Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
In solidarity with the people of Iraq struggling under foreign occupation.
News from Iraq this week: April 15th to 21st
1000`s of Iraqi`s fleeing from their country
3 years on Iraqis suffer from unprecedented violence
Successful War on Terror? 2005 terror attacks surge over 10,000
Neocon says biggest lesson of war is the `Ingratitude of the Iraqis`
April 15th A British soldier died from injuries after an improvised device exploded near Basra. This was the 104th UK military fatality of the conflict.
April 16th American contractors swindled hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraqi funds, but there is no way for Iraq`s government to recoup the money.
April 17th A US assault on the district of Jebail, Fallujah, resulted in the deaths of 3 Iraqi civilians and the injury of 10 other, including 3 women and 2 children, Iraqi security sources said. US forces fired on houses in the district following confrontations with armed groups.
April 18th There has been an increase in the number of orphans, an inevitable result of the bombings, assassinations and sectarian violence currently plaguing Iraq. USAID reports that there are some 5,000 orphans in the capital alone, but there is only the capacity to house 1,600 nationwide. Orphans often live in the streets as beggars or drug addicts.
April 19th Gunmen opened fire on staff members at a university in Baquba, killing 3 professors and seriously wounding another, as police announced the discovery of 9 corpses with bullet wounds near Baghdad. US troops clashed with insurgents in al-Ramadi killing 4 civilians and injuring 6 others, among them small children and women.
April 20th 2 civilians were killed and 5 wounded in a car bomb attack near a British military patrol near the southern city of Basra.
April 21st Six off-duty Iraqi soldiers were captured and shot execution-style outside a restaurant in Beji. The soldiers were just leaving the restaurant after lunch there when they were taken into custody by a group of unidentified gunmen waiting outside. The gunmen took their captives to a nearby street, lined them up and shot them to death.
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Iran War Alert: Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker
The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.
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Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq since invasion*:
Minimum: 34511
Maximum: 38660
Source: Iraq Body Count
Total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 2385
Total number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq since invasion= 17648
Total number of UK soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 104
Total number of soldiers from other nations killed since invasion = 106
Source: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
*This estimate is only of English language 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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