How many civilians are dead? posted by Richard Seymour

According to the US military , "civilian casualties are small because so many people fled the city before the assault began."

Paul Wood, reporting for BBC Breakfast, retails this line as well as explaining that 'hundreds' of civilians have emerged waving white flags and were subsequently taken to safety by the troops. Well, the 'low civilian casualties' line would be more persuasive if there were not up to 150,000 civilians remaining in Fallujah when the city was sealed off. And, since the hospitals have been bombed or occupied, it has been almost impossible to get treatment for the injured and there are no surgeons available to explain to cameras how many patients they have had to declare dead. Further, the US explain that approximately 1,200 'militants' have been killed in this assault. If they truly are all militants, remembering that the standard pattern has been that for every one insurgent killed, eight civilians die, that leaves us with 9,600 civilians dead.

At any rate, if you are a civilian in Fallujah and you have any thoughts of escaping unarmed, think again. US soldiers are shooting at fleeing civilians .

Of course, the US publicly disavows the existence of civilians in Fallujah, so this may explain their eagerness to rain down artillery on anyone thinking of swimming the Euphrates.

And by the way, those elections that Fallujah is being bombed so that it can have? Well, because of the chaos that has erupted across Iraq and some naughty words coming from the mouths of Shi'ite leaders, the elections may have to be delayed . Just as well, really, as I'd hate to see anyone have to arrange a census in the ruins of Carthage - er, Fallujah.

Finally, if any of those civilians are going to end up in Guantanamo Bay, they will probably have to put up with some smears at the hands of our oleaginous Prime Minister when they come out.

All hail the democratic revolution.

Update: for some well-argued thoughts on calculating civilian casualties in Iraq, consult Daniel Brett .