Iraq: 8,000 killed in 6 months

[sabra]

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http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/30/iraq.main/

Iraq: 8,000 killed in 6 months

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgent attacks in the last six months have killed more than 8,000 Iraqi civilians, police and troops, according to Iraq's interior minister.

Meanwhile Thursday, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said the Iraqi insurgency had probably reached its "high water mark" over the past 12 months.

In an interview with CNN, Iraqi Interior Minister Baqir Jabbur said "terrorists" had killed 8,175 people and wounded another 12,000 since January 2005.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, there have been 307 U.S. fatalities in combat during the same period.

Jabbur said he was optimistic about the recent strides made by Iraqi security forces and predicted victory in the war against insurgents.

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[Roland99]

1. Outpacing Saddam.

Saddam "averaged" about 12,000 per year (but the bulk of those came in a couple of skirmishes at the end of the Iraq/Iran war and after the Persian Gulf War.)


Nice.



Meet the new boss, more vile than the old boss.

[TahitiNut]

2. A 27-to-1 "kill ratio"?

The Busholinis must get woodies over that. Gee... less than a million US deaths (less than 0.5% of our population) and we'd wipe out all of Iraq? They'd call it "worth it" - right? :eyes:

For how many million barrels of oil? What's the exchange rate in lives? :puke:

[Igel]

3. Probably not.

It doesn't say how many "insurgents" died: either in the killing of the (presumably non-insurgent) Iraqis, or as a consequence of the American deaths.

[TahitiNut]

6. But isn't the only good _____ a dead ______?

I'm not at all sure the Bushoilinis give a flying f*ck what brand of Iraqi is killed. After all, they're just weeds on the "better there than here" playing field, right?
:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Doctor_J]

4. Is this supposed to make us feel better

about the fact that "only" 307 of America's best have died?

[u2spirit]

5. We should be happy

We're killing them over there instead of killing them over here! :sarcasm:

[daleo]

7. No mention of civilian deaths from U.S./U.K./IraqNatGrd

It is hard to say if they are just avoiding the subject altogether, or if they have rolled the deaths caused by U.S. and Iraqi puppet forces into those claimed to be due to "insurgent" attacks. Also, there is not breakdown of civilians versus Iraqi police and troops. The latter would usually be considered legitimate targets of a resistance to occupation, while the former generally wouldn't. So the report seems more inclined to propaganda purposes than objective information (no surprise there).

[greyl]

17. "...report seems...inclined to propaganda purposes...'

Too true. I suppose "our" troops have their unloaded weapons downward while they give deep tissue massages to the Iraqi population. After all, we're there in self-defense, right?

We need to see an accurate breakdown.

[Miss Chybil]

8. How many mass graves would 8000 fill? nt

[DemNoir]

9. America wants to know

How many of them are white girls?

[tk2kewl]

10. .

[tk2kewl]

11. a very violent throe these 6 months has been

[mmonk]

12. I'm glad they are in their last throes

especially since we're only going to be staying another dozen years or so.

[tk2kewl]

13. 12 X 2 X 8,000 = 192,000

[Zenaholic]

14. Your math is little off

it's 192,000

-Peace.

[tk2kewl]

15. oops

whats an order of magnitude when it comes to death matter :sarcasm:

[Frederik]

16. How many have been killed by US bombs and bullets

over the last 6 months? I'm willing to bet it's a higher number than those killed by the insurgents.

[Xithras]

18. "Collateral damage"

One of my co-workers was talking to her mother in Baghdad last week and relayed a tragic story to me. About two weeks ago a number of children were playing together and riding bicycles outside their home in a usually quiet part of the city. Her mother and several other women were outside talking when one of the kids ran into a roadside garbage bag with his bicycle. Tragically, the bag contained a bomb intended for American soldiers, and four of the kids...all under 10 years old...were killed in the blast with another two seriously injured.

Our press doesn't report on these unintended casualties of war at all, but according to her these things happen all the time. Baghdad is a huge and crowded city, and when bombs are planted in an environment like that it's practically guranteed that innocent bystanders are going to get killed when they go off.