US surge sees 600,000 more Iraqis abandon home

[FourScore]

US surge sees 600,000 more Iraqis abandon home
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 25 August 2007

The scale of the human disaster in the Iraq war has become clearer from statistics collected by two humanitarian groups that reveal the number of Iraqis who have fled the fighting has more than doubled since the US military build-up began in February.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Organisation said the total number of internally displaced has jumped from 499,000 to 1.1 million since extra US forces arrived with the aim of making the country more secure. The UN-run International Organisation for Migration says the numbers fleeing fighting in Baghdad grew by a factor of 20 in the same period.

These damning statistics reveal that despite much- trumpeted security improvements in certain areas, the level of murderous violence has not declined. The studies reveal that the number of Iraqis fleeing their homes ­ not intending to return ­ is far higher than before the US surge.

The flight is especially marked in religiously mixed areas of central Iraq, with Shia refugees heading south and Sunnis towards the west and north of the country.

Calling it the worst human displacement in Iraq's modern history, a report by the UN migration office suggests that the fierce fighting that has followed the arrival of new US troops is partly responsible.

The spectre of ethnic cleansing now hovers over the once relatively harmonious country. The UN found that 63 per cent of the Iraqis fled their neighbourhoods because of threats to their lives. More than 25 per cent said they fled after being thrown out of their homes at gunpoint...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2893884.ece

[bread_and_roses]

1. but Hillary says it's working! Get with the program!

I just love how all these signs of progress expounders never say anything about the hell we've unleashed on the inhabitants of Iraq....no hospitals, no water, no electricity, no food, no schools or doctors anymore, children blown to dismembered bits in markets, torture, and last I read, a while back, we were still continuing some sort of shelling of homes dismembering and incinerating even more children, in addition to those we manage to kill in Afghanistan in our "air strikes" or whatever....utter madness, but hey, it's progress, it's working, according to talking heads and candidates whose own children aren't being blown apart or dying from dysentery and cholera because there is no clean water. Working. Progress.
edit: typo

[bread_and_roses]

2. And here's another dose of reality for the depraved supporters of more killing

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/24/3385/

The Unending Humanitarian Nightmare
by Cesar Chelala

According to Jeremy Hobbs, director of Oxfam International: “The terrible violence in Iraq has masked the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Malnutrition among children has dramatically increased, and basic services, ruined by years of wars and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people. Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty.”

It is estimated that 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion. In 2006, more than 11 percent of newborn babies were born underweight, compared with 4 percent in 2003. Malnutrition contributes to death from other conditions such as intestinal and respiratory infections, malaria and typhoid. But the suffering doesn’t end there: 92 percent of Iraqi children have learning problems, a situation exacerbated by the widespread climate of fear in the country.

and this...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082307S.shtml

"Iraq Does Not Exist Anymore"
DemocracyNOW!

Nir Rosen: Iraq has been changed irrevocably, I think. I don't think Iraq even - you can say it exists anymore. There has been a very effective, systematic ethnic cleansing of Sunnis from Baghdad, of Shias - from areas that are now mostly Shia. ... Baghdad is now firmly in the hands of sectarian Shiite militias, and they're never going to let it go.

Amy Goodman: What do you think of Senator Levin calling for the Maliki and the whole government to disband?

Nir Rosen: Well, it's stupid for several reasons. First of all, the Iraqi government doesn't matter. It has no power. And it doesn't matter who you put in there. He's not going to have any power. Baghdad doesn't really matter, except for Baghdad. Baghdad used to be the most important city in Iraq, and whoever controlled Baghdad controlled Iraq. These days, you have a collection of city states: Mosul, Basra, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Irbil, Sulaymaniyah. Each one is virtually independent, and they have their own warlords and their own militias. And what happens in Baghdad makes no difference. So that's the first point.

Second of all, who can he put in instead? What does he think he's going to put in? Allawi or some secular candidate? There was a democratic election, and the majority of Iraqis selected the sectarian Shiite group Dawa, Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution, the Sadr Movement. These are movements that are popular among the majority of Shias, who are the majority of Iraq. So it doesn't matter who you put in there. And people in the Green Zone have never had any power. Americans, whether in the government or journalists, have been focused on the Green Zone from the beginning of the war, and it's never really mattered. It's been who has power on the street, the various different militias, depending on where you are - Sunni, Shia, tribal, religious, criminal. So it just reflects the same misunderstanding of Iraqi politics. The government doesn't do anything, doesn't provide any services, whether security, electricity, health or otherwise. Various militias control various ministries, and they use it as their fiefdoms. Ministries attack other ministries