perhaps inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi civilian population, primarily women and children [... now we import bullets to keep up]

The Cakewalk War: "The Cakewalk War | By Paul Craig Roberts

09/20/05 'ICH' -- -- The 'cakewalk war' is now two and one-half years old. US casualties (dead and wounded) number 20,000. As 20,000 is the number of Iraqi insurgents according to US military commanders, each insurgent is responsible for one US casualty.

US troops in Iraq number about 150,000. Obviously, US troops have not inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi insurgents. US troops have perhaps inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi civilian population, primarily women and children who are the 'collateral damage' of the 'righteous' and 'virtuous' US invasion that is spreading civilian deaths all over Mesopotamia in the name of democracy.

What could the US have possibly done to give America a worse name than to invade Iraq and murder its citizens?

According to the September 1 Manufacturing & Technology News, the Government Accounting Office has reported that over the course of the cakewalk war, the US military’s use of small caliber ammunition has risen to 1.8 billion rounds. Think about that number. If there are 20,000 insurgents, it means US troops have fired 90,000 rounds at each insurgent.

Very few have been hit. We don’t know how many. To avoid the analogy with Vietnam, until last week the US military studiously avoided body counts. If 2,000 insurgents have been killed, each death required 900,000 rounds of ammunition.

The combination of US government owned ammo plants and those of US commercial producers together cannot make bullets as fast as US troops are firing them. The Bush administration has had to turn to foreign producers such as Israel Military Industries. Think about that. Hollowed out US industry cannot produce enough ammunition to defeat a 20,000 man insurgency."

Iraq: [if any are proven] agents of the Crusaders: 152 people and wounded 542

Al-Qaida in Iraq declares all-out war - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "Following attacks that killed over 150, al-Zarqawi announces war intentions | MSNBC News Services | Updated: 7:48 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital Wednesday, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq purportedly declared all out war on Shiite Muslims, Iraqi troops and the country's government in an audio tape released on Internet.

Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, which killed at least 152 people and wounded 542, targeted at laborers assembled to find work for the day.

The bloodiest attack killed at least 88 people and wounded 227 in the heavily Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah where the day laborers had gathered shortly after dawn.
...
The speaker on the released audio tape, introduced as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said his militant forces would attack any Iraqi it believes has cooperated with an ongoing U.S.-led offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.

"If proven that any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army are agents of the Crusaders, they will be killed and his house will demolished or burnt — after evacuating all women and children — as a punishment," the voice said in the new tape, which surfaced on an Internet site known for carrying extremist Islamist content. ...

“100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq: A Story of Media Spin,” ... inclusion of Falluja would certainly put the Iraqi death toll well above 100,000.

"Media Spin" on Civilian Iraqi Deaths: "'His Study Shows Numbers Have Increased Dramatically Since U.S. Invasion of Iraq | By Sarah Lozo | 09/02/05 'ICH'

Johns Hopkins University professor Les Roberts addressed the Hamilton community in a talk titled, “100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq: A Story of Media Spin,” on Thursday, Sept. 1. Roberts, an associate professor at Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Relations, presented the under-published and often misrepresented findings of a study that he conducted along with other researchers from Hopkins and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

The results of Roberts’s study indicate that Iraqi civilian deaths have risen drastically since the United States invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In the 14 months prior to the invasion, 46 deaths occurred in about 1,000 households surveyed, compared to 142 after the invasion; Iraqis, he said, were 2.5 times more likely to die after the war began. Whereas most deaths before the invasion were attributable to heart attacks, strokes, and other ailments, most deaths after it were the result of violence. Moreover, Roberts reported that the coalition was responsible for 84% of these violent deaths.

Relating these numbers to the general Iraqi population, researchers estimated that, if the city of Falluja is left out of calculations, there is a 50% chance that the death toll is below 100,000, and a 50% chance that it is above 100,000. The inclusion of Falluja, according to Roberts, would certainly put the Iraqi death toll well above 100,000. In contrast, Roberts said, most news sources report and most American people believe that the death toll is less than half of this number."

Roberts noted that this discrepancy is based on the American media’s efforts to downplay Iraqi deaths. In Europe, Roberts reported, the findings of this study made the front pages of most major newspapers; in comparison, the study’s results appeared on page A8 of the New York Times and on page 12 of the Washington Post. European news sources provided in-depth analysis and substantial details of the study, while U.S. media coverage was only moderate. Moreover, the study’s publication in the U.S. provoked an outpouring of spin articles that led the American public to disregard the study as invalid.

