"This is despite the fact that over the past three years American and British troops have killed thousands of suspected insurgents. They have also detained more than 100,000 Iraqi men, most of them innocent, with only [???!!!] 15,000 still in custody... “For every one we pick off the streets, we're creating one to take his place.” That may be especially true when the people picked off are innocent. In each of the past three years, according to coalition sources, American troops have killed over 250 innocent people at vehicle checkpoints alone....As the Americans tend not to report the civilians they kill, many are omitted from independent counts of Iraqi civilians killed in the conflict. Otherwise, by one estimate, the conflict has claimed between 34,000 and 38,000 people so far." From Economist, March 23, "Murder is Certain."