World News 08-12-2004 Iraq`s Civilian Dead Must Be Counted who: Rt Rev Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford what: Among 46 eminent people demanding inquiry into Iraq war`s civilian death toll when: Yesterday snippet: "Forty-six eminent figures including military men, ex-diplomats and bishops have written to Tony Blair urging a inquiry into civilian deaths in Iraq," says the BBC. "The letter comes after medical journal the Lancet published a study suggesting nearly 100,000 died since March 2003." "As you know, your government is obliged under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population during military operations," says the letter, signed by a former British ambassador to Iraq, a former Assistant Chief of Defence Staff and the Bishops of Oxford and Coventry. "However, without counting the dead and injured, no-one can know whether Britain and its coalition partners are meeting these obligations." "Neither Britain nor the United States has given any estimates of their own about the death toll," says James Kirkup in The Scotsman. "The US military adheres strictly to a policy of not tallying civilian deaths: Pentagon officials argue that such counts help insurgent forces in Iraq maintain support among the country`s population." The letter "arrived on a day when US forces recorded the death of the 1,000th soldier to be killed in combat since the beginning of the war," reports The Guardian`s Washington correspondent, Suzanne Goldenberg. "In all, 1,275 US service personnel have died since the invasion on March 20 last year. This figure includes accidents, suicides and other deaths not classed as killed in action. A total of 9,765 US troops have been wounded." Finally, The Independent reports on the publication of a leaked CIA memo in The New York Times which paints a bleak picture of future hostilities, predicting that sectarian clashes will keep getting worse until the interim Iraqi government makes dramatic improvements. [... more]

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