Iraq War:
Four disastrous years for the Iraqis

Aug 6, 2007

In July, 2,000 Iraqi civilians died, making it the second deadliest month for Iraqis this year.

This war has created a desperate situation for the Iraqi population. But with the "surge," it's much more common for a family to have their home broken into. More men, and sometimes women, are taken away for "interrogation" – which means torture. And increasingly, U.S. soldiers commit atrocities against ordinary Iraqis – the inevitable consequence of occupying a country whose population doesn't want you.

Living conditions for most Iraqis are horrible. The news media recently reported that much of Baghdad hasn't had running water for two weeks, except for two hours at night. Even then, the water is contaminated and causes illness even after being boiled. And during the summer in Iraq, temperatures sometimes reach 120 degrees!

There were problems with drinking water supplies in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq even before the U.S. invasion – caused mostly by years of U.S. bombing of water treatment plants and the embargo of materials needed to repair the damage. But the situation has gotten much worse over the last four years and five months. Today almost three-quarters of the population has no safe drinking water, up from about half at the time of the U.S. invasion.

A British humanitarian organization reported recently on organizations trying to provide relief services to people in Iraq. Among their findings:

  • Roughly one million Iraqis have died as the result of the U.S. invasion and occupation.
  • About four million Iraqis have been driven from their homes, with about half living in refugee camps and shelters in other countries in the Middle East and half in camps in Iraq.
  • 90 per cent of hospitals lack adequate equipment and medicine.
  • The majority of Iraqis now live in poverty, with 43 per cent trying to survive on less than a dollar a day.

These are only some of the consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

U.S. troops, out of Iraq now!