however, the newly revealed deaths do not primarily come from large bombings like this. most of the larger incidents were already well reported by the world's press and media. the new deaths are concentrated in small incidents, killing one or two people at a time. scattered all over iraq, and are carried almost every day for the whole period. targeted assassinations, drive-by shootings, executions, check point killings, these are the small but relentless tragedies of this war that these logs reveal in unprecedented detail. adding in the deaths reported in these logs and combining, we are now able to say that more than 150,000 people have been killed in total since 2003. of which, about 80% were civilians.

. . these often turn numbers into human beings. on november 1, 2006, 35 bodies found around bad debt that day, as reported by reuters, the new york times, cnn, among others. the reports did not identify any of the victims nor give details about each one died. the iraq war blogs also report 35 bodies found that day, spread across 27 lots, including a wide range of details including the precise time and date the bodies were found and in many times that of dignities of those who were found. most surprisingly of all, we have found a huge number of names of victims, particularly

recorded in these laws. it is unclear why the u.s. army wanted to go to such link in its recordg, but it is of huge public interest that they did. names are theold dust of casualty reporting enterprise, and the only thing that will satisfy reif parties, including families. we estimate there are many thousands more that will be discovered as analysis proceeds. on november 29, 2006, 28 bodies were discovered. this was comprehensively reported by press and media at the time but not a single report gave the names of the victims. the iraq warlocks list all these names, one by one. today for the first time, they have been put into the publ record, nearly four years later. the unprecedent level of detail in these laws is

important for another reason. it is the main way properly assess what is new in them. it can bring people to mistakenly assume there is nothing new in the logs. in conclusion, we believe that having received these laws, wikileaks was right to publish them in its heavily redacted form. the real story was not about the release itself or the content of the laws themselves. almost every law tells the story, and far too often is a previously unknown story of human suffering and death. it will take many months, even years, to extract every importt facts from these laws. wracked body count was committed to playing its part in this back running work, no matter how long it takes. there can be no closure or moving on from this or any war until every last victim has been

properly recnized and the full details of the circumstances of their death acknowledged. these logs are potentially the largest contribution to achieving that goal that has ever been published. we ask everyone, including the u.s. government, to support this work which is in the public interest and brings closure and proper recognition to all the victims of this tragic war. >> the question you are probably asking is, what now? -going to tell you abousome of the legal action that will follow here in the uk. it would be wrong to assume this has nhing to do with the uk. public interest lawyers, acting for many iraqi civilians who have been killed or tortured by u.k. forces. some have been killed by indiscriminate attacks on civilians or the unjustified use

of lethal force. other have been killed in custody with u.k. forces. no one knows how many iraqis lost their lives wall held in british detention facilities. the most notable is [unintelligible] and we now await thenquiry report into his death. the iraq war locks at a huge leap to the evidence in the public domain. the facts of the invasion and subsequent occupation a coalition forces. what can be said about the loss comes under three headings. all three areas are or will soon be the subject of legal action here in the uk. firsts that of unlawful killings of civilians are indiscriminate attacks on them or the unjustified use of lethal -- legal force against them. it may never be known how many iraqis died, but we now know from the important work of iraq

body count that the previously unknown number of deaths, 107,000, is likely to have increased by a staggering 15,000. some of these deaths will be circumstances for the u.k. have clear legal responsibility. this may be because the iraqis died while under the effective control of u.k. forces, under arrest in vehicles, helicopters, or detention facilities. these will all fall within the jurisdiction of the european convention on human rights. if it is asserted that once u.k. forces have authority of iraqi forces, there is jurisdiction for the purposes of the european commission. others will not be covered by the convention on human rights. public interest lawyers is a case where a u.k. tanks stopped

and in broad daylight, aimed, shot, and killed and 8-year-old girl playing in her yellow dress in a street. there were many other cases like that, and the laws at to the number of cases that will not be within the jurisdiction of the european conventions. will argue in a case shortly that the common law here in the u.k. provides the same remedy at the european convention, namely that there must now be a judicial inqry into all these debts. if unjustified or unlawful force has been used, prosecution must follow. we are bringing forth a new case seeking accountability for all unlawful debts. we argue that there must be a judicial inquiry to fully investigate you can sponsibility for civilian deaths in iraq. the second area is the huge

number of laws that detail horrendous torture and abuse of iraqis by either the iraqi national guard or the iraqi police service. the u.s. and u.k. appear to have adopted a fragmented order that requires them to take no action whatsoever once a have established that this torture and ill treatment was the responsibility of the iraqis. this is completely contrary to international law. it is well known that there is an absolute prohibition on torture. it may never be used. accordingly, all states have a duty to each other to cooperate together to stamp it out so that know beforehand that they will be found and prosecuted for their war crimes. u.s. and u.k. forces cannot turn a blind eye on the basis it was not there soldiers during the torturing. that is what happened and is revealed in these logs.

