If the conflict in Afghanistan is anything to go by, we can expect to see vastly exaggerated claims of civilian deaths, something quickly foreshadowed by TV commentary seeming to compare Friday’s bombing of Baghdad with the destruction of Dresden. This report from the London Times will help put such claims in some perspective. Preliminary Red Cross estimates of casualties on Friday night suggest that the toll of wounded amounted to “at least one hundred”. The Iraqis themselves are saying that at least three were killed and two hundred wounded.