Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
In solidarity with the people of Iraq struggling under foreign occupation
Demonstrate Saturday September 23rd at Labour Party Conference in Manchester
Countless My Lai Massacres in Iraq
Military Prosecutors to file charges against marines for execution of Iraqi man
US troops shoot 2 women dead at checkpoint: 1 pregnant, in labour
`I`d say they`re going well. I wouldn`t put a great big smiley face on it, but I would say they`re going very, very well from everything you look at …`
General Pace when asked how things were going in Iraq by Tim Russert on Meet the Press March 5th 2006.
News from Iraq this week: May 27th to June 2nd
May 27 Military investigators describe how Marine Sergeant shot 5 Iraqi civilians after they were ordered out of a taxi and had their hands in the air.
May 28 More than 1,000 members of the British military have deserted since the start of the Iraq war, Labour MP John McDonnell said that the number of absconders had trebled since the invasion with more soldiers `questioning the morality and legality of the occupation`.
May 29 Insurgents have attacked British forces in Iraq nearly 60 times a month since the start of the year. The new figure, covering the first four months of 2006, is a 26 per cent increase on 2005.
May 30 The top American commander in Iraq has decided to move 1500 reserve troops now deployed in Kuwait into the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq to help quell a surge in insurgents attacks.
May 31 Iraqi army and police officers and several people who said they were witnesses and relatives of the dead said U.S. soldiers killed two women, aged 60 and 20, and a mentally handicapped man in their home on May 4, in Samarra, after insurgents fired on the troops
June 1 Prime Minister Maliki lashed out at the American military, denouncing what he characterized as habitual attacks by troops against Iraqi civilians. He said violence against civilians had become a `daily phenomenon` by many troops in the American-led coalition who `do not respect the Iraqi people.`
June 2 Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in a house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building in the town of Ishaqi in March.
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John Bolton, US ambassador to UN, describes on Fox News, the purpose of recent `diplomatic overtures` of US Secretary of State Condi Rice to Iran as an attempt to:
`……..remove all excuses from Iran and its supporters to say, `We went the extra mile. We gave Iran really, this last chance to show that they are serious when they say they don`t want nuclear weapons.` This is put or shut up time for Iran.`
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Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq since invasion*:
Minimum: 38059
Maximum: 42434
Source: Iraq Body Count
Total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 2474
Total number of US soldiers wounded in Iraq since invasion= 18184
Total number of UK soldiers killed in Iraq since invasion = 113
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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