both states have obligations to take definite and clear action to stop the torture by the iraqis. that did not make them complicity. a second case 6 accountability for the u.k. failure to act in these circumstances. the third area concerns the huge and growing body of evidence about killings, it would treat, and torture of iraqis while in u.k. custody. there appear to be many cases where iraqis died in u.k. custody were certified adying of natural causes. none of these have been investigated. many of these iraqis were abused and we do not accept the explanation that each and every one of these deaths has an innocent explanation. additionally, there are hundreds of iraqis out complaining of ill

treatment and torture, often as a result of coercive interrogation techniques by u.k. interrogators within secret facilities run by the joint forward interrogation team. insofar as the laws add to this body of evidence, that will help us gain a single inquiry into the uk detention policy and practice in southeast iraq. sitting together they will hear a case about of these incidents on november 5-9, 2010. >> we are born to open up very quickly for questions from the audience. we have a surprise announcement, an unusual announcement. we have an unusual addition to the speakers thisorning. we have in the front row probably the most famous whistle blower in modern american history, daniel l. burke, author of the pentagon papers -- daniel

ellsberg. the speakers are pleased to enteany and all questions concerning the release of the documents. i would like to open questions by asking daniel ellsberg, what is your reaction to thisind of release of material? it is quite different than what you did yourself. >> it is different and the same in many ways. the war in afghanistan has more fundamental similarities than it has differences. i would just say that a couple of us here came over the ocean last not for the opportunity to stand with gillian assand and the rest of you here in a circumstance that i have been

waiting to see for 40 years. that number is not drawn out of their. judie aronson just come directed a film called "the most dangerous man in america." it seems inevitable the new title will be "the most dangerous man in the world." if one country is pursuing for prosecution that person, who regard him as dangers of over three continents, the threat being made by the pentagon, if you read in the last few days of warning newsmen to stand away from this material, to refuse to receive it, and if they do receive it, to return it. it seems and served on its face.

we are not dealing with 7000 pieces of paper that combine -- comprise the pentagon papers. the times never did return it and refused to stop the presses until a court order came down. with cyber material, it is all over the world right now. the demand scenes of sir. -- the demand seems absurd. for the first time it used the esplanade to act as if it were the current of official secrets act thatou have in britain, which criminalizes the release of any classified material to

any unauthorized person. we do not have such a law. the irony is with president obama making these threats -- obama's threats are not entirely without credibility, because it has started as many prosecutions for leaks as all previous presidents put together. it is a small number, 3. is small because we do not have an official secrets act. prior to bush and obama, president took it for granted that any application of the fbi attack was likely to be overthrown as unconstitutional by the supreme court. we are now facing a different supreme court, and after 9/11,

obama is making a new experiment on this issue which will relieve change the relation of the press to sources very radically. as it is, any source with or without this change in the law, who gave this kind of material to wikileaks would have to know that they were facing arrest of being where bradley manning is right now, in prison, accused of these things. . don't know who the source is if the president should prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it is recommended, we give him his unreserved admiration for what he did, but whoever did acted very appropriately in the course of a hopeless, deadl stalemated war which has one characteristic in iraq, which is not going to come out clearly in these four hundred thousand pages or in the discussion. this that is the origins of the

war were clearly in t form of lying to the public's of britain and america and of carrying on in order to carry on a clearly illegal war of aggression. all these civilian casualties are killed in war of aggression. one has to say also the non civilian casualties that are reported here are in the role of fighting against foreign occupiers, invaders, and by the standards of the world, the question is raised whether their death by the inver is not also to be counted among the murders. i want very much to congratulate all of you who are mining this material to arn all we couldave learn if it had come out earlier.

