Iraq air raids hit mostly women and children

blares the headline from the Independent.

"Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead.

Analysis carried out for the research group Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women."

The Independent go on to quote some figures.

"The report, The Weapons That Kill Civilians, Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq, was compiled from a sample of 60,481 deaths in 14,196 events over a five-year period since the 2003 invasion. Civilian casualties from concentrated bouts of violence, such as the two sieges of Fallujah, were excluded. "

But as is custom for the Independent, they leave out important facts that tell the whole story.

"BAGHDAD (AP) — Execution-style killings, not headline-grabbing bombings, have been the leading cause of death among civilians in the Iraq war, a study released Wednesday shows."

Here are the actual numbers The Independent leave out.

"Only 4 percent of the Iraqi deaths included in the study, or 2,363, were a result of U.S. airstrikes,..."

Terrible numbers to be sure, but you have to wonder why The Independent leave out important information. As for the percentages of women and children, here to the Independent leave out crucial information.

"The authors caution that those percentages may be inflated "because the media may tend to specifically identify female and young victims more readily than male adults among the dead."

Percentages inflated by the media, un huh. Which is why the Independent goes on the cite the much discredited Lancet report.

War is terrible and civilian deaths, especially women and children, are horrible, which is all the more reason the Independent should be condemned for trying to use their deaths to further their anti war agenda.