US death toll in Iraq reaches 1000. What is the number for Iraqis?

While we mourn the 1000 US deaths in Iraq, should we take a moment to contemplate the conservative estimate of (atleast) 10000 Iraqis who lay dead? Isn't it shamelessly ironical that while you can count every head lost in your camp, you fail to gather even a rough estimate of how many have been decimated by you?

An excerpt from an article on MSNBC.com:

The U.S. military has not reported overall Iraqi deaths. The Iraqi Health Ministry started counting the dead only in April, when heavy fighting broke out in Fallujah and Najaf. However, conservative estimates by private groups place the Iraqi toll at at least 10,000.

“It is difficult to establish the right number of casualties,” said Nicole Choueiry, Middle East spokeswoman for Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog group. “It was the job of the occupation power to keep track of the numbers, but the Americans failed to do so.”

Here is a detailed article from AP dealing with the Iraqi numbers.