Middle East News
UN: More than 34,000 civilians killed in Iraq in 2006
Jan 16, 2007, 11:30 GMT
Geneva - Latest figures from the UN in Iraq show a total of 34,452 civilians were killed in the country last year and 36,685 wounded as a result of sectarian violence and unrest.
In its latest update Tuesday, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI published figures for November and December which showed 6,376 civilians were killed and 6,875 were wounded.
This shows a very slight fall compared with the previous four months when the violence heightened.
UNAMI figures showed 6,599 people were killed in July and August with numbers peaking in September and October when more than 7,000 people died, the majority in Baghdad.
The report said the situation remained 'particularly bad' in Baghdad where most bodies bore signs of torture.
Revenge killings, lack of accountability for past crimes and impunity for current human rights violations were identified as the 'root causes' of the violence.
'It is essential that the State and Government of Iraq are seen as united in their efforts to contain and eventually eradicate sectarian violence.' said the report.
This was the only way 'to ensure the rule of law' and remove the 'popular basis for the perpetrators of this violence.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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That's the price of freedom as they say in America! MOHAHAHA
I'd have to agree. I think it's time this slaughter is over.
34000 universes destroyed; and the others? the Lancet figure? All because some Wolfowitz, now quietly president of the Bank World had a 'docrtrine' to experiment, and some others on the contrary had interests? Is it the way the world is now governed?
r u sure that only Bush is responsible for that? this 'silence' is making me feel that we are either deff or ... whatever
Wait a minute, we're blaming the US troops for these deaths? The Iraqi insurgents are the ones killing Iraqis, NOT the Coalition forces. Quit letting the liberal media spoon-feed you the news that sells, and start thinking with your own brains for a change.
To the above poster:
I'm not saying that all conservatives are stupid, but that all stupid people are conservatives.
Get an education and don't join the army!
Ditto's Duffman!
Too many lemmings in the US voting booths last time around. Pull the troops out of Iraq to bring peace to the region? Maybe they believe that crime would go away too - if we just got rid of those police in our cities.
no, kind sir, 'the troops' didn't kill them and no one can seriously suggest that they did. our *government* killed them, as surely as if rymsfeld, wolfowitz , and cheney had pulled the trigger themselves.
you're a simple fool; the administration loves you.
Duffman...and anyone like you. Your defense of this and willingness to 'blame the media' is both deeply wrong and sickening. Don't you understand? It doesn't matter who is doing the killing. These deaths and the 600,000 before them and thousands that will follow are a direct result of our invasion. Would people have died if we did not invade? No question. We know beyond any doubt that Iraq was not a threat to America and we knew it 3 years ago. It's the incredible mismanagement of the war that has led to these deaths. A trillion dollars, 3000 Americans dead, over 22 thousand wounded for life with more to come.
At what point does it begin to dawn on you that it's not the media here that matters? It's the reality on the ground.
why is it that nobody is this world can put a stop to all the violence that is going on -
What are all these peace talks about - nothing is ever resolved -
What is the truth about the heads of state in each country
I believe if they truely wanted to bring peace it is possible but they must
remain totally selfless in thinking what they are going to get out of it and start thinking how the civillians can truley benefit and build a safer enviroment for all concerns concentrating on building the coutries who need help to a better econimically climate.
Bear in mind that Saddam was a prolific killer as well. Remember also that these numbers do not yet approach the slaughter of Tutsis by the Hutu in Rwanda, or the slaughter of South Vietnamese by North Vietnamese after US stopped funding arms for the South Vietnamese army and they were overrun by the thugs who enslave those people to this day.
Those who see the US as anything other than a force for good in Iraq are not thinking things through.
34,000; that's a tragic number of deaths. But, I wonder how many died annually under Sadaam. Is there any moral equivalency here?
All you folks blaming the US for all these deaths are as twisted as those that are doing the killing in that country. This is Muslims killing Muslims is not ? Killing their Brothers and fellow crusaders against the Infidel. Or are they only this when it suits.
No this is not peace. But these are the thugs the 'get out now' crowd wants to escape. The Shia are killing the Sunnis because al Queda incited them thru several years of muder & mayhem including the Samarra bombing early last year. The Sunnis are killing the Shia because the Shia are killing the Sunnis. Iran is funding & supporting both sides. Shia directly from Iran. Sunnis thru Syria. The 80-20 solution or US withdrawl is synonomous with genocide. The Shia will loose half a million men & slaughter a million or more Sunnis and the region could erupt into a regional war between Iran & Syria vs the Gulf Arab states of Jordon, Kuwait, & Saudi Arabia. Since 'we broke it we own it'. we have a moral responsibility to the Iraqis we liberated froim Saddam not to leave the country in this condition. I don't think Bush is sending enough troops again.
