"can_o_worms" <can_o_worms@bogus.com> wrote in message
news:d5da729e2ierd555miq7g3l3uvg2f7qaf6@4ax.com...

Iraq: 2 500 killed, 85 000 displaced in two months

This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=272567

Baghdad, Iraq 23 May 2006

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.

The fatality count was comprised of death certificates
issued by the Baghdad morgue, the report said.

"The medico-legal institute in Baghdad issued 1 294
death certificates in March and 1 155 in April," the
majority of which had been deaths caused by gunshot
wounds, it said.

"As a result of the pervasive violence, Iraqis
continue to leave their areas of residence, either
voluntarily or as a result of violence or threats by
insurgents, militias and other armed groups," it said.

Citing the International Organisation of Migration,
the report stated that 14 302 families had been
displaced since the February 22 destruction of a
Shi'ite shrine in Samarra that precipitated a rash
of sectarian killing.

The report further noted that the destinations of
the displaced families break along sectarian lines,
with Sunnis from the south heading to Anbar,
Salaheddin and Diyala provinces, and Shi'ites
heading from Baghdad to the southern provinces.

The report expressed dismay over the legal and
judicial system in the country, noting that the
security situation has diminished the power of the
judiciary.

"Judicial authorities would not appear always able
to exercise their power independently or effectively
and enforce Iraqi laws in their relation with police
forces and militias," said the report.

The report also noted that the many cases of murder,
torture and abuse were investigated inadequately or
not at all, adding that "such a situation may
encourage further acts of violence and crime".

"The number of detainees held in the country
continues to remain high," said the report, noting
that multinational forces hold 15 387 detainees
while the justice ministry has 7 727.

The interior ministry has another 5 077, with
defence holding 333, the report said. The labour
and social affairs ministry has 176 minors in
detention, it added.

"The conditions of detention in Iraqi facilities
are generally not consistent with international
human rights standards. Prisons and detention
centres are overcrowded [with pre-trial detainees
and convicts being mixed] and often lack food,
hygiene and medical treatment," it added.

Under Iraqi law, only the justice ministry is
authorised to hold detainees. -- AFP

This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=272567




--

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

John J. Mearsheimer
University of Chicago - Department of Political Science

Stephen M. Walt
Harvard University - John F. Kennedy School of Government

http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011

( has polemical response from Alan Dershowitz at site )

Edited non-PDF version :

http://www.lrb.co.uk./v28/n06/mear01_.html

All this is interesting but remember: There is no civil war in Iraq and
democracy is on track.

"can_o_worms" <can_o_worms@bogus.com> wrote in message
news:d5da729e2ierd555miq7g3l3uvg2f7qaf6@4ax.com...

Iraq: 2 500 killed, 85 000 displaced in two months

That's correct but Hillary didn't start it, George Wmd. Bush did.