Latest human rights report from Iraq reveals a nightmare

The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq released their latest report earlier this month, relaying a grim vision of the violence and deaths that are part of daily life in Iraq since our invasion. The report covers a wide range of human rights issues in the period from April – June of this year:

• Killings of civilians in airstrikes by the US-led forces and by guns-for-hire like Blackwater, followed by “investigations” whose results are not released to the public (page 9)
• The status of women, who are targeted for honor killings and other violence (page 14)
• Imprisonment of people — in some cases for months without charges (page 20)
• Bombs and other killings in Iraq’s civil war (page 7)
• Over 100 executions of Iraqis since the installation of the new US-approved government (page 32)

The report is hard to read… but, I suppose, not as hard as it is to live. It’s no wonder, that some people would insist that our government leaders who have planned this occupation and continue to prolong it, such as Condaleeza Rice, are war criminals.