816 people were crushed to death or drowned today in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge triggered by fears [of] a suicide bomber

outlookindia.com | wired: "816 killed in Baghdad bridge stampede | BAGHDAD, AUG 31 (AFP)

At least 816 people were crushed to death or drowned today in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge triggered by fears a suicide bomber was among vast crowds of Shiite pilgrims massed for a religious ceremony.

Iraq authorities said the tragedy, which unfolded after a deadly mortar attack on a Shiite shrine, was a 'terrorist' act by toppled dictator Saddam Hussein's loyalists and Al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zaqrqawi.

A security official said 816 were killed and 323 injured in the crush of panicked pilgrims, adding: 'We are still recovering bodies from the river.'"

US air strike early on Tuesday near the Iraqi western town of Qaim killed 56 civilians, said an Interior Ministry source.

Xinhua - English: "56 civilians killed in US air strike west of Baghdad | www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-30 21:25:17

BAGHDAD, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The US air strike early on Tuesday near the Iraqi western town of Qaim killed 56 civilians, said an Interior Ministry source.

'We have information that the US aircraft pounded areas near the town of Qaim near the Syrian border, destroying four houses and killing a total of 56 people,' the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Sixteen people were killed in one of the houses, which was leveled in the attack, he said, adding 40 others were killed in a second house, where three families gathered.

Only two boys aged eight and ten survived in the second house, he added.

A US military spokesman said that its aircraft shelled suspectedal-Qaida hideouts near Qaim, killing several militants, including Abu Islam.

'There was a total of three strikes targeting terrorist safe houses and Abu Islam and several of his associates were killed,' said the spokesman in Baghdad.

Earlier, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television reported that the US aircraft carried out strikes on villages near Qaim, killing more than 40 people and wounding dozens."

Another Reuters Staffer Killed by U.S. Forces in Iraq: "They treated us like dogs. ... They made us [wounded] sit in the sun on the road"

Another Reuters Staffer Killed by U.S. Forces in Iraq: "Published: August 28, 2005 2:25 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) A Reuters Television soundman was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday and a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers. Iraqi police said they had been shot by U.S. forces. A U.S. military spokesman said the incident was being investigated.

Waleed Khaled, 35, was hit by a shot to the face and at least four to the chest as he drove to check a report from
police sources of an incident involving police and gunmen in the Hay al-Adil district, in the west of the city.
...
"I heard shooting, looked up and saw an American sniper on the roof of the shopping centre," cameraman Kadhem, who was
wounded in the back, told colleagues who arrived at the scene.

The only known eyewitness, he was later detained by U.S. troops and was still in custody six hours later despite Reuters' requests that he be freed to receive medical attention. His precise whereabouts were not clear.

Two Iraqi colleagues who arrived on the scene minutes after the shooting were also briefly detained, then released.

"They treated us like dogs. They made us ... including Khaled who was wounded and asking for water, sit in the sun on the road," Reuters Television soundman Mohammed Idriss said.

Kurds pave way for Iraq charter approval, 35 dead in attacks

Kurds pave way for Iraq charter approval, 35 dead in attacks - Yahoo! News: "Wed Aug 24, 1:57 PM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Efforts to push through war-torn Iraq's constitution received a boost after the autonomous Kurdistan parliament approved the charter even as Sunni Arabs kept up their opposition.

As political events unfolded, at least 35 people were killed in rebel attacks across central and northern Iraq."

Gunfights erupt in Iraqi capital: 17 dead, 53 wounded

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gunfights erupt in Iraqi capital: "

At least 17 people have been killed and dozens injured as gun battles erupted in the Iraqi capital following a suicide car bomb attack on police.

After the bomber struck, up to 40 masked gunman opened fire with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

Three police officers were among the dead in Baghdad and at least 53 people were injured, police told the BBC."

