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Jan 16, 2007, 11:30 GMT

UN: More than 34,000 civilians killed in Iraq in 2006


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Robert C., UtahJan 16th, 2007 - 12:13:49

What the hell? 34000 civilians last year alone?? And this is how the US Government brings peace. Seems like too high a price to pay for the lives lost in the US from the attacks that started all of this if you ask me

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Bin LadenJan 16th, 2007 - 12:14:29

That's the price of freedom as they say in America! MOHAHAHA

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Scott P.Jan 16th, 2007 - 12:15:31

I'd have to agree. I think it's time this slaughter is over.

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paoloJan 16th, 2007 - 12:18:32

34000 universes destroyed; and the others? the Lancet figure? All because some Wolfowitz, now quietly president of the Bank World had a 'docrtrine' to experiment, and some others on the contrary had interests? Is it the way the world is now governed?

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erfanJan 16th, 2007 - 12:22:02

r u sure that only Bush is responsible for that? this 'silence' is making me feel that we are either deff or ... whatever

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DuffmanJan 16th, 2007 - 12:39:31

Wait a minute, we're blaming the US troops for these deaths? The Iraqi insurgents are the ones killing Iraqis, NOT the Coalition forces. Quit letting the liberal media spoon-feed you the news that sells, and start thinking with your own brains for a change.

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anonJan 16th, 2007 - 12:49:47

To the above poster:

I'm not saying that all conservatives are stupid, but that all stupid people are conservatives.

Get an education and don't join the army!

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XaklyJan 16th, 2007 - 12:49:48

Ditto's Duffman!

Too many lemmings in the US voting booths last time around. Pull the troops out of Iraq to bring peace to the region? Maybe they believe that crime would go away too - if we just got rid of those police in our cities.

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dear mr. duffmanJan 16th, 2007 - 12:49:56

no, kind sir, 'the troops' didn't kill them and no one can seriously suggest that they did. our *government* killed them, as surely as if rymsfeld, wolfowitz , and cheney had pulled the trigger themselves.

you're a simple fool; the administration loves you.

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prJan 16th, 2007 - 12:51:09

Duffman...and anyone like you. Your defense of this and willingness to 'blame the media' is both deeply wrong and sickening. Don't you understand? It doesn't matter who is doing the killing. These deaths and the 600,000 before them and thousands that will follow are a direct result of our invasion. Would people have died if we did not invade? No question. We know beyond any doubt that Iraq was not a threat to America and we knew it 3 years ago. It's the incredible mismanagement of the war that has led to these deaths. A trillion dollars, 3000 Americans dead, over 22 thousand wounded for life with more to come.
At what point does it begin to dawn on you that it's not the media here that matters? It's the reality on the ground.

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LJan 16th, 2007 - 12:51:10

why is it that nobody is this world can put a stop to all the violence that is going on -

What are all these peace talks about - nothing is ever resolved -

What is the truth about the heads of state in each country

I believe if they truely wanted to bring peace it is possible but they must

remain totally selfless in thinking what they are going to get out of it and start thinking how the civillians can truley benefit and build a safer enviroment for all concerns concentrating on building the coutries who need help to a better econimically climate.

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milkchaserJan 16th, 2007 - 12:53:56

Bear in mind that Saddam was a prolific killer as well. Remember also that these numbers do not yet approach the slaughter of Tutsis by the Hutu in Rwanda, or the slaughter of South Vietnamese by North Vietnamese after US stopped funding arms for the South Vietnamese army and they were overrun by the thugs who enslave those people to this day.

Those who see the US as anything other than a force for good in Iraq are not thinking things through.

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wesley_GJan 16th, 2007 - 12:58:07

34,000; that's a tragic number of deaths. But, I wonder how many died annually under Sadaam. Is there any moral equivalency here?

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GraemeJan 16th, 2007 - 12:58:54

All you folks blaming the US for all these deaths are as twisted as those that are doing the killing in that country. This is Muslims killing Muslims is not ? Killing their Brothers and fellow crusaders against the Infidel. Or are they only this when it suits.

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Larry D Georgia USAJan 16th, 2007 - 13:01:33

No this is not peace. But these are the thugs the 'get out now' crowd wants to escape. The Shia are killing the Sunnis because al Queda incited them thru several years of muder & mayhem including the Samarra bombing early last year. The Sunnis are killing the Shia because the Shia are killing the Sunnis. Iran is funding & supporting both sides. Shia directly from Iran. Sunnis thru Syria. The 80-20 solution or US withdrawl is synonomous with genocide. The Shia will loose half a million men & slaughter a million or more Sunnis and the region could erupt into a regional war between Iran & Syria vs the Gulf Arab states of Jordon, Kuwait, & Saudi Arabia. Since 'we broke it we own it'. we have a moral responsibility to the Iraqis we liberated froim Saddam not to leave the country in this condition. I don't think Bush is sending enough troops again.

