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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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October 13th,
2009 - Iraq Rights Ministry Says 85,000 Killed in 2004-08 |
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Iraq Rights Ministry Says
85,000 Killed in 2004-08 By Waleed Ibrahim & Jack Kimball Reuters October 13, 2009 Baghdad - Iraq's human
rights ministry said on Tuesday that at least 85,000 people had been killed
by bombs, murders and fighting in 2004-08, in a rare death toll release by an
Iraqi government agency. Mayhem and bitter clashes
erupted after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, followed by years of
sectarian carnage that has only recently begun to abate. The number of people
killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces or insurgents remains highly contentious. "Outlawed groups
through terrorist attacks like explosions, assassinations, kidnappings or
forced displacements created these terrible figures, which represent a huge
challenge for the rule of law and for the Iraqi people," the ministry
said. "These figures draw a
picture about the impact of terrorism and the violation of natural life in
Iraq," the ministry said in a draft report on deaths in Iraq. The report - which only
represents death certificates issued by the health ministry - also said that
147,195 people had been wounded from 2004 to the end of October 2008. The data makes no
distinction between civilians and others. A senior rights ministry
official said that the report did not include missing persons, estimated at
around 10,000 people. The report said some 15,000
unidentified bodies were found in the period. "Thousands of Iraqis
killed since 2003 without being identified by their relatives were buried in
special cemeteries called unidentified body cemeteries," it said. Iraq has seen a sharp
decline in attacks in the last two years after Washington sent thousands of
extra troops and built alliances with tribal leaders to fight al Qaeda and
militias. Despite the fall in
violence, roadside bombs and murders remain common in a nation trying to
rebuild its tattered infrastructure and economy after years of war and
destruction. The Iraq Body Count - a
group run by academics and peace activists - estimated that between 88,000
and 97,000 civilians were killed from 2003 to November 2008. © Thomson Reuters 2009 All
rights reserved External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLD633492 |