July was the bloodiest month in Baghdad's modern history: 1,100 bodies -- executed for the most part, eviscerated, stabbed, bludgeoned, tortured

Independent Online Edition > Robert Fisk : app4: "Secrets of the morgue: Baghdad's body count By Robert Fisk | Published: 17 August 2005

Bodies of 1,100 civilians brought to mortuary in July
Pre-invasion, July figure was typically less than 200
Last Sunday alone, the mortuary received 36 bodies
Up to 20 per cent of the bodies are never identified
Many of the dead have been tortured or disfigured

The Baghdad morgue is a fearful place of heat and stench and mourning, the cries of relatives echoing down the narrow, foetid laneway behind the pale-yellow brick medical centre where the authorities keep their computerised records. So many corpses are being brought to the mortuary that human remains are stacked on top of each other. Unidentified bodies must be buried within days for lack of space - but the municipality is so overwhelmed by the number of killings that it can no longer provide the vehicles and personnel to take the remains to cemeteries.

July was the bloodiest month in Baghdad's modern history - in all, 1,100 bodies were brought to the city's mortuary; executed for the most part, eviscerated, stabbed, bludgeoned, tortured to death. The figure is secret."

22 US soldiers were killed last week in Iraq, bringing the total to 1,853 dead and 13,877 wounded.

Santa Monica Mirror: "22 Soldiers Died Last Week in Iraq | August 17 - 23, 2005

22 US soldiers were killed last week in Iraq, bringing the total to 1,853 dead and 13,877 wounded."

As of Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005, at least 1,853 military dead

A Daily Look at Military Deaths in Iraq - Yahoo! News: "By The Associated Press Sun Aug 14, 5:42 PM ET

As of Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005, at least 1,853 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,431 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians.

Iraqis say 15 dead [and 17 wounded] after military shooting -- but U.S. denies

International news from swissinfo, the Swiss news platform: "August 13, 2005 12:20 PM

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - An attack on a U.S. military patrol followed by U.S. gunfire left 15 Iraqis dead and 17 wounded in a town west of Baghdad, residents said on Saturday, but the U.S. military said it was not responsible.

Residents of Nasaf, a town just outside the city of Ramadi, said a roadside bomb exploded next to a U.S. armoured patrol as it passed near the Ibn al-Jawzi mosque shortly after prayers on Friday.

They said U.S. troops opened fire immediately after the explosion, shooting towards people emerging from the mosque.

Munem Aftan, the director of Ramadi General Hospital, said 15 people were killed, including eight children, and 17 wounded.

Pools of blood lay on the steps outside the mosque, and bullet holes marked its walls.

But the U.S. military said its troops had not been involved in any firing in the area.

"U.S. forces were not involved in any shooting incident in eastern Ramadi or anywhere near a mosque," Captain Jeffrey Pool, a spokesman for the Marines in Ramadi, said in an e-mail reply to written questions. ...

Excite News

Excite News: "Seven Marines killed in Iraq, toll passes 1,800 | Aug 2, 2:38 PM (ET) | By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Seven American Marines have been killed in fighting in Iraq's western Anbar province, the guerrilla heartland which keeps challenging U.S. and Iraqi troops despite repeated security crackdowns.
...
The attacks push the number of U.S. troops to have died since the start of the war in March 2003 to above 1,800, according to a Reuters count based on information provided by the Pentagon. ...

Survivors of a suicide bombing targeting Iraqi army recruits were shot and wounded immediately afterward when U.S. and Iraqi soldiers opened fire

bakersfield.com | World: "Officials: Blast survivors hit by gunfire | By SINBAD AHMED, Associated Press Writer | Posted: Saturday July 30th, 2005, 1:48 PM | Last Updated: Sunday July 31st, 2005, 7:11 AM

RABIAH, Iraq (AP) - Some survivors of a suicide bombing targeting Iraqi army recruits were shot and wounded immediately afterward when U.S. and Iraqi soldiers opened fire at the scene, police, doctors and witnesses said Saturday.

The bomber wandered into a crowd of Iraqis waiting Friday to enlist in the army and detonated his explosives, said police and witnesses to the attack in this northern town near the Syrian border. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility in a statement posted on the Internet.

After the blast, U.S. and Iraqi troops opened fire believing they were under attack, Rabiah's police chief, Col. Yahya al-Shammari, told The Associated Press.

He said some of the army recruits were killed by the gunfire, although it was unclear how many because dead and wounded were taken to several hospitals across a wide area of northern Iraq.

He said the death toll from the suicide attack had risen to 52 dead and 93 injured by late Saturday.

Innocent civilians ... are increasingly being killed by U.S. troops: "The reason they shot us is just because the Americans are reckless,"

Shots to the Heart of Iraq: "Shots to the Heart of Iraq | By Richard C. Paddock, Times Staff Writer | July 25, 2005

# Innocent civilians, including people who are considered vital to building democracy, are increasingly being killed by U.S. troops.

