Carnage in Iraq Off the Charts
Over at Antiwar.com, one of the very best sites for keeping track of global conflicts, there is posted today a stunning summary of the violence in Iraq over the past 24 hours. At least 263 people died —a total that likely understates the true toll. Next time someone tells you things in Iraq aren’t so bad, tell them this: thirteen bodies found in Baghdad, most tortured to death by sectarian death squads; twenty-four kidnapped from a meat processing plant and fourteen others from a computer store, presumed dead; seven headless bodies found in the Tigris River; thirty insurgents killed in an operation in Ramadi by U.S. and Iraqi forces; dozens of other scattered deaths in firefights, mortar attacks, and sectarian killings. Oh, and yesterday the Pentagon announced the deaths of ten U.S. and British troops. At least 17 U.S. troops have been killed since Saturday, including eight on Monday alone.
Each of those 182 living souls had family and friends. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands are mourning them today. And that goes on, day after day, in Iraq. Morgue records show that at least 3,000 people are dying every month in Iraq, victims of civil war.