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The War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings,
Torture and Big Money |
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November 22nd,
2006 - Iraqi Civilian Deaths Hit New High |
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Iraqi Civilian Deaths Hit New
High By Louise Roug Los Angeles Times 9:51 AM PST, November 22, 2006 Baghdad - In its bleakest
assessment since the U.S.-led invasion, the United Nations today reported the
highest monthly death toll among Iraqi civilians so far: At least 3,709
killed during October, up nearly 400 from September and 700 more than in
August. The vast majority of the
killings took place in Baghdad. The continued slaughter of
civilians as well as increasing poverty has forced more than 2 million people
from their homes, according to the report. Every month, nearly 100,000 Iraqis
flee to neighboring Jordan and Syria, the U.N. found. "The government has
firmly stated its commitment to address growing human rights violations,"
the bimonthly U.N. Human Rights report says. "Nonetheless, violence
reached alarming levels in many parts of the country." The U.N. received the death
toll figures from the Baghdad morgue and the Iraqi Health Ministry. Violence continued today
with assassinations and bombing attacks, authorities reported. Gunmen in west
Baghdad killed a bodyguard of Iraq's controversial speaker of parliament,
Mahmoud Mashadani. The shooting followed an attempted assassination of Mashadani
the previous day when a car in his convoy blew up near the Convention Center
inside Baghdad's highly security Green Zone. Separately, armed men shot
and killed Raad Jaafar, a journalist working for the Sabah newspaper, also in
western Baghdad. An Industry Ministry official was assassinated in another
shooting. A bomb hidden under a couple
of bodies dumped near Haifa Street injured two police officers who tried to
recover the corpses. Bombings and mortars killed two and injured two others
in separate attacks. A Task Force Lightning
soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, was
killed and three others were wounded Tuesday when an improvised explosive
device detonated near their vehicle while they were conducting operations in
Salahuddin province, the military reported today. Another from the unit died
Tuesday from an injury caused by an accident. Gianni Magazzeni, chief of
U.N.'s Human Rights Office in Baghdad, presented the world body's grim Human
Rights report inside the Green Zone. While Prime Minister Nouri
Maliki's government has "taken a number of important steps in protecting
human rights," more should be done to improve the rule of law, he told
reporters. Among other things, he
highlighted an inquiry into abuses at a Ministry of Interior detention
facility discovered last year. So far, the Iraqi government has not made
public any of its findings. "The more there is
impudence and no one is punished for their crimes, the more that fuels the
cycle of violence and counter-violence," Magazzeni said. Bringing people
to justice will be key to restoring order in the country, he added. The report underscores the
enormity of that task. "Many of the death
squads and rival militias have direct links with or are supported by influential
political parties belonging to the government and are not hiding their
affiliation," according to the report. "Militias and other armed
groups are said to be in control of whole areas in the east and west of
Baghdad and continue to carry out illegal policing, manning of checkpoints
and 'dispensation of justice' through illegal trials and extra-judicial
executions." Arbitrary arrests,
allegations of torture and sexual abuse, deplorable prison conditions and a
lack of judicial guarantees characterize Iraq's detention system, according
to the report. In Kirkuk, Kurdish militias
have allegedly conducted brutal arrests, transferring detainees to secret
prisons in Kurdistan where they have been held without trial for long
periods. The police and army are reportedly
infiltrated by Shiite militias and death squads and absenteeism is
widespread. In Kirkuk alone, the report
says, "half of the 5,000 police force and 13,000 army soldiers are not
reporting to duty at any given time." The report also notes that operations
by American troops in Al Anbar province "continued to cause severe
suffering to the local population." Earlier in the week, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan addressed the question of the U.S. military
presence in Iraq, saying that the "U.S. is in a way trapped in Iraq,
trapped in the sense that it cannot stay and it cannot leave." He also
warned that an American withdrawal should "not lead to a further
deterioration." Britain, the top U.S. ally
in Iraq, may hand over security responsibilities in the southern city of
Basra to Iraqi forces by the spring, British Foreign Secretary Margaret
Beckett told the British Parliament, according to Associated Press. Violence in southern Iraq,
as in the rest of the country, has worsened dramatically since the Feb. 22
bombing of a key Shiite mosque in Samarra. In the capital, entire
neighborhoods have been cleansed according to sectarian affiliation. The
report cites one mixed neighborhood where Shiite militias warned families to
leave the area within 24 hours. Gunmen then reportedly burned two houses with
the residents still inside. Assassinations and
persecution of women, minorities, journalists, intellectuals, doctors,
lawyers, politicians and security forces continued "in an alarming
number" during the last two months. "Incidents of honor
killings, kidnappings associated with rape and sex slavery, and killing of
women and children for sectarian reasons were reported in Kurdistan, Kirkuk
and Mosul," the report says. Secular and Christian women are harassed
for not wearing head scarves and long skirts. Attacks against Christians
in general are also on the rise, especially following controversial comments
about Islam made by Pope Benedict XVI in September. Churches and a convent
have been attacked, and clergy have been kidnapped and killed in northern
Iraq in particular. The targeting of teachers
and professors has meant the closure of many schools and universities.
Earlier this month, as many as 150 employees and visitors to the Ministry of
Higher Education offices in Baghdad were kidnapped. Sunni politicians charge
that as many as 80 are still missing. In 2006 alone, more than 300
teachers and ministry employees have been killed. In the western city of
Ramadi, most schools have been closed after threats by Al Qaeda. In the
troubled Diyala province, only 10% of the schools are currently offering
classes. At least 18 journalists have
been killed in the past two months, according to the U.N. Since 2003, more
than 150 journalists and other media workers have been slain. The report also
notes the detention of journalists by both the Iraqi government and U.S.-led
forces. The number of disappeared
and missing persons is also growing, according to the report. Relatives of
Sunni victims going to the Shiite-controlled Health Ministry complex to claim
bodies from the morgue have been abducted and killed, and others now fear to go
to the morgue. The violence has forced as
many as 1.6 million people to leave Iraq. Almost 440,000 others have been
displaced inside the country, the report says. Children and older Iraqis
living in tent camps are particularly at risk as the winter approaches. Despite the grim findings,
Magazzeni told reporters after the news conference: "We should not lose
hope." External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-iraq112206,0,1565119,full.story |