I'm sure the Iraqi and, especially U.S. officials really just want to point out actual combat deaths. This doesn't take into account all the other killing going on now, however. There was a good article in GQ (yes, I know, not the hallmark of higher jounalism but it works while taking a shit) that was written by the NY Times War Correspondent who had been living in Iraq up until quite recently. The gist of the article was that the people of Iraq have pretty much all accepted the fact that their days are numbered. They wake up every morning figuring "this will be my day" and go to bed every night figuring "well, it wasn't today, so probably tomorrow".

They're not worried about being killed by U.S. soldiers so much as other Iraqi's. There is apparently so much Sunni vs Shiite, Pro-America vs Anti-America, pro this vs anti that, killing going on that it makes what the soldiers are doing pale in comparison. And, with the exception of maybe the Kurds in the North, most Iraqi's will admit that their life was better under Saddam's rule than it is now. Yes, he was a hated dictator but you didn't walk around truly believeing that this breath would be your last.