 September 2002 report from Major General Glen Shaffer revealed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff 's J2 Intelligence Directorate had concluded that

4806-472: The global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. And last, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to representative self-government." The invasion was a quick and decisive operation encountering major resistance, though not what

4895-635: The highest DWI ratio, followed by Coalition Forces air attacks, leading the authors to advise that such weapons should not be used in populated areas. The third paper, published in September, 2011, in a special edition of The Lancet for the 10 year anniversary of the September 11 attacks of 2001, focused on casualties of both civilians and Coalition soldiers specifically by suicide bomb attacks in Iraq between 2003 and 2010. This paper found that there had been at least 12,284 Iraqi civilians and 200 Coalition soldiers killed in at least 1,003 suicide bombings during

4984-662: The history of the Blair government , as the number of government MPs who rebelled against the vote was the greatest since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Three government ministers resigned in protest at the war, John Denham , Lord Hunt of Kings Heath , and the then Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook . In October 2002, former US President Bill Clinton warned about the possible dangers of pre-emptive military action against Iraq. Speaking in

5073-606: The idea that democracy will suddenly blossom is something that I can't share. … Are Americans ready for this?" There were serious legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004, Kofi Annan , the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said of the invasion "...was not in conformity with the UN ;Charter . From our point of view, from

5162-409: The invasion centered around claims Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and that Saddam Hussein was supporting al-Qaeda . However, the 9/11 Commission concluded in 2004 that there was no credible evidence linking Saddam to al-Qaeda, and no WMD stockpiles were ever found in Iraq. These false claims faced widespread criticism , in the US and abroad. Kofi Annan , then Secretary-General of

5251-401: The invasion of Iraq with a host of public relations and military moves. In an address to the nation on 17 March 2003, Bush demanded that Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay , surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline. The UK House of Commons held a debate on going to war on 18 March 2003 where the government motion was approved 412 to 149 . The vote was a key moment in

5340-415: The military intervention. During a private meeting, he also said directly to George W. Bush: "Mr. President, you know my opinion about the war in Iraq. Let's talk about something else. Every violence, against one or a million, is a blasphemy addressed to the image and likeness of God." On 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared "we believe that military intervention would be

5429-443: The most reliable database of Iraqi civilian deaths". But some researchers regard it at best as a floor, or baseline for mortality, and that it underestimates actual mortality by potentially several factors. The IBC overview page states: "This is an ongoing human security project which maintains and updates the world's only independent and comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in Iraq that have resulted from

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5518-423: The new material would suggest that, "over 150,000 violent deaths have been recorded since March 2003, with more than 122,000 (80%) of them civilian." Between 2009 and 2011, IBC published three papers in peer reviewed academic journals, co-authored with researchers from King's College London and Royal Holloway, University of London. Each paper uses IBC data to evaluate different aspects of civilian casualties during

5607-448: The number of deaths provided by such reports would be openly tracked on its database page. Between 3.3 and 3.5 percent of deaths recorded by IBC are currently listed on the database page as derived from a single source. IBC is purely a civilian count. IBC defines civilian to exclude Iraqi soldiers, insurgents, suicide bombers or any others directly engaged in war-related violence. A "min" and "max" figure are used where reports differ on

5696-526: The number of troops required to win the war, and that "the idea that it would take several hundred thousand US forces is far from the mark." Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Shinseki's estimate was "way off the mark," because other countries would take part in an occupying force. Germany's Foreign Secretary Joschka Fischer , although having been in favor of stationing German troops in Afghanistan , advised Federal Chancellor Schröder not to join

5785-406: The numbers killed, or where the civilian status of the dead is uncertain. IBC is not an "estimate" of total civilian deaths based on projections or other forms of extrapolation. It is a compilation of documented deaths, as reported by English-language media worldwide. See the sources section farther down for more info on the media and their sources. Some have suggested bias of sources could affect

5874-473: The oil fields in southern Iraq. The heavy armor of the US 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the western desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved more easterly along Highway 1 through the center of the country, and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward through the eastern marshland. The American 1st Marine Division fought through Nasiriyah in

5963-419: The passage of the Iraq Liberation Act, the US and UK launched a bombardment campaign of Iraq called Operation Desert Fox . The campaign's express rationale was to hamper Saddam Hussein's government's ability to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, but US intelligence personnel also hoped it would help weaken Saddam's grip on power. Following the election of George W. Bush as president in 2000 ,

