The war in Iraq has been accompanied by the highest ever number of casualties among members of the Iraqi and foreign press. While the end of the Saddam Hussein regime has reopened the way for vibrant media activity, the absence of security for members of the media has had a high human cost. The US-led war on Iraq, which was aimed at liberating its people from authoritarian rule, has not seen any serious attempt by the Western or even Arab media to focus on the human side of Iraq. Iraqi civilian death tolls are treated as nothing more than statistics.