Is there any way I can compare the 2006 death figures to the 1996 and 1986 death figures when Saddam was in power. What is that you say? The UN didn't care about how many died in Iraq in 1986 or 1996 while Saddam was in power. It is so hard to understand why Shias and Kurds can't just move in next door to Sunnis who killed and maimed them for three decades like nothing ever happened. I guess no one at the UN remembers Rwanda where three-quarters of a million died in one year. I remember the body count figures pouring out of the UN then, tongue in cheek. I wonder how many died in the late 1940's during the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Did people expect Shias, Kurds, and Sunnis to get along and forget three bloody decades of Sunni rule under Saddam? There may not be many Sunnis left in Iraq in ten years. The population of Kurds and Shias sure decreased in the previous three decades. Human nature's appetite for revenge is a gruesome thing.
I surfed the web for a minute and found some nice historical perspective.
'The partition of India in 1947 was one of the great tragedies of the century. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in sectarian violence and military clashes, as Hindus fled to India and Muslims to Pakistan -- though large minorities remained in each country. The arrangement proved highly unstable, leading to three major wars between India and Pakistan, and very nearly a fourth fullscale conflict in 1998-99.'
Now anyone who wants to say that the sectarian Sunni-Shia-Kurd violence in Iraq is the fault of the United States and that Iraq was better under Saddam needs to wake up and smell what they are shoveling.
This type of payback-revenge sectarian violence is the result of three years of murderous rule by Saddam and his Sunni henchman. Pull your collective heads out of the sand if you don't see that.
To PR your right these deaths would not have happened save we invaded Iraq but you are also right that other deaths would have. Between 1991 & 2003 Saddam created the top three man made ecological disasters the world has ever known 3.5 Billion barrels of oil dumped in the Gulf, burning the Kuwaiti oil fields releasing carcinogens en mass, draining the Iraqi Marshes [1993-1997 during the cease fire] starving 200,000 Marsh Arabs to death in the process. He had forced internal deportations to give the Sunnis more local representation arround the oil reserves. He kidnapped children & imprisoned them to gain leverage over their parents. He imprisoned political rivals and their entire extended families in order to tourture them to death slowly for his video collection. He had a special operations force that was instructed to use rape as a punishment for more minor political opponents. He slaughteed 300,000 Shia AFTER putting down the uprisings in 1993. Men, women, and children [including infants] were slaughtered alike. He gassed 50,000 Kurds. He took 20% of the Shia off the food roles and divered ALL of the electricity and claen water to Sunni neighborhoods in Iraq. He diverted UN Oil for Food money and prevented medicines and equipment that was allowed under the regime from getting to hospitals raising the infant mortality rate to 55 out of 100. By my count in the 12 years he was under sanctions he easily killed over 600,000 Iraqis. I wish that the Arab Iraqi Sunnis & Iraqi Shia would get a grip on their affairs the way the non-Arab Kurds have & build a better life for themselves instead of killing each other. But that doesn't mean I am willing to abandon the ones who want to do just that. The ones who participated in the elections, volunteer for military or police service or to serve in a government under constant threat of death from the two right wing reactionary branches of Islam [Shia & Sunni].
Strange doctrime:
Here in the good old USA where the thieves break in your homes, driveby shootings occur everyday murderers prevail constantly, swindlers survive
church burners exits.so we the willing led by the unwilling are qualified to help others (others not our on) to have democracy...I say spend our Tax owned billions of dollars right here in the good old USA!!!! where 1,000s upon 1,000s
loose their lives frequently....
Was the US invasion 'cause' of this slaughter?
Was the US invasion 'catalyst' of this slaughter?
If are unaware of any distinction between the quoted terms, or worse, sincerely adhere to the notion the invasion was the 'cause' of the slaughter - then please look up those words in the dictionary and attempt to understand the implications of your belief.
In 1995, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that 567,000 Iraqi children under the age of five had died as a direct result of the sanctions imposed against Iraq.
When asked if the price was worth it, the then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she thought so . (60 Minutes - with Lesley Stahl - 5/12/96)
With that in mind, if half a million deaths in infant population does not deprave anyone of a good night sleep, why would 34,000 deaths matter?
The real reasons for the Iraq invasion (and why Iran will probably be next) have to be found somewhere else than in those rehashed excuses on (non-existent) WMDs or 'bringing democracy' to a country that doesn't even have the slightest notion of it:
http://www.trinicenter.com/oops/2004/2710.html
That's just how the world works.
Gee, maybe they should stop killing each other?
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Robert C., UtahJan 16th, 2007 - 12:13:49
What the hell? 34000 civilians last year alone?? And this is how the US Government brings peace. Seems like too high a price to pay for the lives lost in the US from the attacks that started all of this if you ask me
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