18 March 200724dash.comJon Land
The number of deaths in Iraq since the start of the conflict could be as high as one million, according to new figures released on the war's fourth anniversary.
An Australian scientist published the figure using four sets of independent data, including information from Unicef (the United Nations Children's Fund) and the UN's population division as well as medical literature.
Dr Gideon Polya's figure is far higher than the previous biggest estimate of 655,000.
"Using the most comprehensive and authoritative literature, and UN demographic data yields an estimate of one million post-invasion excess deaths in Iraq," he said.
A spokesman for the Stop The War Coalition said the figure was "astonishing", adding: "Four years after the start of the conflict in Iraq we can now see what a disaster the war has been.
"Everything that the Stop The War movement predicted would happen has taken place, but it has been far worse than we feared."
Figures on the human cost of the war in Iraq tend to have the highest political and emotional impact on the public.
But the total financial cost of the campaign to the British taxpayer is likely to exceed £5 billion by the end of this month.
The most expensive year was the 12 months following the invasion when £1.3 billion was spent.
This fell to £910 million the following year, as the number of soldiers was cut, but the last two years have seen the overall total increase again.
In 2005-06 a total of £958 million was spent on the operation and the MoD is predicting the total for 2006-07 will be just over £1 billion.
A breakdown of the statistics shows wages of the servicemen and women who have fought the war consistently make up around one tenth of the total.
The wage bill for sending British forces storming into Iraq in the first year was almost £200 million.
Since then, as troop numbers have fallen, these costs have slowly tailed off.
In 2004-05 £116 million was spent on military personnel, a figure that fell to £80 million in 2005-06, although it is likely to be higher again this year due to new bonuses for troops.
Another significant chunk of military spending in Iraq is made on equipment such as new vehicles and weapons.
Again, this was at its height during the start of the conflict with £260 million spent on additional capital in 2003-04.
The figure fell to £163 million and then £160 million in the following two years but again costs have risen this year; the MoD predicts capital spending will hit £195 million for 2006-07.
Other areas that eat up the budget include civilian personnel, which has remained steady each year at around £14 million, and infrastructure costs, costing about £80 million a year.
Infrastructure costs include the price of building accommodation for the troops out in the field and runways for landing aircraft.
Another expensive area over the four years of the conflict has been supplies and ammunition, which cost £119 million in the first year and were as high as £219 million during 2005-06.
Meanwhile, maintenance of equipment - repairing vehicles, aircraft and weapons - has also cost several hundred million pounds since the start of the war.
At its height this set the taxpayer back £298 million during 2003-04 and has since fallen back but could top £200 million again this year.
But possibly most surprising of all is that £847 million was spent on the Iraq operation in the year before the invasion actually took place.
Despite all the diplomatic discussions in the UN and elsewhere, the military still spent £34 million on manpower, £218 million on equipment and £170 million on supplies in the year 2002-03.