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Dave ThomasJan 16th, 2007 - 13:07:21

Is there any way I can compare the 2006 death figures to the 1996 and 1986 death figures when Saddam was in power. What is that you say? The UN didn't care about how many died in Iraq in 1986 or 1996 while Saddam was in power. It is so hard to understand why Shias and Kurds can't just move in next door to Sunnis who killed and maimed them for three decades like nothing ever happened. I guess no one at the UN remembers Rwanda where three-quarters of a million died in one year. I remember the body count figures pouring out of the UN then, tongue in cheek. I wonder how many died in the late 1940's during the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Did people expect Shias, Kurds, and Sunnis to get along and forget three bloody decades of Sunni rule under Saddam? There may not be many Sunnis left in Iraq in ten years. The population of Kurds and Shias sure decreased in the previous three decades. Human nature's appetite for revenge is a gruesome thing.

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Dave ThomasJan 16th, 2007 - 13:16:30

I surfed the web for a minute and found some nice historical perspective.

'The partition of India in 1947 was one of the great tragedies of the century. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in sectarian violence and military clashes, as Hindus fled to India and Muslims to Pakistan -- though large minorities remained in each country. The arrangement proved highly unstable, leading to three major wars between India and Pakistan, and very nearly a fourth fullscale conflict in 1998-99.'

Now anyone who wants to say that the sectarian Sunni-Shia-Kurd violence in Iraq is the fault of the United States and that Iraq was better under Saddam needs to wake up and smell what they are shoveling.

This type of payback-revenge sectarian violence is the result of three years of murderous rule by Saddam and his Sunni henchman. Pull your collective heads out of the sand if you don't see that.

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Larry D Georgia USAJan 16th, 2007 - 13:20:25

To PR your right these deaths would not have happened save we invaded Iraq but you are also right that other deaths would have. Between 1991 & 2003 Saddam created the top three man made ecological disasters the world has ever known 3.5 Billion barrels of oil dumped in the Gulf, burning the Kuwaiti oil fields releasing carcinogens en mass, draining the Iraqi Marshes [1993-1997 during the cease fire] starving 200,000 Marsh Arabs to death in the process. He had forced internal deportations to give the Sunnis more local representation arround the oil reserves. He kidnapped children & imprisoned them to gain leverage over their parents. He imprisoned political rivals and their entire extended families in order to tourture them to death slowly for his video collection. He had a special operations force that was instructed to use rape as a punishment for more minor political opponents. He slaughteed 300,000 Shia AFTER putting down the uprisings in 1993. Men, women, and children [including infants] were slaughtered alike. He gassed 50,000 Kurds. He took 20% of the Shia off the food roles and divered ALL of the electricity and claen water to Sunni neighborhoods in Iraq. He diverted UN Oil for Food money and prevented medicines and equipment that was allowed under the regime from getting to hospitals raising the infant mortality rate to 55 out of 100. By my count in the 12 years he was under sanctions he easily killed over 600,000 Iraqis. I wish that the Arab Iraqi Sunnis & Iraqi Shia would get a grip on their affairs the way the non-Arab Kurds have & build a better life for themselves instead of killing each other. But that doesn't mean I am willing to abandon the ones who want to do just that. The ones who participated in the elections, volunteer for military or police service or to serve in a government under constant threat of death from the two right wing reactionary branches of Islam [Shia & Sunni].

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RICHARD C,Jan 16th, 2007 - 13:30:39

Strange doctrime:
Here in the good old USA where the thieves break in your homes, driveby shootings occur everyday murderers prevail constantly, swindlers survive
church burners exits.so we the willing led by the unwilling are qualified to help others (others not our on) to have democracy...I say spend our Tax owned billions of dollars right here in the good old USA!!!! where 1,000s upon 1,000s
loose their lives frequently....

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critical thinkingJan 16th, 2007 - 16:08:39

Was the US invasion 'cause' of this slaughter?
Was the US invasion 'catalyst' of this slaughter?

If are unaware of any distinction between the quoted terms, or worse, sincerely adhere to the notion the invasion was the 'cause' of the slaughter - then please look up those words in the dictionary and attempt to understand the implications of your belief.

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