BAGHDAD — Three men in an unmarked sedan pulled up near the headquarters of the national police major crimes unit. The two passengers, wearing traditional Arab dishdasha gowns, stepped from the car.

At the same moment, a U.S. military convoy emerged from an underpass. Apparently believing the men were staging an ambush, the Americans fired, killing one passenger and wounding the other. The sedan's driver was hit in the head by two bullet fragments.

The soldiers drove on without stopping.

This kind of shooting is far from rare in Baghdad, but the driver of the car was no ordinary casualty. He was Iraqi police Brig. Gen. Majeed Farraji, chief of the major crimes unit. His passengers were unarmed hitchhikers whom he was dropping off on his way to work.

"The reason they shot us is just because the Americans are reckless," the general said from his hospital bed hours after the July 6 shooting, his head wrapped in a white bandage. "Nobody punishes them or blames them."

Angered by the growing number of unarmed civilians killed by American troops in recent weeks, the Iraqi government criticized the shootings and called on U.S. troops to exercise greater care.

U.S. officials have repeatedly declined requests to disclose the number of civilians killed in such incidents. Police in Baghdad say they have received reports that U.S. forces killed 33 unarmed civilians and injured 45 in the capital between May 1 and July 12 — an average of nearly one fatality every two days. This does not include incidents that occurred elsewhere in the country or were not reported to the police. ...

Suicide Bomber Strikes Baghdad Police Station : 22 - 40 dead, dozens wounded. 500lb bomb

Suicide Bomber Strikes Baghdad Police Station - New York Times: "By EDWARD WONG | Published: July 24, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 24 - A suicide truck bomb exploded at a police station today in the middle of a raging sandstorm in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens of others, Iraqi officials said. The attack came on a day when Sunni Arab leaders involved in drafting the new constitution were in negotiations over an end to their boycott of the process.

The American military said it had received reports of at least 40 deaths in the explosion.

The bomb struck in the early afternoon, as a sandstorm swirled around the capital, cloaking buildings and streets with a thick layer of grit. The driver of the truck, loaded with 500 pounds of explosives, rammed into concrete barricades outside the station before the vehicle burst into a ball of fire, incinerating people standing nearby and peppering them with shrapnel, witnesses said. Many of the victims were believed to be police officers.

Three days of suicide bombs leave 150 dead ... more than 260 wounded

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Three days of suicide bombs leave 150 dead: "Michael Howard in Irbil | Monday July 18, 2005 | The Guardian

Iraq's fledgling government stood accused of leaving its citizens defenceless yesterday after a devastating three days of suicide attacks left at least 150 people dead and more than 260 wounded."

At least 58 killed, 86 hurt by bomb south of Baghdad

IC Publications: "16/07/2005 18:41 BAGHDAD (AFP) | At least 58 killed, 86 hurt by bomb south of Baghdad

At least 58 people were killed and 86 wounded in a powerful bomb attack Saturday evening close to a mosque in Al-Musayyib, 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of the capital, an interior ministry official said.

A bomb was believed to have been put on a petrol tanker, which blew up, setting neighbouring houses on fire, the official said.

A suicide attack every day in the new Iraq since the announcement of a new government

FT.com / Home UK - A suicide attack every day in the new Iraq: By Neil MacDonald in Baghdad | Published: July 14 2005 19:48 | Last updated: July 14 2005 19:48

Suicide bomb attacks in Iraq have averaged at least one per day since the announcement of a new government in April, according to data gathered by the US military."

8 Months After U.S.-Led Siege, Insurgents Rise Again in Falluja - New York Times

8 Months After U.S.-Led Siege, Insurgents Rise Again in Falluja - New York Times: "By EDWARD WONG | Published: July 15, 2005

FALLUJA, Iraq, July 12 - Transformed into a police state after last winter's siege, this should be the safest city in all of Iraq.

Thousands of American and Iraqi troops live in crumbling buildings here and patrol streets laced with concertina wire. Any Iraqi entering the city must show a badge and undergo a search at one of six checkpoints. There is a 10 p.m. curfew.

But the insurgency is rising from the rubble nevertheless, eight months after the American military killed as many as 1,500 Iraqis in a costly invasion that fanned anti-American passions across Iraq and the Arab world. ...