>> craddick murray is representing a group that was mentioned earlier, given the sam adams award for integrity. we want very much to appreciate him for that. >> as a former recipient of the sam adam award, i was british ambassador in a uzbekistan before i made a series of leaks. this award has been given to a number of people including colonel wilkens and in the u.k. and others. it is given to people who in the public interest leaked details of dark things that governments do. i am very happy to present this assand.ward to julius

>> i think we will take questions now from the floor. >> i would just like to ask phil shiner. you mention the case involving death and torturing of iraqi civilians. how many deaths are you talking about? you mentioned at the young girl getting shot by the tank. can you give us any more details on where and when that happened? >> i will do my best on both questions.

and the 20th of may, 2003, lieutenant colonel nicholas mercer, a u.k. army officer, wrote an order that says chillingly to all the troopwho werehere, there had recently been a number of deaths of iraqi civilians in custody with various units. when it panorama try to figure out what he meant by it the number, they said two. it may be seven or eight or more. on may 20, 2003, the ongoing disclosure in the inquiry keeps turning up more and more and more cases where the royal military police have vestigated deaths where there is a common pattern. often these men are arrested and

subjected to severe abuse on arrest in their homes. sometimes women and children are abused and sometimes pregnant women have given miscarriages, etc. the men or abuse, rival butted, hooded, and not surprisingly they die. every time they die, is said they died of heart attack or natural causes. they have never been seen by u.k. doctor. usuay they have accepted someone's were something that has been written down on a piece of paper. a cannot tell you h many iraqis were killed what we tell them in uk detention facilities. you'll have to ask the ministry of defense that question. sphere as to the small girl, it was havoc for her and her young friends to play in the street,

and often uk tanks would stop and they would get out give the sweets.n suite on the morning in question, for some unknown reason, the tanks stopped at the end of the street. she is there in her yellow dres a rifleman pops out and blows her away. you'll have to ask the minister of defense why that happened, because they will not tell me. that is one of the reasons and one of the case is why we are calling for a judicial inquiry into all of these deaths. >> the pentagon spokesman said last night that the names of 300 iraqis have been released and their lives could now be in

danger. are you worried that you are not careful enough and the people's lives could be put at risk? >> no, i am worried that the press chooses to credibly report statements like that from the pentagon various the pentagon would not have been able review our material in those few hours. it is impossible. we also have strong confidence in our redaction process. that statement by the pentan, at its base, is referring to their own internal review of their recollection of significant actions. it is not referring to our material. you willotice that they do not say that fact. instead, they tried an issue

some deceptive statements to fool the world press, as they did last time with some similar statements, reporting something that is not true. >> he said in your opening statement that you make a promise to your sources that you will do them justice for all their efforts. given that we have seen very much 8 shrugging shoulders attitude or turning a blind eye from the americans thus far, according to these documents, will let not continue and therefore the efforts of your sources may well largely be in vain? or have you had positive noises from the u.s. already? >> an intesting question as to how responsive government is to the condemnation of these people

and the rights of other people, but the shrugging shoulders is of course the second arm of powerful people. the first arm is silence. so we have got to be on silence, and now we see an attempt to act in a nonchalant manner about something that is very serious. that does not mean that it is not treated seriously. rather, there is or at least was, certainly early on with the afghan material, an attempt to make it look like it would not be treated seriously, torame the material as if it was of no consequence. i highly recommend a daily show episode that collected all those nothing new in this

material reports for afghanistan. as it turned out, that is not true. acrding to pure research, total reported she that week increased to 18%. the approval rating for afghan war decreased approximately 15% and barack obama's personal rating, depending on which poll you read, decrease somewhere between 4% and 8%. those are only crude figures that speak about the whole run of an individual cases, but we can see continual reportage, high-quality reported, in the past two weeks from norway and italy bed on that afghan material. a number of parliamenry

inquiries. i will be speaking at the un early next month in relation to the afghan material. i expect the same thing to happen for this material on iraq, and maybe even more. we are talking about five times the number of deaths in the same period. we also put together a much star coalition, a much broader coalition -- much stronger coalition involving human rights groups. i think we are going to see some concrete effects. if not, just it deceptive affects about how war is conducted. when i made the opening about the truth being the first casualty of war, we can actually

