Debating how high a pile of bodies reaches is a grubby business, and
statistics have a habit of stripping humanity out of an argument. But
the human cost matters. The occupiers refused to count the dead, leaving
it to wildly differing estimates.
The Iraq Body Count’s conservative figures are at least 172,906 violent
deaths; the Iraqi government and the World Health Organisation
estimated up to 223,000 killed in the first three years; one study even
estimated over a million had died. When much of the city of Fallujah was
razed and hundreds killed by US forces – who used white phosphorous,
which strips the skins from people’s bodies – the cruise missile
liberals fell largely silent.
-- Owen Jones, "What a tragedy that we couldn't stop the war in Iraq despite marching in our thousands" (Independent).