6052-462: The period were, "inflicted by unknown perpetrators, primarily through extrajudicial executions." The paper also utilized what the authors refer to as the "Dirty War Index" which evaluates the behavior of different perpetrators or weapon types in terms of the proportion of women and children killed, with higher DWI ratios suggesting tactics or weapons that are more indiscriminate toward civilians. The study found that unknown perpetrators firing mortars had

6141-472: The period. The study also found that these bombings had "injured no fewer than 30,644 Iraqi civilians," and that, "children are less likely to survive their suicide bomb injuries than adults." The IBC has received criticism from many sides. Some critics have focused on potential bias of sources. Others have raised concerns about the difficulty of distinguishing civilians from combatants. Others have criticized it for over or undercounting. Some critics, often on

6230-403: The political right, claimed that the IBC numbers were an overcount, and that the numbers were suspect due to the antiwar bias of the IBC members. For example; 26 July 2005 National Review article, "Bad Counts. An unquestioning media." Others, often on the political left, criticized media and government willingness to quote IBC figures more approvingly than the much higher estimate coming from

6319-2134: The population of the various districts that were represented. Iraq War Invasion (2003) [REDACTED] Republic of Iraq Coalition forces (2003) 309,000–584,799 [REDACTED]   United States : 192,000–466,985 personnel [REDACTED]   United Kingdom : 45,000 [REDACTED]   Australia : 2,000 [REDACTED]   Poland : 194 [REDACTED] Peshmerga : 70,000 [REDACTED] Coalition forces (2004–09) 176,000 at peak [REDACTED] United States Forces – Iraq (2010–11) 112,000 at activation Security contractors 6,000–7,000 (estimate) Iraqi Security Forces 805,269 [REDACTED] Iraqi Armed Forces : 375,000 [REDACTED] Special Iraqi Republican Guard : 12,000 [REDACTED] Iraqi Republican Guard : 75,000 [REDACTED] Fedayeen Saddam : 30,000 [REDACTED] Sunni Insurgents ≈70,000 (2007) Mahdi Army ≈60,000 (2007) Iraqi Security Forces (post-Saddam) Killed : 17,690 Wounded : 40,000+ Coalition forces Killed : 4,825 (4,507 US, 179 UK, 139 other) Missing/captured (US): 17 (9 died in captivity, 8 rescued) Wounded : 32,776+ (32,292 US, 315 UK, 210+ other ) Injured/diseases/other medical* : 51,139 (47,541 US, 3,598 UK) Contractors Killed : 3,650 Wounded & injured : 43,880 Awakening Councils Killed : 1,002+ Wounded : 500+ (2007), 828 (2008) Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–45,000 Insurgents (post-Saddam) Killed : 26,544+ killed by Coalition and ISF forces (2003–11), excludes inter-insurgent fighting and noncombat losses (4,000 foreign fighters killed by Sep. 2006, all causes) Detainees : 60,000 (US and Iraqi-held, peak in 2007) 12,000 (Iraqi-held, in 2010 only) 119,752 insurgents arrested (2003–2007), of this about 1/3 were imprisoned for longer than four years Documented deaths from violence : Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded and 12,438 new deaths added from

6408-496: The public groundwork for an invasion of Iraq in January 2002 State of the Union address, calling Iraq a member of the Axis of Evil , and saying "The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Bush said this and made many other dire allegations about the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction despite

6497-527: The public sphere to compile a running total. On its database page the IBC states: "Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence." The group is staffed by volunteers consisting mainly of academics and activists based in the UK and the US. The project was founded by John Sloboda and Hamit Dardagan. According to Jonathan Steele, writing in The Guardian , IBC "is widely considered as

6586-532: The public sphere. Reports range from specific, incident based accounts to figures from hospitals, morgues, and other documentary data-gathering agencies." Project volunteers sample news stories to extract minimum and maximum numbers of civilian casualties. Each incident reported at least by two independent news sources is included in the Iraq Body Count database. In December 2007, IBC announced that they would begin to include deaths reported by one source, and that

6675-409: The safer areas accessible to Western reporters are likely to be those under US/Coalition control, where deaths are, in turn, likely to be due to insurgent attacks. Areas of insurgent control, which are likely to be subject to US and Iraqi government attack, for example most of Anbar province, are simply off-limits to these reporters. Thus, the realities of reporting imply that reporters will be witness to

6764-489: The study and placed the articles inside their front sections, on Pages A4 and A11, respectively. (The news media in Europe gave the study much more play; many newspapers put articles about it on their front pages.) In a short article about the study on Page A8, The New York Times noted that the Iraq Body Count, a project to tally civilian deaths reported in the news media, had put the maximum death toll at around 17,000. The new study,

