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@EdwardZ
From the perspective of U.S. policy and its mandate to its own population foreign nationals don't count. Where foreign ememy combatant casualties enter the picture is as a measure of effectiveness. The short term goals of war is too hurt the other side as much as possible and to minimize own's own damage as much as possible. For a conventional military such as the UK and US damage is causalties. The asymetry of the "war on terror" is that the goals of Arab and Muslim terror is less to minimize their own casualties and maximize the casualties of their enemies but to maximize both the hurt and the claims to victimization--- often self-hurting or even sacrificing their own population. That is why rape, castration and other forms of mutilation, untargeted rockets, bombs targetting either symbolic objects (such as the World Trade Center, Jewish Community Centers, momuments etc.) and other targets to create the most hurt (hotels, discos, public events, children's birthday parties etc.) are, on the one hand, widely deployed and, on the other, a network of media to stress victimization-- and when that is not sufficient one just invents a bit (Muhammad al-Durrah).
Where the US and UK are at loggerheads is over influence in the region. The UK has been a direct competitor to the U.S. in the Middle East ever since 1940 when British companies lost to American in Saudi Arabia. This continues to be a key component of British Middle East policy. Its the stuff that prompts Whitehall to provide protection to convicted terrorists (release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, for example, in exchange for the hope of better trade conditions with Libya) and drove the UK back in WW-II to support the liquidation of Jews in concentration camps "to not interfere with British interests in the Middle East"--- British immigration policy to German refugees was not as liberal as it claimed but was installed as a valve to try to control migration to Palestine.
Today, of course, we have a new player up against both: China.