Iraqis dying in record numbers, fleeing: U.N.

[deminks]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-11-22T144615Z_01_L22909940_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-CASUALTIES.xml

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A country in chaos, a terrorized population under siege in neighborhoods polarized on sectarian lines or on the move in their hundreds of thousands to escape worsening violence. That was the picture of Iraq depicted in a new U.N. human rights report on Wednesday.

The report said the number of Iraqi deaths spiked in October in surging sectarian violence that has its epicenter in Baghdad, while more than 100,000 people are leaving Iraq every month and some 2 million have fled their homes since the 2003 invasion.

The report raised questions about the sectarian loyalties and effectiveness of Iraq's 300,000-strong U.S.-trained security forces ahead of next week's meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to discuss speeding up the handover of security control to Iraq.

"There are increasing reports of militias and death squads operating from within the police ranks or in collusion with them," it said. "Its forces are increasingly accused of ... kidnapping, torture, murder, bribery ... extortion and theft."

Mission accomplished, right Smirky?

[babylonsister]

1. I don't see how the US presence there is helping. No one's

stopping these atrocities; why are we there? Are we fueling the fire?
This is so sad; good job, dimson.

[saigon68]

2. Civil War ? (nothing to see)

(move along)

quietly please

[lapfog_1]

3. Mission not yet accomplished.

Another 90 percent to go. Get another 23 million people to leave and THEN it's mission accomplished.

:sarcasm:

"It's the oil, baby!"