see that most wars that are started by democracies in ball lying. -- involve lying. the start of the iraq war involve very serious lies which were repeated an amplified by some parts of the press. which leads us to say not that -- it leads us to a great hope that democracies don't start wars unless there is lies. there is enough truth, early on, then perhaps we will n see these kind of force. >> there are suggestions in the hacking community that the

system's wikileaks use do not offer sources the full protection that advertise on the site. can you comment on that? >> there is a lot of tabloid press surrounding our organization, and every organization that has a high profile and is involved in controversial and activities. >> [unintelligible] how would you characterize the conditions that existed in iraq in the time that you are reporting on? >> you prefer the more ignorant opinion, but i will it let john

answer first. this >> our focus is entirely on the victims, those who died. it is simply a finer detailed picture of what was already very well known by the world at large, the press and media, is this relentless grind of daily killings, day by day in almost every town and province in iraq, of checkpot killings, drive-b shootings, with no end. the effect that must have on the ordinary iraq people is just an incalculable. in regard to the other kind of information in regards to torture and other observations nintelligible]

>> on the importance of the government's granting traditional investigation, if that doesn't happen,ill they take each case on an individual basis and string this out for a decade and more, there for lessening the impact of it? the government coming in granting that judicial review is crucial to your process isn't it? >> it is. the government's position, if they can deal with one case at a time and each case will take a year, we have 142 outstanding cases, so that would take 142 years. the alternative is for the administrative court here in london to put teams of judges in court rooms to deal with these cases within a proper time

scale. both of those we say or of sir. the only rational solution to all these cases is to get it over with and hold a proper inquiry along the lines of the one which was just concluded. they need to stop covering up, which they do with greater and greater desperation, slurring everyone that they possibly can. we all know it, that many things went badly wrong in iraq. we know for instance that we should have had a detailed interrogation directive in force in iraq. that would have told interrogators what they could and what they could not do. the m o d was very sorry, and

say they are very sorry also that it meant that the interrogations' fell back on training techniqs. we are also very sorry to admit that the training was completely unlawful. involved forced nudity, leaving people-they would not cooperate, the use of threats. the only limits on coercion or the limits of one's igination. i am not want try and explain the horrendous things that people did to mylients when they let their imagination run wild. a lot of it involves tech of billick images, hard-core pornography, sexual intercourse and sexual acts in front of my

clients, etc., etc. you simply cannot say this is all down to a few bad apples, a few isolated incidents. it is horrendous. it is being covered up, and you simply don't learn the stories. you are obsessed, some of you, with what we might have done in pakistan or we might have known in guantanamo bay. i say to you, wake up and have all look at what is happening in our high court next month or november bit about what we actually did. we intend to open that enquiry and reveal material which no one has yet seen about the way in which we interrogated people. i invite you to turn up in force in the high court on november 5 and find out what the uk actually did, and stop going on

about what we might have done what we might have known about what the u.s. is doing. i can tell you a comparison of what we did -- i have to say none of my friends ever have been found to be embellishing the truth, let alone line. they have all been found to be telling the truth. i invite you to come along and find out what we actually did and stop going on about what we might have been conclusive in. -- complicity in. >> we have been lied on, and the recent interest for iraq that was on afghanistan this summer. >> to whom are you directing a question?

>> for afghanistan, we have 14 .ages o for iraq, we have nine. i suspect that is a proportionate view in the u.k. press about the relative importance. iraq is now just -- there are still 50,000 u.s. troops there and something like 100,000 contractors. iraq is now cooling off, at leastn the public's imagination, to probably take a look at it. that is not something that is possible with afghanistan.

we did aittle bit of that with the afghan war released because it was a primary source documentation that other was used -- about patriotism. for iraq, i can see already in the news reported she isuch fairer and less defensive portrayal of what happened in iraq that is being revealed by this release. the countries do not stand in isolation. they are both modern, western wars, and the lessons o iraq, which are ongoing -- remember, this material covers significant abuses appearing during the first years of these

