Allies accused of breaking Geneva Conventions on civilian losses

One year and 16 days after President George Bush declared the end to major hostilities in Iraq, the toll of American and British casualties continues to rise. Since the start of the invasion, 566 members of the American military and 211 US civilians have died. The British figures are 59 and 8.

But at the same time thousands of others ­ men, women, the elderly and the very young ­ have been killed or maimed with far less fanfare. No one knows how many. They are Iraqi civilians, and the Americans and the British do not bother to keep count of the people they have "liberated" and then killed.

This is not usual in modern warfare. In most past conflicts, attempts were made to keep a tally of civilian losses. Legal experts say that, particularly in the case of Iraq, it is the duty of occupying powers to do so under the Geneva Conventions
Sir Menzies Campbell, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and the party's spokesman on foreign affairs, said: "The failure to keep account of civilian casualties is monstrous. It gives the impression that the lives of ordinary Iraqi citizens are worth less than those of soldiers.

"It cannot be beyond the wit of the Coalition Provisional Authority to find a way to register Iraqi numbers. Not to do so appears contrary to the spirit of Geneva Convention."

Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, said: "Our refusal to count the deaths of Iraqi civilians fuels the belief in the Arab world that the peace is just a hidden war. In not counting Iraqi deaths, their lives appear to count for nothing. In such circumstances you can't blame Iraqis for believing that in our eyes they are still the enemy."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=522048