Commenting on reports in The Lancet that violent death in Iraq is now 58 times higher than it was before the war and around 100,000 civilians have died mostly as a result of coalition airstrikes, Charles Kennedy, Leader of the Liberal Democrats said:
“Let no-one forget that in modern warfare, 90% of the casualties tend to be civilian. That is why war should always be undertaken as a last resort.
“Ordinary Iraqis suffered under Saddam, but this report underlines the costs of the military action. 100,000 civilians dead – half of them women and children.
“It is also an enduring shame that Iraqi casualties have not been counted before and that the coalition has failed to put that right.
“These figures may well be disputed, butThe Lancet has rightly drawn our attention to the dismaying scale of the deaths. The doctors who carried out this survey, apparently risking their own lives, showed great courage.
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