[mkaziz]

Yeesh, minimize civilian deaths?

"The Iraq Body Count project (IBC) figure of Documented civilian deaths from violence is 155,923 – 174,355 as of March 2016. This includes reported civilian deaths due to Coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and increased criminal violence.[19] The IBC site states: "it should be noted that many deaths will probably go unreported or unrecorded by officials and media."[20] The IBC website currently states that, "Further analysis of the WikiLeaks' Iraq War Logs may add 12,000 civilian deaths.""

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Ira...

150,000 CIVILIAN deaths, by just one count alone!

[shuntress]

'minimize' not 'eliminate'

I think it's a safe bet that if the strategy in Iraq had been 'Use airborne ordinance to turn the country in to glass' the war would have been 'won' much sooner with far higher civilian casualties.

[vkou]

You can't win against an insurgency by turning the country into glass. Saddam's army was defeated in the first few weeks.

[mcguire]

150,000? Wow, that might even be more than the Al-Anfal campaign.