-- of the obama administration. can be applied to afghanistan and other places. the war itself, in the united states, is becoming more -- the republicans are using the mismanagement of the afghan war against the democrats. we are one week before the congressional elections, and the democrats can point to the terrible abuses that occurred under the republican administration. i hope that will permit raising of this issue. i think in the last 24 hours, the press has been doing

precisely what they should and there is a good and broad spectrum. the press cannot overplay things, but i think on their response to this issue, it has been brought and proportionate and will continue. >> can you detail this additional step she took between the release of the afghan documents and these documents in terms of redaction, to make sure that names, etc., were not released? >> i think we covered that pretty well. it is a fairly long and technical process whi iraq and speak about later, but the

fundamental principle was to star with everything, every single word and number redacted, and then to wind that back by finding safe words and then modifying the save words and phrases for the rare accounts where there were dual meanings of words. that process also involved some of those drawn was and researchers consulting with us to give us a feel for what sort of information needed special care. although i must say in that process, the human rights groups were very helpful and the bureau of investigative

journalism was also helpful, but none of the mainstream provided any assistance whatsoever to the demands to get 400,000 very serious documents into the public record where they can have ongoing effect. if i may add, the pentagon of course refused. statement was, we are not interested in a conversation about minimization. we are only one to hear how the documents will be returned and the legal counsel for the dot also issued that statement to us.

>> sometimes you were portrayed like a man on the run. are you worried about your safety? do you think that your enemies are trying to hurt you, to get you? >> i think that question has been answered. >> i can only get people to consider that we have a serious case here where the obama administration is trying to create new law through changing the interpretation of the existing law. in a similar manner to the way in which bush expanded the power of the presidency, using lawyers to create a new interpretation of previous arrangements, d

that is a serious business. that implies to me that statements made by the pentagon applies to all press inside the united states and outside. >> wednesday he wrote that wikileaks [unintelligible] was under attack. the you have anything to pinpoint who is making these attacks and can you elaborate what the attack was about? >> that matter is still being investigated and is too far removed from the subject of this conference. >> you said you wanted the truth

to come now, but i have the feeling now that a lot of wars are started by in democracies. you hope that this might stop that happening in the future. >> we are pursuing the agenda we have always pursued. >> a microphone is coming. >> you mentioned that you hope the lesns will be learned from iraq. what would you say are the main lessons that will come through these documents? >> it is too early to tell yet. it is the responsibility of the press and the opportunity of the

press and human rights groups and legal outfits to draw those conclusions, but iraq, as we can see, was a bloodbath on every corner. the stated aims for born into that war, of improving the human rights situation, improving the real law, did not eventuate, and in terms of raw numbers of people arbitrarily killed people arbitrarily killed, it worsened the situation in iraq. >> is there a microphone? right over here. thank you. >> i'm from munich, germany. your press release stated that

the current lake is a pretty good account of the war in iraq without the months between may 2004, and march 2000 -- the months of may 2004, andarch 2000 night. why? >> we do not know. it is important to remember that this material, while the most comprehensive and detailed report ever record -- ever entered into the public record, it is far from complete. it is based on the statements of u.s. soldiers who were often in a position where they have intended to lie, where they have reported on their own activity, and no one says i have unlawfully killed a civilian. it is only used on the secret level or below -- defense that were subsequently classified as top secret.

i am not present. it does not cover u.s. sci forces, the cia, the military activities of any other nation in the coalition partnership, or the activities of the iraqi army, except where the regular united states army interces with them. sometimes, the regular u.s. army will engage in combined operations with the iraqi army, u.s. special forces, and you pay forces. we get small glimpses through a corner of the window for those organizations involved which are not the u.s. army proper. we do glimpse their activities,

but it is not a full account of their activities. >> we have time for one further question. i will pass it on to you. you right here. you had your hand up the loest. >> i am with voice of america. this is a question i'm asking anyone on the panel about week, the press. why do you think it is easier for us to cover things like race as a tool of war in places like west africa, where it has been widely documented, as opposed to some place like iraq?

