Iraq Body Count project

Iraq Body Count
Monthly civilian casualties, compiled from the Iraq Body Count project database (January 2003 - November 2008)[1]
URLwww.iraqbodycount.org

Iraq Body Count project (IBC) is a web-based effort to record civilian deaths resulting from the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Included are deaths attributable to coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and criminal violence, which refers to excess civilian deaths caused by criminal action resulting from the breakdown in law and order which followed the coalition invasion. As of February 2019, the IBC has recorded 183,249 – 205,785 civilian deaths.[2] The IBC has a media-centered approach to counting and documenting the deaths. Other sources have provided differing estimates of deaths, some much higher. See Casualties of the Iraq War.

The project uses reports from English-language news media (including Arabic media translated into English), NGO-based reports, and official records that have been released into the public sphere to compile a running total.[3] On its database page the IBC states: "Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence."[2] The group is staffed by volunteers consisting mainly of academics and activists based in the UK and the US. The project was founded by John Sloboda and Hamit Dardagan.

According to Jonathan Steele, writing in The Guardian, IBC "is widely considered as the most reliable database of Iraqi civilian deaths".[4] But some researchers regard it at best as a floor, or baseline for mortality, and that it underestimates actual mortality by potentially several factors.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference overview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ibcdatabase was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "IBC Methods: Overview".
  4. ^ Steele, Jonathan (27 August 2010). "Chilcot inquiry accused of fixating on west and ignoring real victims". The Guardian. London.
  5. ^ John Tirman, The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars (Oxford University Press, 2011), esp. Chapter 10; Neta Crawford, "Assessing the Human Toll of the Post-9/11 Wars: The Dead and Wounded in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, 2001-2011," Cost of War project, 13 June 2011, "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link); Christine Tapp, Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., Kumanan Wilson, Tim Takaro, Gordon H. Guyatt, Hani Amad, and Edward J. Mills, "Iraq War Mortality Estimates: A Systematic Review," Confl ict and Health, vol. 2, no. 1 (7 March 2008): 9–10, http://www.confl[permanent dead link‍] ictandhealth.com/content/pdf/1752–1505–2-1.pdf