United States Wars, News and Casualties

The War Criminals

How many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago? Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again.

The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in our country as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime.

Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of a mostly amnesiac citizenry. (A year ago Mr. Bush was on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” dancing and talking about his paintings.)

The war criminals, Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Powell who sold us the war still go on doing what they do.

 Iraq is now far worse than it was during Saddam’s reign. And that is what America’s war achieved and bequeathed to Iraqis.

We condemned children to death, some after many days of writhing in pain on bloodstained mats, without pain relievers. Some died quickly, wasted by missing arms and legs, crushed heads. As the fluids ran out of their bodies, they appeared like withered, spoiled fruits. They could have lived, certainly should have lived – and laughed and danced, and run and played- but instead they were brutally murdered. Yes, murdered!

The war ended for those children, but it has never ended for survivors who carry memories of them. Likewise, the effects of the U.S. bombings continue, immeasurably and indefensibly.

The McGlynn

War News

REU: Russia, Iran and Turkey struggle to find common ground on Syria

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Three foreign powers who have shaped Syria’s civil war – Iran, Russia and Turkey – will discuss ways to wind down the fighting on Wednesday despite their involvement in rival military campaigns on the ground.

The leaders of the three countries will meet in Ankara for talks on a new constitution for Syria and increasing security in “de-escalation” zones across the country, Turkish officials say.

The Syria summit brings together two powers which have been President Bashar al-Assad’s most forceful supporters, Iran and Russia, with one of his strongest opponents, Turkey.

Cooperation between the rival camps raised hopes of stabilizing Syria after seven years of conflict in which 500,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced.

But the violence has raged on, highlighting strategic rifts between the three countries who, in the absence of decisive Western intervention, hold Syria’s fate largely in their hands.

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REU: U.N. seeks access to Syrians ‘on their knees’ in eastern Ghouta

GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. humanitarian adviser for Syria called on Wednesday for access to the eastern Ghouta town of Douma, where he said some 80,000-150,000 civilians were “on their knees” after years of siege and fighting.

A man walks with his bicycle at a damaged site in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 30, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

Syrian government forces backed by Russia have recaptured nearly all of eastern Ghouta, which was the last major rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus, in a ferocious assault that began in February, marking a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad.

They were now negotiating with the armed group inside Douma, the last remaining area under armed opposition control, adviser Jan Egeland told a news briefing in Geneva.

“We hope that that agreement will lead to people being able to stay if they choose to, to get amnesty for those who put away their arms but also to an opportunity to leave for those who choose to leave Douma,” he said.

Out of the nearly 400,000 people besieged in eastern Ghouta for years by Syrian government forces, 130,000 had fled in the last three weeks, Egeland said, adding that evacuations should be voluntary.

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NYT: Iraq May Operate Against Islamic State Inside Syria-Expert

NYT: Iraq Grapples With Iranian Influence Ahead of May Elections

Iraqinews: UN agency: 104 Iraqis killed, another 177 injured in March clashes

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – A total of 104 Iraqi civilians and policemen were killed and another 177 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in March, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

An Iraqi family passes through a residential area devastated by the anti-Islamic State war

In its monthly statement released on Wednesday, the UN agency said the number of civilians killed, excluding police, was 84, while 164 others were injured.

Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, with 124 civilian casualties (33 killed, 91 injured), followed by Salahuddin with 12 killed and 26 injured, and Anbar with 11 killed and 22 injured.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over 3 million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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Iraqinews: Iraqi troops kill senior Islamic State leader, seven aides in Diyala

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi security forces launched on Wednesday a military operation to hunt for dormant Islamic State (IS) militants in Diyala governorate, managing to kill a senior leader along with seven of his aides, security sources were quoted as saying.

“Acting upon accurate intelligence reports, Iraqi troops killed Abu Nabil al-Iraqi, the mastermind of several terrorist attacks launched by Islamic State, and seven of his aides in a military operation in northeastern Diyala,” Shafaq News quoted the sources as saying.

Al-Iraqi, according to the sources, was in charge of “providing the militant group with financial and logistic support to target security forces in Diyala.”

In January 2015, Iraqi forces announced liberation of Diyala province from Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The province has seen months of fighting between Iraqi troops and IS militants especially in the Jalawla and Saadiyah areas in the province’s north and areas near the town of Muqdadiyah.

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NYT: Afghan Leaders Admit Civilians Were Killed in Anti-Taliban Bombing

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — A day after Afghan security forces killed or wounded more than 100 people in the bombing of a religious seminary where they said senior Taliban figures had gathered, officials on Tuesday admitted that civilians had been among the casualties.

For much of Monday, even as the bodies of wounded and dead civilians — including children — arrived at local hospitals, the Afghan government maintained that its airstrike in northern Kunduz Province had killed only Taliban leaders in a nonresidential area. Late Tuesday, the office of President Ashraf Ghani acknowledged the harm to civilians and said the bombing would be investigated.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said it was “actively looking into disturbing reports of serious harm to civilians,” and the Kunduz governor’s office said, “In these airstrikes, in addition to armed opposition, unfortunately some of our civilian countrymen have also been killed and wounded.”

The exact number of casualties resulting from the airstrikes, which occurred in the Dasht-e-Archi district, remained unclear. Afghan officials put the total at 57 to 70 dead. Some local officials believe the number to be higher.

Officials would not publicly say how many of those were civilians, but one senior security official said that about 35 percent of the dead were civilians — mostly children who were students at the seminary.

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Cost of War in Iraq>>

Cost of War in Afghanistan>>