>> one of the things that we have to face up to, and we see a very clear, is a british historic colonial savagery, if we could put it like that. the techniques we were using, putting stress positions, food and water deivation, they go back to all of the collodion -- colonia wars, and into northern ireland. you might think that when they disbanded, it disbanded, but not at all. if you look at what the british did in iraq, it is savagery. these iraqi men did not exist. they had been completely dehumanized. now, my take is that one of the reasons is we just do not want to face ourselves. that is my take on the british position, and what we did in iraq. you would have to ask americans for their take. i think it is important that there is a horrendous racism,

and we see it in the british army, and i think we can see it very clearly in everything that is going to come out when we get this case heard next month. again, i invite the british press particularly to pay attention in this case. it is important >> we're sure have one or two minutes left. there was a hand over here. ok. >> secrecy is essential to the empire, and what i was saying earlier was the united states right now, no dot is declining in various ways, but no doubt in intention. we'reoving more toward the british system of the control of information, which is a

legacy of empire. that torch is passing. the repuican house and senate, if that comes into being in t next month, is almost certain to pass a british type secret sack, essentially ending leaks of the sort we have seen, which means that wikileaks becomes more indispensable that has been one it comes to the future of unauthorized disclosure. it will become more and more important to make these disclosures anonymously. what has to be disclosed, honestly, wikileaks is not sufficient. what we have seen so far, isot what we need. it is only the beginning. it is not the pentagon papers. we still need the pentagon papers of afghanistan and iraq on the decision making. for that matter, the pentagon papers were not that adequate. what we need is classified documents that were shown to bob woodward for his latest

book. possibly, he could contribute to all of the documents he was shown. that would be very worthwhile. short of that, one of his researchers could give those documents to wikileaks. that would be very worthwhile. if not one of his researches, someone within the administration should give the material to wikileaks. bradley manning is accused of doing what he could to end this war. he did what he could. what he is needed is for people who lack access to information that will help us understand this war in a way that will enable us to understand it to show us what they know with documents, and actually, wikileaks offers itself as the best vehicle for their doing that. >> what we are going to do now

is not run a fall of ", which was booked here, four simple reasons of time. we have a short film produced by wikileaks to help explain some of the technical issues involved in reading the document. it is a short film. might be helpful to you because it comes from the knowledge of the documents directly. you have canceled it? ok. we are not going to see it. that is the one. we still have this film, the we not? -- do we not? >> ok. let's do it. it is going to happen.

>> because we are so incredibly overloaded presently, you might not have actually seen this yet. this is a souped up from version of what we used. this is the interface to explore and analyze the 400,000 classified documents, but of the war in iraq. it is a similar interface to what we produced subsequent to our initial release for afghanistan, but a bit more sophisticated and able to handle many tens of thousands of peoe simultaneously. this is the website. you can see automatic drafting.

you can search by keywords. here is an example of selecting one of the categories on the side that is produced by the u.s. military and several other categories. these are the internal military categories. by clicking on these, you can see the type, criminal event, regions, and this is the list of reports. the underscores rection. this is looking at a bit further down on the side panel, so you can see, perhaps, the number of documents on a numerical field. quite a few of these.

very easy to use. here is an example of going into a particular record. there were bodies found in a car. you can click on here, and expand acronyms. it is very important, almost unreadable if not. acronyms, killed in action would have been kia. on the left, the structure data concerning the events. this is interesting here. it is not often used. it will sometimes include a field which may cause international media reporting. if you want something to report, you just click on this field, and they have done part of the work for you in some cases. odyssey, and some units were that are involved themselves do not like to suggest that they

have done sell -- so. this is a slightly more interesting one. sometimes it is here as a type of unit. oga stands for other government agency. it is a euphemism for the cia or the defense intelligence agency, typically the cia. you can find the cia-related records. it can expand the acronym here. fortunately, the redaction is fast and heavy, but was necessary to prevent any sort of political attacks to distract from the real issue. as time goes by, and we worked

through this manually, we will be able to see the levels of redaction, but in this report, it is not too bad, namely the names, and some specific

>> discussion on the midterm elections and issues that could be important to older americans and the voters. cspan's campaign 2010 coverage continues today. we will spend the afternoon looking at the closest senate races in the country. starting and noon, the pennsylvania senate. to colorado for a debate between the democratic incumbent and a republican challenger. after that from wisconsin, the incoming democratic senator and republican. finally, three candidates participate in the florida senate debate from fort lauderdale. watch these campaign debates today beginning at noon eastern here on c-span. voters had to the poll in less than two weeks. follow the key races with

debates every night ride up to election day. we have archived debates on line on the cspan video library. follow the cspan election coverage right through election day. this week on "q &a." comparing the house of representatives and the house of commons. tonight on "q &a." starting next on c-span, it is "washington journal." we have the latest on the release of classified documents from wikileaks. then we talk about politics