Homepage
 
In solidarity with the people of Iraq struggling under foreign occupation.
 
News from Iraq this week: April 29th to May 5th   
 
 
`The occupation and robbery of a nation occurs under the illusion of freeing its citizens from brutal oppression`
 
April 29            A majority of Iraqis say their country is in dismal economic shape and getting worse, with 3 of 4 respondents also describing security in the country as poor, according to a poll conducted by the International Republican Institute. The findings show that Iraqis believe jobs are harder to find, electrical service is poorer, and corruption has increased dramatically since last year.
April 30            The question hanging over the parliamentary votes last weekend was whether the elected leaders, most of them now barricaded inside the protected Green Zone, could do anything to stop the slide toward anarchy and civil war.
May 1              A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden car near a US army patrol killing one Iraqi civilian and wounding two others in al-Askandariya.
May 2              U.S. private security contractors on Tuesday shot dead an Iraqi ambulance crew member as the ambulance approached a site in northern Baghdad where the contractors` armed vehicle had been disabled by a roadside bomb, a U.S. military spokesman said.
May 3              An official at Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad said its morgue was full after receiving 65 corpses over the past 3 days of people who mostly died from gunshot wounds. The victims included 3 schoolteachers.
May 4              At least 13 civilians died in an air assault by US forces in Ramadi just an hour after a bomber killed nine people outside a Baghdad court.
May 5              Kurdish villagers are fleeing their homes in northern Iraq after shelling and incursions by Iranian forces and a massive build-up of Turkish troops as both militaries move to crush separatist guerrillas.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The IAEA report on Iran`s nuclear programme has generated rhetoric from both the United States and Europe that seems well beyond that which the content seems to merit. Once the United States introduces a Chapter VII resolution, even in draft form, war with Iran is all but assured. If the Russians and Chinese balk over the imposition of Chapter VII-linked measures against Iran, as they have indicated they will, then the Bush administration will simply declare that the security council has become impotent and irrelevant in dealing with threats that it has itself declared to exist, and, as such, the United States, not wanting to have its own national security interests so hijacked, will `have no choice` but to move forward void of any security council endorsement or authorisation. This model of action directly parallels that undertaken by the US and UK regarding Iraq, and has been strongly alluded to in recent statements made by Vice-President Cheney, the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, and Rice. This is a very tense and dangerous situation that, as it currently stands, seems to be spinning close toward yet another needless war in the Middle East.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq since invasion*:
Minimum: 34711
Maximum: 38861
Total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 2417
Total number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq since invasion= 17874
Total number of UK soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 108
Total number of soldiers from other nations killed since invasion = 110
 
*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
See this bulletin on the web at Cardiff Stop the War Coalition`s website.
If you wish to subscribe to this bulletin please email  throughputcat@yahoo.co.uk
 

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com