The colonel’s numbers

The Institute for National Strategic Studies - a policy research and strategic gaming organization within National Defense University serving the U.S. Department of Defense, its components, and interagency partners - published a report called “Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath” REPORT - PDF LINK

Written by Joseph Collins, a retired colonel and former senior adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, the report reads:

Iraqi civilian deaths—mostly at the hands of other Iraqis—may number as high as 82,000.

In the Notes section, Note 1 reads:

(…) Iraq civilian casualties are hardest to track; estimates run from 38,000 to over 600,000. Most sources tied to actual incident-related counts show a maximum of 82,000. (…)

The report doesn’t say it so let’s ask the colonel: Where does that number - 82,000 - come from?

Waiting for the colonel’s answer, it’s reasonable to assume that number comes from Iraq Body Count (IBC) at the time the report was written. I wonder if even the “mostly at the hands of other Iraqis” comes from IBC’s data.

That Note 1 also reads: “The U.S. Government does not keep statistics on these losses, which is a significant mistake.”

The colonel is playing naïve now: where is the mistake if the anti-war movement can so easily be used by the War Party?