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Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
 
In solidarity with the people of Iraq struggling under foreign occupation.
 
News from Iraq this week: April 1st to 7th     
 
`And a year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they’ve been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation`
Richard Perle
 
April 1st                President Bush offered his apologies to the Iraqi people for the illegal invasion of their country and the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries that resulted. The President announced an immediate withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq, followed by the payment of massive war reparations. After overseeing the withdrawal of forces, President Bush has offered to turn himself and British Prime Minister Tony Blair over to the International Criminal Court, where they will be tried for the supreme international crime of aggression.
April 2nd                5 civilians, including 3 children, were killed in clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents in Ramadi and 2 farmers were killed U.S. forces in Riyadh.
April 3rd                The price of some staple food has increased in Iraq after the Ministry of Trade announced last week that several items provided by a monthly food-ration programme would be cancelled. According to officials at the trade ministry the cut in rations is a direct result of a 25% government imposed reduction of the annual budget. In an effort to curtail state spending on subsidies and develop a free market economy, the national budget was reduced from US $4 billion to US $3 billion.
April 4th                A plan to build 142 health clinics in Iraq has run out of money with only 20 of the centres completed. The contract, awarded to the US Company Parsons, was intended to restore Iraq's healthcare system, once considered the best in the region. Instead the contractor will walk away having completed just 15 per cent of the planned construction.
April 5th                The visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart, Jack Straw, only stiffened the resolve of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to retain his post, prolonging a deadlock in the formation of a new government, a top aide to Mr. Jaafari said today. Haider al-Abadi, said the visit was ill-timed, counterproductive and what he called `naked intervention.`
April 6th                The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry reported that more than 2 million Iraqi families are living below the poverty line and that poverty had risen by 30 percent since the U.S.-led invasion in April 2003.
April 7th                Frequent shootings at checkpoints, plus raids by U.S. troops and airstrikes resulting in Iraqi deaths, have angered many Iraqis, who contend that ignorance of their culture and the Arabic language hamper the Americans. Some say flatly that American soldiers act like cowboys. Light sentences for U.S. troops convicted of killing civilians have left some human rights groups seething.
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Iran War Alert
Ministry of Defence officials believe that American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is `inevitable` if Iran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment. Tactical Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from US navy ships and submarines in the Gulf would, it is believed, target Iran's air defence systems at the nuclear installations. That would enable attacks by B2 stealth bombers equipped with eight 4,500lb enhanced BLU-28 satellite-guided bunker-busting bombs, flying from Diego Garcia, the isolated US Navy base in the Indian Ocean, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Whiteman USAF base in Missouri.Officials expressed fears that an attack within Iran will unhinge southern Iraq, where British troops are based.
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Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq since invasion*:
Minimum: 33821
Maximum: 37943
Source: Iraq Body Count
Total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 2347
Total number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq since invasion= 17469
Total number of UK soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 103
Total number of soldiers from other nations killed since invasion = 105
Source: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
 
*This estimate is only of media reported deaths. A peer reviewed epidemiological survey (Roberts et al., The Lancet, Vol 364 Issue 9448 pp 1857 1864) estimated that in the 18 months following the invasion 100, 000 excess deaths or more have occurred.  Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most violent deaths. Criticisms of IBC methodology can be found at medialens
For background to the current war in Iraq: see "Understanding the Us-Iraq Crisis" by Phyllis Benis and "Why Another War? A Backgrounder on the Iraq Crisis" by Sarah Graham-Brown and Chris Toensing.
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