U.N. Report on Iraq Details An 'Ever-Deepening' Crisis

Source: wpost




U.N. Report on Iraq Details An 'Ever-Deepening' Crisis
U.S. Airstrike on Insurgents Also Kills 15 Civilians

By Joshua Partlow and Colum Lynch
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, October 12, 2007; Page A14

BAGHDAD, Oct. 11 -- A U.N. report issued Thursday outlined an "ever-deepening humanitarian crisis" in Iraq, with thousands of people driven from their homes each month, ongoing indiscriminate killings and "routine torture" in Iraqi prisons.

Also Thursday, a U.S. airstrike in Iraq killed 15 civilians -- nine women and six children -- and 19 suspected insurgents, the military said. "We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while Coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism," Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, said in a statement.



U.S. troops targeting leaders of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq came under fire while approaching a building near Lake Tharthar in Anbar province northwest of Baghdad, and aircraft fired on the site in response, the military said. The bombing also wounded six people, including a woman and three children.

The assessment by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, which covered a three-month period ending June 30, found that civilians were suffering "devastating consequences" from violence across the country. It documented more than 100 civilians allegedly killed by U.S.-led forces during airstrikes or raids.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101102138.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

lately--lots of civilian "collateral damage"--or am I just now noticing it? "We regret" killing civilians to rid Iraq of terror--aren't we kind of the terrorists then, at least to those victims' families? Oh, wait--we're AMERICA, so the killing WE do is for a moral and noble purpose. My bad.

... of those women and children who were caught in the operation to make Iraq free from terror.

'Also Thursday': fuck you Press whores - you helped relaize this mess from the get-go with public, propagated misinformation. Now you are sweeping the pressroom floors with innocent blood. Spurt, spurt.

Who cares if "they" weren't "there" before we invaded -- our presence and the "colateral damage" ensures a steady supply of "them" to fight.

We turned Iraq into a grusesome battleground, but we did it for their own good.