IRAQ

Independent: Iraq, six months on

A survey of the good, the bad and the uncertain

Casualties
The total of Allied soldiers killed since Saddam Hussein was deposed on 9 April is 230. The death toll includes 207 American servicemen and 20 Britons. During September, civilian deaths by gunfire in Baghdad totalled 518. Under Saddam, deaths from gun violence in Baghdad averaged 6 per month. According to the central morgue in Baghdad, violent deaths reached 872 in August. The highest monthly toll in the previous year was 237 deaths, with just 21 from gunfire.

Oil & Fuel
Only 300 petrol outlets for Iraq's 25 million people. Officially cheap and available but most rely on the black market. Refineries producing only 1.25m barrels of crude a day, compared with 2.4m barrels a month before the war. Estimated cost of restoring oil production to the pre-1991 level of 3.5m barrels per day is $6.6bn. Iraq is exporting 70,000 barrels per day compared with 1.8m per day before the war.

Food
Three out of five Iraqis depend on food aid. Before the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the imposition of UN sanctions, Iraq was one of the best fed countries in the Middle East. Then, it imported two thirds of its needs.

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