Our lack of concern for civilians condemns us.

We have become used to the coalition's indifference to fate of Iraqi civilians, where they famously care so little for their welfare that, in the words of General Tommy Franks, "We don't do body counts."

Thousands of Iraqi civilians have also died as a result of conflict and its bloody aftermath - but officially, no one has any idea how many.

Human rights groups say the occupying powers have failed in their duty to catalogue the deaths, giving the impression that ordinary Iraqis' lives are worth less than those of soldiers.

And now we hear this from Afghanistan:

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the situation in Afghanistan is growing worse with insecurity spreading and the conflict escalating.

In a statement it said civilians were suffering unbearably, and that over the past year there had been a steady deterioration of security.

It was critical not just of roadside bombs and suicide attacks, but also of aerial bombings by Nato forces.

The Red Cross called on all parties there to do more to protect civilians.

The War on Terror has been notable for the lack of care it extends towards civilians, the most extreme example being Iraq where civilian life is of so little value that their deaths are not even officially recorded, surely one of the most callous acts ever in modern warfare. Especially as the people not counting are an army that ostensibly arrived to "liberate" these people.

It's hard to believe that any society cares enough to want "liberate" people if they can be callous enough not to care how many die in the process.

And now the Red Cross tell us that the same lack of concern for civilians is apparent in Afghanistan.

"It's really had a heavy price in terms of the population, both in terms of wounded and in terms of killed and people displaced so yes it's a very worrying situation."

The Red Cross says none of the parties to the conflict are doing enough to protect civilians.

It is to be expected that al-Qaeda, a terrorist organisation, will have scant interest in how many civilians die in order for them to achieve their goals, that's partly why they are so loathed.

However, it is startling to realise that the coalition forces are displaying a similar lack of concern for how many civilians they are killing in order to achieve their aims.

One of the things that has always struck me as odd in this War on Terror is how often we are asked to give up our principles in order to protect them. How often we are asked to give up our freedoms so that they might be kept safe.

It's an obscenity.

The people who are supposedly keeping us safe from the barbarian hordes have adopted the exact same lack of concern for civilians deaths as the barbarians have. The moral high ground is lost.

The bottom line is that you cannot defeat monsters by becoming them.

I suppose that's one of the things that Bush and Cheney have never understood. Just as Blair has never understood that you don't defend freedoms by limiting them. You can't say you stand for a system of law and order that you dispense with in order to prove it's value.

If our way of life and our values are superior, then we should be clinging to them now more than ever, showing why we value certain principles even if our enemies don't.

When it comes to caring for civilians caught on a battlefield, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, our lack of concern for their welfare condemns us as no better than an enemy who we decry as barbarian.

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Tags: Iraq, Afghanistan, civilian casualties, US, UK, Bush, Blair, War on Terror