The number of civilians reported to have been killed during the Iraq war and subsequent military presence is being recorded by the campaign group Iraq Body Count. On June 1st, 2006 it put the total number of civilian dead at 36,149 to 40,548 and the number of police dead at 2,145.
The figures include not only deaths caused by military action, but also those it considers a "direct result" of Iraq's breakdown in law and order. As the counting relies mainly on deaths reported by the media, it suggests that these figures are an underestimate as "many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported".
Another study, published by the Lancet medical journal in October 2004, suggested that poor planning, air strikes by coalition forces and a "climate of violence" had led to more than 100,000 extra deaths in Iraq.

The Prophet Rael made the following comments:
Here is finally the truth after the lies talking about "surgical" bombings and "war on terror"....these dead people are just innocent civilians, and if a very small percentage of them were fighters, they were not "insurgents" or "terrorists" but freedom fighters opposing the illegal occupation of their country. We must remember that the Nazis also called the French freedom fighters "terrorists"...