“We don't do body counts.”

- General Thomas Franks, head of US central command. “We were told that the Iraqis don't count before the invasion began. His claim was repeated by Donald Rumsfeld in November 2003 (‘We don't do body counts on other people’) and the Pentagon last January (‘The only thing we keep track of is casualties for US troops and civilians’). But that is false. Last week, the Pentagon did something new. Buried in its latest security report to Congress is a bar chart labeled “average daily casualties - Iraqi and coalition. 1 Jan 04-16 Sep 05”. The claim that it kept no track of Iraqi deaths was false.” (George Mobiot, Guardian, 11/08/05).