NYT: Over 3,400 Iraqi Civilians Killed in July (almost certain undercount)

[DeepModem Mom]

Over 3,400 Iraqi Civilians Killed in July
By EDWARD WONG and DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 15, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 15 — More Iraqi civilians were killed in July than in apparently any other month of the war, according to Iraqi Health Ministry and morgue statistics, despite a security plan begun by the new government in June.

An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed per day in July, according to figures from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue. At least 3,438 civilians died violently that month, a 9 percent increase over the tally in June and nearly twice as many as in January....

***

United Nations officials and military analysts say the morgue and ministry numbers almost certainly reflect severe undercounts, caused by the haphazard nature of information in a war zone.

Many casualties in areas outside Baghdad probably never appear in the official count, said Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. That helps explain why fatalities in Baghdad appear to account for such a large percentage of the total number, he said in a recent report....

***

The statistics indicate that news media drastically underreport the level of violence in Iraq. The United States government and military have declined to release any overall figures on Iraqi civilian casualties and have not even said whether they are keeping count....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1155700800&en=2ac032da4b5239b0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[ShortnFiery]

1. Absolutely Tragic Beyond Words ...

May the dear innocent deceased Iraqis RIP. :cry:

Some of us Americans did do our level best (protests, writing letters to our representatives, etc.) to try and stop this lumbering USA Military-Industrial WAR MACHINE from churning out victims.

I grieve for all who died needlessly in the violence of the invasion and occupation of Iraq ... Soldier and Civilian Alike ... They died for a LIE ... They died for Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld's Arrogance and seemingly never ending Warmongers' Greed. :grr:

[NVMojo]

2. and the White House rejoices without any SHAME!

[Supersedeas]

3. remember the Bush smirk--remember

[mhatrw]

4. So because of our 9/11, which no Iraqis were involved in, we inflict

more than the equivalent of 9/11 on Iraq every single month at a cost of billions and billions to our treasury and dozens to our soldiers.

[flyarm]

5. FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH!!

I WONDER IF THOSE IRAQI'S FAMILIES WILL SEND THANK YOU NOTES TO ReTHUGS and conservatives..for their right to life ...

and how many died in 9/11..


freedom is on the march..bush and conservative style..

what fucking hypocrites the damn conservative fucking fundemental christians are!

i despise them more with each passing day..they ought to have to bury these innocent people!

or drink shit in their water like the conservatives have given the iraqi people ..with their arrogance and ignorance! and murdering ways!

fly

[Barrett808]

6. July deadliest month in Iraq, tallies show (at least 3,438 civilians)

July deadliest month in Iraq, tallies show
By Edward Wong and Damien Cave The New York Times
Published: August 15, 2006

BAGHDAD More Iraqi civilians appear to have been killed in July than in any other month of the war, according to national and morgue statistics, suggesting that the much-vaunted Baghdad security plan started in June by the new government had failed.

An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed per day in July, according to figures from Iraq's Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue. At least 3,438 civilians died violently that month, a 9 percent increase over the total in June and nearly twice as many as in January.

The rising numbers indicate that sectarian violence is spiraling out of control, and reinforce an assertion that many senior Iraqi officials and American military analysts have been making in recent months - that the country is already embroiled in a civil war, with the U.S.-led forces caught between Sunni Arab guerrillas and Shiite militias.

The numbers also provide the first definitive evidence that the Baghdad security plan, started by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki on June 14, has done virtually nothing to quell the violence. The plan, much touted by top Iraqi and U.S. officials at the time, relied on setting up more Iraqi-run checkpoints to stymie insurgent movement.

Those officials have since acknowledged that the plan has fallen far short of its aims, forcing the U.S. military to add soldiers to the capital and back away from proposals for a troop draw-down by the end of the year.

The Baghdad morgue reported receiving 1,855 bodies in July, more than half of the total deaths recorded in the country. The morgue tally for July was an 18 percent increase over June.

(more)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/15/news/iraq.php

This, in spite of Operation Together Forward.

[panader0]

7. Boy, the democracy and stability thing is really working!

[Supersedeas]

8. we are making progress....last throes...mission accomplished

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. It's gonna get a lot worse

.
.
.

The USA removed the most stabilizing force in the country

Saddam and his half a million strong army

Bush went in there, destroyed the army with only 150,000 troops

WHO DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW IRAQ WORKED!!!

If the USA is really serious about stabilizing Iraq(which I really sort of doubt)

They would need to deploy about another 300,000 WELL ARMED troops from . .

Oh yeah

from where?

so

It's gonna get a lot worse

(sigh)

[tblue37]

10. This is from the article:

Under a new security plan aimed at overhauling Mr. Maliki’s efforts, some of the city’s most violent southern and western areas are now virtually occupied block-to-block by American and Iraqi forces, with entire neighborhoods transformed into miniature police states after being sealed off by blast walls and concertina wire <emphasis added>.

Now, even quite apart from the fact that we have destroyed their infrastructure and their security, could someone explain to me again how turning entire neighborhoods into miniature police states is the same as bringing freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people.

[Roland99]

12. Wonder if Halliburton is taking notes for future detention camps here?

[Roland99]

11. But Saddam was a "brutal butcher"

Meet the new boss!

Helluva lot worse than the old boss!

[wanpete]

13. Sadness beyond what words can express...

these are human beings with lives, family, and loved ones. It feels as if their lives have been marginalized so that this war can be sanitized into the tidy God Bless America logo. No thoughts of the pain and tears so many in this country have suffered.

This is heartbreaking...



:cry:

[gristy]

14. :(

Civilization is so fucked

Nuclear war with Iran
More terrorist attacks in the US
Forests dying
Oceans rising
Weather and rainfall patterns shifting
And my country's government actively working to ensure that every one of those come true

:(