How many (est.) in two-theater
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD?
Casualty sites reporting November 5, 2010
(accurate totals unknown)
• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 199]
Wounded 32,900-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
Latest update on this site: October 18, 2010
• Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths from violence) figures:
98,585 – 107,594
• ICasualties figures:
IRAQ: 4,427 U.S., 4,745 Coalition
AFGHANISTAN: 1,364 U.S., 2,190 Coalition
USA’s record on human rights assessed by UN member states —
At a United Nations forum in Geneva on Friday the United States came in for sharp criticism from world nations, allies and not allies.
“United States conduct in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its campaign against terrorism — notably its treatment of prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay prison and the Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad — has come under heavy criticism from many human rights organizations in recent years.”
China among dozens of countries urged the U.S. to ratify key international conventions on the rights of women and children.
Cuban ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez called on Washington to end its embargo and respect the people of Cuba’s right to self-determination.
European countries said Washington should ban the death penalty.
Indonesia called on Washington to better promote religious tolerance
Iran’s delegation accused the United States of violating human rights through covert CIA operations ‘carried out on the pretext of combating terrorism.’
Mexico urged the U.S. to halt racial profiling and the use of lethal force in controlling migration over their shared border.
Russia urged the U.S. to abolish the death penalty.
Venezuelan envoy German Mundarain Hernandez said the United States should close Guantanamo, secret detention centers around the world; punish people who torture, disappear, and execute detainees arbitrarily; compensate victims.
Several delegations questioned the legality of U.S. use of force in Afghanistan and elsewhere.The UN Human Rights Council’s first review of the U.S. rights record was part of a gradual four-year examination of the performance of all 192 UN member nations.
The United States/foreign forces’ two-country war deepens and spreads —
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN border
Twelve people (est.) died when U. S. drones attacked northwestern Pakistan.
The first unmanned aircraft fired two missiles at a vehicle in the Qutab Khel area of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan; “five fighters from Uzbekistan” died. Missiles in the second attack allegedly struck a house and a vehicle in Khaso Khel village, near Mir Ali. Four “suspected fighters” died.
Details on the North Waziristan attack on the border with Afghanistan could not be independently confirmed because the area “is too dangerous for outsiders to visit.” Last month there were at least 20 such U.S. missile attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern region.
PAKISTAN
Sixty people (est.) died and dozens suffered wounds yesterday when a 17-year-old suicide bomber struck a Sunni Muslim mosque in northwest Pakistan during prayers.
Later on Friday, a second attack struck a mosque in the town of Badabher, near Peshawar. Three people (est.), among them an imam, died; 20 suffered wounds.
Last month on the outskirts of Peshawar, three people died and 22 suffered wounds when a bomb hit a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers.
In this week’s violence, press accounts said, “There [were] blood and body parts everywhere. Elderly people and children [were] among the dead and wounded.”
War continues, flashes back
IRAQ (Baghdad)
Fifty-seven people (est.) died and 250 suffered wounds Tuesday when 11 coordinated car bombings hit Shiite districts across Baghdad.
One hundred and ninety-four (194) Iraqis died last month (including 53 deaths last Sunday during a hostage drama by Al-Qaeda gunmen at a Baghdad church).
IRAQ Flashback — “U.S. ‘exploited’ Iraq communal strife”
“The revelation by WikiLeaks of a U.S. military order directing U.S. forces not to investigate cases of torture of detainees by Iraqis has been treated in news reports as yet another case of lack of concern by the U.S. military about detainee abuse,” writes investigative historian and journalist Gareth Porter. The deeper significance of the order (missed by the news media) “is that [the order] was part of a larger U.S. strategy of exploiting Shia sectarian hatred against Sunnis to help suppress the Sunni insurgency when Sunnis had rejected the U.S. war.
“General David Petraeus was a key figure in developing the strategy of using Shia and Kurdish forces to suppress Sunnis in 2004-2005.
“... A second stage of the strategy of sectarian war against Sunnis,” Porter says, “came after the new Shia government’s takeover of the Interior Ministry in April 2005. The Shia minister immediately filled the Iraqi police – especially the commando units – with Shia troops from the Badr Corps, the Iranian-trained forces loyal to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. Within days, the Badr Corps, along with the Wolf Brigade, began a campaign of mass arrests, torture and assassination of Sunnis in Baghdad and elsewhere that was widely reported by news agencies.
