The wheel of unceasing war has come full circle in Iraq with the United States Air Force bombing Islamic State targets in Tikrit, twelve blood-soaked years since first doing so during the 2003 invasion.

Meanwhile, a report, entitled ‘Body Count’ has been published estimating that the casualties of conflict in Iraq during this time comes to ‘over a million people’.

The populations of the USA, UK and other western actors in the war are for the most part insulated from this horrific reality. The authors of the report argue that more widespread public understanding is the essential pre-requisite to policy change. For those willing to be informed, watch this Democracy Now report >>

(note this clip features some distressing footage rolling while the voices speak)

[Photograph by Marco Di Lauro]