6853-470: The top US general in Iraq, Tommy Franks , as saying "We don't do body counts". Franks gave this terse answer ("You know we don't do body counts") at Bagram Air Base in answer to journalists’ questions on counting casualties during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan . The IBC overview page states: "Deaths in the database are derived from a comprehensive survey of commercial media and NGO-based reports, along with official records that have been released into

6942-435: The use of force in Iraq, but NATO members like Canada , France, and Germany, together with Russia, strongly urged continued diplomacy. Facing a losing vote as well as a likely veto from France and Russia, the US, the UK, Poland, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Australia eventually withdrew their resolution. In March 2003, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia, Spain, Denmark, and Italy began preparing for

7031-564: The war diminished his standing, contributing to his resignation in 2007. Strong international opposition to the Saddam Hussein regime began following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The international community condemned the invasion, and in 1991 a military coalition led by the United States launched the Gulf War to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait . Following the Gulf War, the US and its allies tried to keep Saddam Hussein in check with

7120-440: The war in Iraq. Fischer famously confronted United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the 39th Munich Security Conference in 2003 on the secretary's purported evidence for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction : "Excuse me, I am not convinced!" Fischer also cautioned the United States against assuming that democracy would easily take root post-invasion; "You're going to have to occupy Iraq for years and years,

7209-448: The war plan for invading Iraq. Rumsfeld met with General Tommy Franks , the commander of US Central Command , on 27 November to go over the plans. A record of the meeting includes the question "How start?", listing multiple possible justifications for a US–Iraq War. The rationale for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been refuted, as there was no cooperation between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda . President Bush began laying

7298-503: The war to its citizens. Americans overwhelmingly believed Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction: 85% said so, even though the inspectors had not uncovered those weapons. By February 2003, 64% of Americans supported taking military action to remove Saddam from power. On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the UN to present evidence that Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. However, despite warnings from

7387-830: The war. The first paper, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April, 2009, analyses civilian deaths between 2003 and 2008 according to weapon types used. Among the findings were that, "execution after abduction or capture was the single most common form of death overall," and that, "events involving air attacks and mortar fire were the most dangerous" to Iraqi females and children. The second paper, published in PLoS Medicine in February, 2011, analyses civilian deaths between 2003 and 2008 according to perpetrator, weapon, time, and location. The paper found that most deaths during

7476-526: The week ending 31 December 2006: "It was a truly violent year, as around 24,000 civilians lost their lives in Iraq. This was a massive rise in violence: 14,000 had been killed in 2005, 10,500 in 2004 and just under 12,000 in 2003 (7,000 of them killed during the actual war, while only 5,000 killed during the 'peace' that followed in May 2003). In December 2006 alone around 2,800 civilians were reported killed. This week there were over 560 civilian deaths reported." From

7565-430: The worst solution". Meanwhile, anti-war groups across the world organized public protests. According to French academic Dominique Reynié , between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the war in Iraq, with demonstrations on 15 February 2003 being the largest. Nelson Mandela voiced his opposition in late January, stating "All that (Mr. Bush) wants

7654-557: The yearly IBC Project violent civilian death totals, broken down by month from the beginning of 2003. Table below is copied irregularly from the source page, and is soon out-of-date as data is continually updated at the source. As of June 12, 2023 the top of the IBC database page with the table says 186,901 – 210,296 "Documented civilian deaths from violence". That page also says: "Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence." The Iraq Body Count project states for

7743-470: The years that Iraq was impeding the work of the special commission and failing to take seriously its disarmament obligations. Iraqi officials harassed the inspectors and obstructed their work, and in August 1998, the Iraqi government suspended cooperation with the inspectors completely, alleging that the inspectors were spying for the US. The spying allegations were later substantiated. In October 1998, removing

7832-628: Was attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction from Iraq: " Al-Qaida continues to have a deep interest in acquiring weapons of mass destruction . As with the story of Zarqawi and his network, I can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these weapons to al-Qaida. Fortunately, this operative is now detained and he has told his story. ... The support that this detainee describes included Iraq offering chemical or biological weapons training for two al-Qaida associates beginning in December 2000. He says that

7921-544: Was led by US Army General Tommy Franks , under the code-name Operation Iraqi Freedom , the UK code-name Operation Telic , and the Australian code-name Operation Falconer . Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other governments, the " Coalition of the Willing ", participated by providing troops, equipment, services, security, and special forces, with 248,000 soldiers from

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