Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
In solidarity with the people of Iraq struggling under foreign occupation
News from Iraq this week: May 13th to 19th
Baghdad mortuary overwhelmed by rising numbers of dead: 70 dead a day
4 million Iraqis in dire need of humanitarian aid, 1 in 10 kids suffer acute malnutrition.
Demonstrate Saturday September 23rd at Labour Party Conference in Manchester
When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.
May 13 5 Iraqis were killed in drive-by shootings, including a tribal sheik, while a U.S. Army soldier died in a roadside bomb attack. The bodies of 3 Iraqis who had been kidnapped and tortured also were found in the capital of Iraq.
May 14 UK death toll in Iraq hits 111 as roadside bomb kills two soldiers and seriously injures one other.
May 15 4 British soldiers were wounded when suspected insurgents fired at least 30 mortar rounds at a British military base in Amarah.
May 16 Massive US air strikes during the initial invasion in April 2003, as well as subsequent fighting between insurgents and US troops, caused much destruction of property. However many families still await compensation for these losses.
May 17 A Pentagon report on an incident in which U.S. Marines shot and killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians last November will show that those killings were deliberate and worse than initially reported, Republican Congressman John Murtha said during a news conference: `Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.`
May 18 1 person is being assassinated in Basra every hour as order in Iraq`s second city disintegrates, according to an Iraqi Defence Ministry official. The number of killings is now at a level close to that of Baghdad and marks the failure of the British Army`s 3-year-old attempt to quell violence in Basra.
May 19 In the latest indication of the crushing hardships weighing on the lives of Iraqis, increasing portions of the middle class seem to be doing everything they can to leave the country. In the last 10 months, the state has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7 percent of the population and a quarter of the country`s estimated middle class.
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US spells out plan to bomb Iran
The plan calls for a rolling, 5
day bombing campaign against 400 key
targets in Iran, including 24
nuclear-related sites, 14 military
airfields and radar installations,
and Revolutionary Guard
headquarters.
At least 75 targets in underground
complexes would be attacked with
waves of bunker-buster bombs. UK
sources say contingency plans have
also been drawn up to cope with the
inevitable backlash against the
Basra garrison in neighbouring Iraq.
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Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq since invasion*:
Minimum: 35161
Maximum: 39344
Source: Iraq Body Count
Total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 2454
Total number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq since invasion= 18088
Total number of UK soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 111
Total number of soldiers from other nations killed since invasion = 111
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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