UN marks soaring Iraq death toll

[dirtydog]

UN marks soaring Iraq death toll

More than 34,000 civilians were killed in violence in Iraq during 2006, a UN human rights official has said.
The envoy to Iraq, Gianni Magazzeni, said 34,452 civilians were killed and more than 36,000 hurt during the year.
The figure is nearly three times higher than calculations previously made on the basis of Iraqi interior ministry statistics for 2006.
Accurate figures are difficult to acquire, and previous UN estimates have been rejected outright by Baghdad.
Mr Magazzeni said his figures were compiled from data collected by the Health Ministry, hospitals, mortuaries and other agencies.
Incidents of violence are reported throughout everyday.
On Tuesday, at least 15 people were killed and 70 people injured in a double bomb attack at a used motorcycle market in the centre of Baghdad.
The BBC's Andrew North in the capital says no-one knows the true figure for how many Iraqis are dying in the conflict, but the regular UN calculations are seen as one guide.
Iraqi officials have yet to respond to this latest report, but they described a UN estimate of 3,700 civilian deaths in October alone as grossly exaggerated.
Sectarian clashes Nonetheless observers say the upward trend is clear and supported by evidence from the ground.


Every morning police collect dozens of bodies from the streets of Baghdad.
Most of those killed are victims of sectarian violence between the minority Sunni and majority Shia Muslims.
There are fears violence will only intensify as a result of the circumstances surrounding the execution of Saddam Hussein and his aides, who were from the Sunni community.
The taunting of Saddam in his final moments and the decapitation of his half brother during an apparent accident in the hanging process has drawn intense international criticism.
Law and order
Mr Magazzeni demanded the Iraqi government do more to enforce the rule of law.
"Law enforcement agencies do not provide effective protection to the population of Iraq," he said, adding that "militias act in collusion with or have infiltrated" the security forces.
"Without significant progress in the rule of law sectarian violence will continue indefinitely and eventually spiral out of control," he warned.
Last week, US President Bush announced plans to send at least 20,000 more troops to Iraq, saying it will help bring security to Baghdad's streets, where violence is most intense.
Previous attempts to stop the killings in the capital have failed, in part, analysts say, because coalition and Iraqi troops have not stayed in an area once insurgents have been cleared. Under the new plans, once an area is taken, the extra US troops will stay behind, backing up Iraqi forces to hold the area.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN marks soaring Iraq death toll

[dirtydog]

79 killed, 190 wounded in Iraq blasts

Baghdad (dpa) - At least 79 Iraqis were killed and 190 wounded in four separate blasts in Baghdad Tuesday, an Iraqi police source said.

In the latest attack, at least 60 Iraqi university students were killed in a car bomb in eastern Baghdad, al-Arabiya TV channel reported, citing hospital sources.

At least 110 students were wounded in the bomb, the sources said.

Al-Iraqiyah state TV reported that extremists had detonated two car bombs outside the Mustansiriya University in Palestine street.

An attacker wearing an explosives belt had also blown himself next to a group of students, the report added.

Earlier Tuesday, two bombs were detonated in quick succession near a Sunni mosque in central Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding up to 70.

Another city-centre blast, reported to have been a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol, killed two police officers and two civilians. At least 10 others were wounded.

Baghad university staff have previously been kidnapped and killed by militants.

The Chairman of the parliamentary committee on education and training, Alaa Makki, reported Tuesday that that armed men had kidnapped the Vice President of the Technical University of Baghdad, Abdul Samia al-Janabi.

Pan-Arab news reports also said that 25 corpses were found overnight across Baghdad. The bodies showed signs of torture.

The latest deaths happened as the United Nations stated that a total of 34,452 civilians were killed in the country last year and 36,685 wounded as a result of sectarian violence and unrest.

In an update published in Geneva Tuesday, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI issued figures for November and December which showed 6,376 civilians were killed and 6,875 were wounded.

