Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
In solidarity with the people of Iraq struggling under foreign occupation
SHUT IT DOWN!
Saturday 3 June at 1.30
Wood Street (Opposite Bus station)
Demonstrate Saturday September 23rd at Labour Party Conference in Manchester
News from Iraq this week: May 20th to 26th
US floods Iraq with Balkan Guns
May 20 Forthcoming military investigations into alleged war crimes in Iraq will show that a squad of U.S. Marines killed about 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, while on a patrol in Haditha, a higher number than first believed, and then gave inaccurate reports on the incident to their commanders.
May 21 In another bloody day for British forces in Basra 3 soldiers were injured when their armoured Land Rover was hit by a roadside bomb. In what has become a familiar scene, a jeering crowd surrounded the vehicle, throwing grenades and petrol bombs. The troops managed to escape before the Land Rover caught fire, but one Iraqi brandished a soldier`s helmet seized in the fray.
May 22 In Ramadi whole neighborhoods are lawless, too dangerous for police. Some roads are so bomb-laden that U.S. troops won`t use them. Guerrillas attack U.S. troops nearly every time they venture out - and hit their bases with gunfire, rockets or mortars when they don`t.Though not powerful enough to overrun U.S. positions, insurgents here in the heart of the Sunni Muslim triangle have fought undermanned U.S. and Iraqi forces to a virtual stalemate.
May 23 Acts of violence have killed nearly 2 500 people and forced more than 85 000 to flee their homes in Iraq, the United Nations assistance mission in Iraq said on Tuesday in a March-April report on the human rights situation.
May 24 Baghdad`s main morgue, which handles only the remains of victims of violent or suspicious deaths, not including bombing victims, issued 1,155 death certificates in April, the U.N. reported. This suggests the overall death toll in Baghdad has been far higher than any figure that officials have previously made public.
May 25 The Muslim Clerics Association, accused U.S.-led forces and Iraqi troops of killing 10 innocent civilians and detaining 40 others near the town of Yusufiya.
May 26 British forces in southern Iraq have come under bomb, mortar, rocket and sniper attack almost twice a day since January, losing 12 dead to hostile fire.Despite government claims that the security situation has improved on the UK`s patch to the point where up to 1000 troops can begin withdrawing from July, about 75 of the 269 attacks and four of the fatalities have occurred in provinces said to be relatively stable.
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Iran News
Iraq supports Iran`s right to use nuclear technology for peaceful means and wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. over uranium enrichment, the Iraqi foreign minister said. Meanwhile, Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov reiterated Moscow`s commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles,
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Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq since invasion*:
Minimum: 37918
Maximum: 42288
Source: Iraq Body Count
Total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 2463
Total number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq since invasion= 18184
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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