MaiLuk Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 NYTimes Over 3,000 Iraqi Civilians Killed in June, U.N. Reports By KIRK SEMPLE Published: July 18, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 18 â?? An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the highest monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad, the United Nations reported today. The death toll, drawn from Iraqi government agencies, was the most precise measurement of civilian deaths provided by any government organization since the invasion and represented a dramatic increase over daily media reports. United Nations officials also said that the number of violent deaths had been steadily increasing since at least last summer. In the first six months of this year, the civilian death toll jumped more than 77 percent, from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June, the organization said. This sharp upward trend reflected the dire security situation in Iraq as sectarian violence has worsened and Iraqi and American government forces have been powerless to stop it. Underscoring the report, a suicide bomber attacked a marketplace in the southern Shiite holy town of Kufa today, killing 53 people and wounding at least 105, according to local hospital officials. Kufa is a stronghold of Moktada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite cleric who counts an enormous following among the Shiite poor and dispossessed in Baghdad and southern Iraq. The militia loyal to him, the Mahdi Army, has been blamed for many recent kidnappings and assassinations of Sunni Arabs. Kufa and the nearby Shiite holy city of Najaf â?? because of their vastly Shiite populations and tight control by Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated security forces â?? have been largely spared the sort of sectarian violence that has ravaged mixed cities like Baghdad and Baquba. But todayâ??s attack, coupled with several other recent suicide attacks in both cities, suggested an ominous deterioration in security even in Iraqâ??s demographically homogenous populations. The attack occurred near the gold-domed Kufa mosque at an intersection where men, down on their luck and out of work, would gather every morning hoping that someone would hire them for a day of manual labor and the promise of a small wage. This morning, a man drove up in a van, leaned out of the window and lured the laborers with an offer of work. As the men pressed in close, and as some started to climb in the back, the driver pushed a detonator and the van exploded, witnesses said. The blast scattered bodies and street vendorsâ?? carts, blackened nearby walls, dyed the ground red with blood and ignited pandemonium in the street. When Iraqi police officers arrived, the crowd pelted them with stones. According to The Associated Press, many demanded that the Mahdi Army take over security of the city. -------------- According to the United Nationsâ?? tallies, 1,778 civilians were killed in January, 2,165 in February, 2,378 in March, 2,284 in April, 2,669 in May and 3,149 in June. LINK to full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted July 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 We have been in there 5 years. Yet the casualty numbers since Jan of this year go up each month. Now that we saved Iraq from saddam its time to pull out. IMO of course. We can't stop the killing so lets go home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 What and leave all that oil for the Commies? err I mean Muslims. Get real man, look at all those boys in the Army that would be out of a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AF16 Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 A 9/11 a month? But it's only Arabs so it doesn't count for much i guess, they should just be happy that they are saved by a morally superior country that knows what is best despite what they might want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_numbers Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 My exact thought : "3,000 civilians a month for democracy and the liberation of the Iraqi people". Puh-leezzz. That is basically September 11, 2001 on repeat month by month? I guess American lives are just worth more?? Anyways... One thing we can agree on if nothing else is this Iraq campaign is an utter disaster. the_numbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Now that we saved Iraq from saddam its time to pull out. IMO of course. We can't stop the killing so lets go home. The Japanese just left this week. The Italians will follow soon. The "coalition of the willing" is becomimg smaller every month. Only the US forces can't leave since they are responsible for the mess. Even if it's not for humanity the USA doesn't want to leave the country ready to be cut into pieces by Iran, Turkey, the Kurds and other countries/groups which are highly interested in controlling the oil fields. If the USA leaves now it will lose everything: political credibility, influence and control not only in Iraq but in whole Far East, and of course most important it will lose the control of the oil fields. France, Russia, China e.g. will be ready and happy to jump in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 >>If the USA leaves now it will lose everything: political credibility, influence and control not only in Iraq but in whole Far East,<< In the US, many experts as well as both the republicans and the dems say the same thing. And the republicans also like to say that if we "cut and run" then all those american soldiers will have died for nothing we owe it to them to finish the mission. Therefore we must stay. I'm always suspicious of the above sort of arguments. If we stay another 5 years than another 2500 american kids will be dead and 20,000 more will be casualties. We will have spent $500 billion and the US military will be decimated by soldiers refusing to re-enlist. And recruiting? The army right now cannot recruit even the dumbest members of the lowest rungs of the land of the free. Time to admit that the US military is not designed to fight in the middle of a civil war and bring those kids home. Arguments about credibility are seriously deficient as a justification for americans to continue dying in iraq. >> and of course most important it will lose the control of the oil fields. France, Russia, China e.g. will be ready and happy to jump in... << Partition iraq and go home. Its not a perfect solution but with thousands dying evry month it can't be worse than the status quo. If some foreign government thinks they can control the situation in iraq let them step in. I suspect they are too shrewd to make that mistake. Iran's influence in Iraq is only helped by the US operations against Iran's sunni enemies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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