The report said the situation remained "particularly bad" in Baghdad where most bodies bore signs of torture.

Revenge killings, lack of accountability for past crimes and impunity for current human rights violations were identified as the "root causes" of the violence.

"It is essential that the State and Government of Iraq are seen as united in their efforts to contain and eventually eradicate sectarian violence," said the report.

This was the only way "to ensure the rule of law" and remove the "popular basis for the perpetrators of this violence."

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the figures "tragic" - but blamed "internal and external terrorists", adding: "it is not British or American soldiers who are killing them."

US-led coalition troops in Baghdad meanwhile said their forces killed one militant and detained seven suspects during an early raid Tuesday. The raid had targeted insurgents held responsible for producing manufacturing car bombs.

Regional news reports said the additional US troops were on Tuesday beginning to enter Iraq through its shared border with Kuwait as part of the new strategy for the country announced by US President George W Bush last Wednesday. The new strategy foresees the sending of an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq to end ongoing violence in the country.

Also on Tuesday, a spokesman for the justice ministry in Baghdad said that the US military and Iraqi security forces were holding 24,000 Iraqis in detention without charge.

The spokesman said that 14,447 of the prisoners were being held by coalition forces, 8,303 were being detained by the interior ministry and 1,346 by the defence ministry.

The official said that prisoners were being held in terrible conditions at both ministries, with extreme overcrowding.

Those responsible at the ministries had refused repeatedly to hand the detainees over to the justice authorities, he said. The spokesman also accused the US military of neglecting the issue of prisoners' rights "so that they can get information which is important for the secret services."

[Wallace]

.....and Saddam was hanged for killing, what, 148 Shias?

How disingenuous of the politicians to claim that the deaths are the result of internal conflict. That's a bit like blaming the Japanese for the continuing problems of radiation related diseases (yes, they are STILL being affected) for not cleaning up the mess.

[barbaro]

.....and Saddam was hanged for killing, what, 148 Shias?

I've been thinking about this, too.


This is pretty selective. What deaths are OK, and what deaths of civilians are not.


How many innocent civilians did the U.S. Pentagon kill in:

Vietnam?
Cambodia - minimum 100,000
Indonesia
Guatemala

And many other places.

The Pentagon has statistically by it's own studies, killed more innocent civilians than Saddam Hussein, ever did.

Where is the justice for the Pentagon?

[mad_dog]

.....and Saddam was hanged for killing, what, 148 Shias?

Cambodia - minimum 100,000

Can any of the ex seppo military types who are proud of everything their country did in SEA please explain the rational behind armying the KHMER ROUGE to fight the Vietnamese as proxys... If the UN ever brings brother number 2 to trial I think he should be asked who funded him.... FSD Robert McNamara is still alive and should be fucking hung on the gates of hell for his crimes.

[Wallace]

I'm not sure the US are proud at all of what they didn't achieve in SEA.
Anyway, this thread is about Iraq's soaring death toll, and it's fairly obvious that US politicians will never be held accountable for it, just as they haven't been held to account over SEA.

[Boon Mee]

I'm not sure the US are proud at all of what they didn't achieve in SEA.
Anyway, this thread is about Iraq's soaring death toll, and it's fairly obvious that US politicians will never be held accountable for it, just as they haven't been held to account over SEA.

Saw an interview with McNamara recently where he states he still doesn't sleep to well even to this day...

[mad_dog]

I'm not sure the US are proud at all of what they didn't achieve in SEA.
Anyway, this thread is about Iraq's soaring death toll, and it's fairly obvious that US politicians will never be held accountable for it, just as they haven't been held to account over SEA.

Saw an interview with McNamara recently where he states he still doesn't sleep to well even to this day...

Oh yeah ... in between making self-agrandising films about himself. What a twit.

[Wallace]

Agreed - complete wanker. I'm surprised he hasn't topped himself and done the world a favour.

[sabang]

Our foreign policy sucks, and a change is needed.