Redefining 'civilian' also reduces civilian casualties.

"It is also because Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent."

I don't imagine anyone cares to do the posthumous intelligence checks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in...

Only during 2003-2006 US war period in Iraq there were some 600000 Iraqis killed, most of them civilians:

http://leksikon.org/images/iraq_lancet2.pdf

There was no al Qaeda in Iraq before US attacked it:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/still-clueless-about-al-...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/15/bush-acknowledges-a...