“… The U.S.-sponsored Shia assault on the Sunnis gave al-Qaeda a new opportunity.
“In mid-2005, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, announced the creation of a special unit, the Omar Brigade, to combat the Shia commando torture and death squads. That led to the massive sectarian bloodletting in Baghdad in 2006, when thousands of civilians were dying every month.”
ENDLESS
Consequences of war
Iraq Veterans against the War responds —
“We grieve for the Iraqi and Afghan lives that were lost and destroyed in these wars. We also grieve for our brothers and sisters in arms, who have been lost to battle or suicide.…
“As veterans, we know that the violence documented in the Iraq War Logs traumatizes the people living under occupation. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also have been marked by staggering rates of military trauma and suicide among the troops tasked with carrying out these orders.
“Last year, 239 soldiers killed themselves and 1,713 soldiers survived suicide attempts; 146 soldiers died from high-risk activities, including 74 drug overdoses.
“A third of returning troops report mental health problems, and 18.5 percent of all returning service members are battling either Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression, according to a study by the Rand Corporation.
“Our Operation Recovery campaign, launched on October 7, seeks to end the cruel and inhumane practice of redeploying troops suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Military Sexual Trauma, Traumatic Brain Injury, and other mental and physical wounds--a practice that underlies the continued occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“…The Iraq War Logs bring home part of the harsh reality of these wars, a reality that we as veterans live with everyday.
“We demand a real end to both wars — including the immediate withdrawal of 50,000 ‘non-combat’ troops remaining in the Iraq.
“The Iraq War Logs underscore the urgent need for peace, healing, and reparations for all who have been harmed by these wars. The first step is to bring our brothers and sisters home.”
Sources and notes
“U.S. defends human rights record at UN” (Reuters, Stephanie Nebehay), November 5, 2010,
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20101105/twl-oukwd-uk-usa-rights-d4a870c.html
“U.S. defends human rights record before UN body, — GENEVA – The U.S. stood accused Friday of human rights violations ranging from racial discrimination to prison overcrowding and abuses by its troops, … friends and foes lined up to chide Washington in a UN forum of which the U.S. has pledged to be an equal member, rather than shun, as the past administration,” November 5, 2010, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101105/ap_on_re_eu/un_un_us_human_rights_4
“U.S. drone attacks strike Pakistan — Attacks by US drones kill at least 12 suspected fighters in the country's northwestern tribal region,” November 3, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/20101131439262731.html
“Pakistani Taliban blamed for suicide bombing that has killed at least 60 people in first of two attacks in northwest,” November 5, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/201011594145750575.html
“57 killed by Baghdad car bombs,” November 3, 2010, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101103/twl-iraq-unrest-attacks-toll-575b600.html
“Thirty killed in car bombings in Shiite districts in Baghdad,” November 3, 2010, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101103/twl-iraq-unrest-baghdad-575b600.html
“U.S. ‘exploited’ Iraq communal strife — U.S. military deliberately sent Shia and Kurdish commandoes into Sunni areas for torture, Wikileaks documents show” (Gareth Porter), November 5, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/11/2010115112630560418.html
Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy.
Iraq Veterans against the War, http://www.ivaw.org/blog/ivaw-statement-iraq-war-logs-call-accountability
Iraq Veterans against the War publishes its mission as “[mobilizing] the military community to withdraw its support for the war and occupation in Iraq. Iraq Veterans against the war emphasizes; specific goals:
Immediate Withdrawal of all occupying forces in IraqOperation Recovery fights “to stop the deployment of traumatized troops and by doing so end the occupations. The Operation Recovery Campaign is in the popular research and base building phase in which the group is “doing consolidated outreach to GIs and Veterans, submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, surveying GIs and Veterans about the issue, and compiling the facts to build our case.”
Reparations for the human and structural damages suffered in Iraq so that the peoples there might regain their right to self-determination
Full Benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning service members
Iraq Veterans against the War has also passed resolutions opposing the war in Afghanistan, in support of non-violence , and opposing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, http://www.ivaw.org/about
Veterans Day week, November 8-15, the Campaign Team will focus on supporting outreach efforts at strategic locations and Operation Recovery Teach-ins about “deploying traumatized troops” and the “campaign to end the egregious practice, and end the occupations.”
http://www.ivaw.org/blog/veterans-day-week-outreach-nov-8th-15th
_________________________________________
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