One wouldn't have thought there was a positive for the UK and US authorities to come out of the current crisis in Lebanon but one by-product is that I haven't seen Iraq on the news much this week. Maybe they've forgotten about it, or hoped that we have?

Well, allow me to refresh their memories. According to the UN, 3,149 Iraqi civilians were killed in the month of June, more than 100 a day. The website www.iraqbodycount.net claims to keep a count of the total killed. It lists the minimum number of casualties as 39,284 and the maximum as 43,744.

You can be damn sure that their families haven't forgotten.