According to a June 25th Reuters article and reporting by Knight Ridder, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli - head of the Multi National Forces in Iraq - claimed U.S. soldiers are killing and injuring fewer Iraqi civilians at checkpoints and convoy incidents. However, he declined to release the numbers feeding that assessment. The U.S. government has previously maintained it does not keep an official count of civilian casualties in Iraq. Since the U.S. invasion began in 2003, CIVIC and other advocacy organizations have urged the Pentagon to implement a mechanism to record the number of civilian casualties incurred by U.S. forces.

“The number of civilians harmed by operations is an important measure of how well U.S. forces are doing in avoiding harm to civilians. We are pleased the U.S. military has seen the benefit of keeping track of civilians killed and injured. Still, we need to see the data backing up this claim,” said CIVIC executive director Sarah Holewinski.

CIVIC has in previous weeks applauded the U.S. military for evaluating procedures and implementing improvements to reduce civilian casualties at checkpoints in particular. A June 6 Wall Street Journal article also reported that the US military has reduced civilian deaths at checkpoints in Iraq from about one per day to one per week. “Every statistic we hear coming out of Iraq represents real lives. Being forthright with information lets Iraqi civilians know the U.S. in its authority position recognizes their suffering and respects those harmed in the conflict.”

CIVIC is a Washington-based organization founded by the late Marla Ruzicka, who was killed by a suicide bomb in Baghdad while advocating for victims of war in Iraq. CIVIC believes that civilians killed or injured in conflict should be counted and their families compensated by the governments involved, and is working in conflict zones to identify and help the families of civilian casualties.

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