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TechnoratiThe 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.
The statistics were released as President George Bush's policy of staying the course in Iraq was under grave threat yesterday as the scale of the humanitarian disaster became clearer and a key Republican senator said that it was time to bring the troops home.
A dangerous rift has also emerged inside the US military between the high command, which says the strain the war is putting on the military endangers American security, and commanders on the ground who still say it is a winnable war.
For President Bush, the greatest danger may come from losing the support of Senator John Warner, one of the most influential Republicans in Congress on Iraq. Just back from a trip to the country, he bluntly told the President to start pulling troops out in time for Christmas. He did so as a damning new assessment was delivered by all 15 US intelligence agencies. Written by the CIA, it concluded that the government in Baghdad was "unable to govern effectively" and "will become more precarious" in the next six to 12 months, with little hope of reaching accommodation among political factions.
There was further bad news for the President overnight when it emerged that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is quietly advising that US forces in Iraq be halved by early next year. The advice, from Marine General Peter Pace, is a direct challenge to the White House and other senior military chiefs, in particular the man now running the war in Iraq, the Army General David Petraeus.
General Petraeus has told President Bush that forces in Iraq need to be kept higher than 100,000 troops well into next year. General Petraeus is widely expected to back the White House view that in the absence of political progress in Iraq, US troops need to be increased.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Los Angeles Times reports, were privately sceptical about the military "surge" ordered by President Bush. Although they backed the surge policy in public, the country's top generals and the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, believe the size of the US force in Iraq must be reduced so that the military can respond to other global threats.
2007 Independent News and Media Limited
8 Comments so far
Show AllRebelnow, also, I recall an article last week on pending war with Iran that had a huge outpouring of posters, I think it was in the hundreds of posts. People here are well aware of the stakes here and bless them, most actually try to DO something to help...
Also, I agree, I don't think we'll ever have irrefutable proof on 9/11 because that evidence was quickly hauled off and destroyed to be sure that would never happen.
If you think Iraq is bad, just wait for the next act - Iran.
Seriously, The US will demand legislation be passed by Iraqi parliament to turn Iraq's oil resource over to foreign multinationals as condition for drawing down.
Leave ? Not willingly, with the largest US Embassy complex ever and 4 huge permanent bases.
i read most of the 2371 posts at fisk's 9/11 article, and agree w/rebelnow. there's lots of mystery involved in 911, but we are not in a position to solve most of that stuff right now. it is enuff to know there are massive problems w/the accepted MSM 911 frame, and more important to know how 911 is being used to do stuff that is far, far worse than 911 ever could be. ok, so some people in the gov't orchestrated 9-11. or knew about it. or they didn't. in any case, iraq is being destroyed. you don't need a 911 conspiracy to demonstrate the monstrous criminality of the US gov't.
Thanks Kristina. What angers me about the 911 debate is the amount of energy that goes into trying to prove things that, though there may be some merit to it all, may take many, many, years to clear up, if ever. Meanwhile very serious pressing issues seem to be ignored, or rarely commented on, such as the impending attack on Iran. The 911 debate, as I write, is still raging on over at the Fisk article.
It's as if, while a forest fire rages out of control, they are all trying to prove which arsonists may have started it, and with what accomplices, and with what devices. Fine, but it does us no good now while the fire is rapidly spreading and threatening the entire planet. Everyones energy needs to stay focused on stopping it now.
The proof of the governments complicity in 911 may take many years and may never be found, meanwhile we have all the proof we need that Dick and company are about to launch an attack on Iran which could easily ignite a third world war with devastating consequences. If that happens there will be no more debates, about anything.
rebelnow, I know what you are saying but I think for some the 9/11 issue is the beginning of it all. If it were not for 9/11 the Iraq "War" would never have been allowed to be waged. It's the key to exposing these fools for the conniving bastards they really are.
It's sad how little outrage is posted here under this headline. Seems everyone is still being distracted by the 911 controversy. The last I looked there were nearly 90 posts under Robert Fisk's article today. The fascists running our government have done a masterful job of keeping people distracted from their own terrorist agenda, "yes, keep them obsessed with 911, meanwhile set those nuke buttons to "on",,,, Iran here we come".
Come on all you killjoys; Give war a chance. The Christ anointed fucking war criminal, serial killer frat boy says the surge is working; who are we to question? We didn't care when he declared war. We were so shocked about torture. We pray and mope around when every one of our little defenders of our freedom dies. Oh, have to go now; American Idol is back from commercial.
The US has very effectively made Iraq into a 4th world country. We broke it and Bushit and his military do not know how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I am ashamed to be a US ccitizen at the deeds this administration has done with the consent of a compliant Congress.