The Common Ills: UN says at least 2661 violent deaths in June, Parliament accomplishes nothing

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

UN says at least 2661 violent deaths in June, Parliament accomplishes nothing

Nouri al-Maliki continues his War Crimes as he continues to bomb residential areas of Falluja. In the six month long spree of War Crimes, Nouri has killed and wounded many. Alsumaria reports 1 person was killed and twelve more injured in the latest attack on Sunni civilians.

National Iraqi News Agency reports a Lakes Region of Alexandria roadside bombing left three Iraqi soldiers injured, Major General Jamil al-Shmmari says 13 suspects were killed in Mansuriyya, and air force bombings of Albu Hassan Village and Amerli Village left 30 people dead. All Iraq News notes a mortar attack on a Ramadi market left 4 people dead and six more injured, and security forces state they killed 50 suspects in Mosul.

The United Nations counts at least 2661 violent deaths in Iraq for the month of June:

Baghdad, 1 July 2014 - According to casualty figures released today by UNAMI, a total of at least 2,417 Iraqis were killed and another 2,287 were injured in acts of terrorism and violence in June*.

The number of civilians killed was 1,531 (including 270 civilian police), while the number of civilians injured was 1,763 (including 276 civilian police). A further 886 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed, and 524 were injured (not including casualties from Anbar operation).
“The staggering number of civilian casualties in one month points to the urgent need for all to ensure that civilians are protected. As large parts of the country remain under the control of ISIL and armed groups, it is imperative that national leaders work together to foil attempts to destroy the social fabric of Iraqi society”, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq said. “What can be achieved through a Constitutional political process cannot be achieved through an exclusively military response. Security must be restored, but the root causes of violence must be addressed”, he also stated.
Anbar excluded, Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 1,090 civilian casualties (375 killed, 715 injured), followed by Ninewa (470 killed, 327 injured), Salahadin (365 killed, 323 injured), Diyala (158 killed, 134 injured), Babil (92 killed, 99 injured), Kirkuk (58 killed, 83 injured).

*CAVEATS: Data do not take into account casualties of the current IA operation in Anbar, for which we report at the bottom the figures received by our sources.

Operations in Anbar
According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, the total civilian casualties in Anbar up to 29 June, inclusive, were 244 killed and 588 injured, with 91 killed and 268 injured in Ramadi, 124 killed and 224 injured in Fallujah, and 29 killed and 96 wounded in Al-Qaim.

For those confused, the UN is saying 2417 killed in 17 Iraqi provinces. When you add the 244 in Anbar to the 2417 you get 2661.

Today was supposed to be the big day to resolve everything political in Iraq via a session in Parliament. The US government is so hopelessly clueless.

All Iraq News reports 73 MPs failed to attend the session (255 did attend). Things did not improve. Alsumaria reports a fight quickly broke out between the Kurdistan Alliance and the National Alliance with the Kurds demanding the millions Baghdad has been denying them in federal reveunes. (Nouri's denied them their rightful share of the 2014 budget in an attempt to blackmail them into doing what he wants.)

Things had looked better earlier on -- former Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and former Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq arrived together. Thug Nouri, Iraqi National Alliance Ibrahim al-Jaafari, former vice president Khudir al-Khuzaiye and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Envoy Nickoly Mladenov arrived.

Alsumaria reports State of Law is insisting the problem was all the Sunni blocs and their proposing both al-Nujaifi and Salem al-Juburi for Speaker of Parliament. Osama al-Nujaifi held a press conference after the session and stated his bloc attended the session under the belief that the prime minister-designate would be named and that they have nor formerly made a nomination for Speaker of Parliament, that they were waiting to see who was named prime minister-designate before nominating anyone for Speaker of Parliament.

All Iraq News reports MP Mahdi al-Hafidh presided over this first session of Parliament since the April 30th elections.

The following community sites -- plus the Guardian, Black Agenda Report, Jake Tapper, Pacifica Evening News, Susan's On the Edge, Ms. magazine's blog, ACLU, OutFM and Jody Watley.