Iraq Suicide Blast Targeting U.S. Troops Kills 24 Children

Iraq Suicide Blast Targeting U.S. Troops Kills 24 Children: "By Borzou Daragahi and Raheem Salman, Times Staff Writers | July 14, 2005

BAGHDAD — The U.S. soldiers had come Wednesday morning to search for explosives in a neighborhood packed with children.

Instead, a suicide bomber found them.

In the deadliest insurgent attack in Iraq in more than two months and the most lethal one involving children since September, an explosives-filled SUV killed at least 27 Iraqis and an American soldier.

About two dozen of the dead were youngsters who had been playing near U.S. soldiers at an impromptu checkpoint in Jadida, a lower-class residential district of low-lying buildings and rotting water mains populated by Shiites, Sunnis and Christians.

The children were taking candy from the U.S. soldiers at the time of the blast. ....

100,000 Iraqi Civilian Deaths in 28 Months: US troops killed 39,000 civilians since the beginning of the war

100,000 Iraqi Civilian Deaths in 28 Months: "By Cihan News Agency |
07/13/05 'Turkish Weekly' - -

The US invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime has cost 100,000 Iraqi civilian lives.

An international research organization in Switzerland said US troops killed 39,000 civilians since the beginning of the war.

The organization indicated there were far more civilian casualties than the number announced as the 'Iraqi Body Count.' US troops' direct fire or clashes have claimed 39,000 Iraqi civilians' lives.

With suicide attacks and other accidents, the death toll amounts to 100,000 civilian dead in 28 months. The number of the losses of US and other coalition forces for the same period is 1,937. "

Iraqi humanitarian organization is reporting that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003.

World Peace Herald: "raqi civilian casualties | By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL | Published July 12, 2005

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi humanitarian organization is reporting that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003.

Mafkarat al-Islam reported that chairman of the 'Iraqiyun humanitarian organization in Baghdad, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani, said that the toll includes everyone who has been killed since that time, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women and children aged 12 and under. "

'Iraqiyun obtained data from relatives and families of the deceased, as well as from Iraqi hospitals in all the country's provinces. The 128,000 figure only includes those whose relatives have been informed of their deaths and does not include those were abducted, assassinated or simply disappeared.

The number includes those who died during the U.S. assaults on al-Fallujah and al-Qa'im. 'Iraqiyun's figures conflict with the Iraqi Body Count public database compiled by Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies. According to the Graduate Institute of International Studies' database, 39,000 Iraqis have been killed as a direct result of combat or armed violence since March 2003. No official estimates of Iraqi casualties from the war have been issued by the Pentagon, which insists that it does not do "body counts." The Washington Post on July 12 reported that U.S. military deaths in Iraq now total 1,755.

Iraqi UN Ambassador Seeks Probe of U.S. Marines killing of his 21-year-old cousin 'in cold blood'

Iraqi Seeks Probe of Killing: "By Colum Lynch | Washington Post Staff Writer | Saturday, July 2, 2005; Page A19

UNITED NATIONS, July 1 -- Iraq's U.N. ambassador Friday accused U.S. Marines of killing his 21-year-old cousin 'in cold blood' during a June 25 raid in a village in the Sunni Muslim-dominated province of Anbar.

Samir S.M. Sumaidaie called on the United States to investigate the death of Mohammed Sumaidaie in 'a credible and fair way to ensure that justice is done.' He said the killing represents a 'betrayal' of Iraqi and U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq on a foundation of 'freedom, democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law.'"

More than 8,000 Iraqis killed in insurgent attacks - 12,000 wounded

CNN.com - More than�8,000 Iraqis killed�in insurgent attacks - Jun 30, 2005: "Spokesman: Reliance on car bombs a 'distinctive shift' | Thursday, June 30, 2005 Posted: 2009 GMT (0409 HKT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgent attacks in the last six months have killed more than 8,000 Iraqi civilians, police and troops, according to Iraq's interior minister.
...
In an interview with CNN, Iraqi Interior Minister Baqir Jabbur said "terrorists" had killed 8,175 people and wounded another 12,000 since January 2005.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, there have been 307 U.S. fatalities in combat during the same period.
...
Unofficial estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths during the Iraq war range from about 22,000 -- according to the Web site iraqbodycount.net -- to about 100,000 -- from an independent survey reported in The Washington Post. The Pentagon does not give numbers for civilian deaths in Iraq.