989 killed in Iraq in July; most in five years

Hussein may have been a bastard, but he had it under control.

Then what did the U.S.A. do?

Shot up several hundred thousand people, removed their leader, totally devastated large areas of cities and cut out just when they were most needed.

Freedom and democracy?

My foot!

Just as well the mission was accomplished. Think how much worse it would have been if america failed in Iraq. Oh, wait a minute....

The Iraqi people owe a debt of gratitude for the successful democracy that has been imposed upon them.

What with Syrai imploding next door, it can only be a mateter of time before Iraq is split into at least 2, maybe even 3 seperate entities. US really did a stand up job of promoting peace and freedom here.

Syria is splitting up? I've only been hearing about Iraq recently. What's happening in Syria?

The Iraqi's do owe US and allies gratitude for removing a brutal dictator. The problem is that they don't know how to live without oppressive authority it seems. Its a shame, they have oil wealth and could have freedom and choose complete chaos.

"Hussein may have been a bastard, but he had it under control."

Yeah, it was paradise, all right.

"Then what did the U.S.A. do?

Shot up several hundred thousand people, removed their leader, totally devastated large areas of cities and cut out just when they were most needed."

When exactly were they most needed?

It's sad to see people who believe in the same God kill each other.

That's a lot of people. Children without parents. What's the point of being alive there? Sadness. Pain. Fear.

Surely this is not the highest number of deaths in five years.

According to this site:

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

The highest number of deaths was in January of 2007 - 2927 people.

It was a police state under Hussein but I guess you needed to make a choice to be anti-government to be tormented or killed. Nowadays it is just random - wrong place wrong time, bomb goes off., whatever. I think I might prefer option 1.

Hey, how is that shock and awe working out for you. Or that surge.

More deaths to add to the hundreds of thousands already that bush has tallied in his war based on lies. WMD that did not exist. Bush and the poodle Blair should be in jail for these crimes.

Democratic transitions should be slowly, step by step, mainly through establishing a secular education system and developing strong middle-income class. Besides totalitarian governments and militarist actions must not be supported or tolerated by world powers (As we witnessed during recent coup d'etat in Egypt)

War environment works only to extremists' advantages.

@zurcronium I agree - get Bush and Blair in the dock. Blair is suave and slimy but I'm convinced you could nail the half-witted Bush. I know some jurisdictions don't execute murderers if they have an extremely low IQ. Does anyone know if the International Court of Justice has any similar regulations?

Jimizo,

And while we're at it, let's get that slimeball Cheney in there too.

I wonder if Manning has any information on him that would bring him to justice.

"that slimeball Cheney"

What about all the slimeball Islamists who have been doing most of the killing?

@Serrano Punish the Islamists and punish the warmongers. Seems fair enough to me.

Serrano,

What about the Islamists, you ask.

Well, bit of a hard concept to grasp maybe, but it sort of was their country.

Imaging how apes**t Americans would have gone if Hussein had caused the same amount of carnage and collateral damage by invading the U.S.A.

Bush and Cheney started yelling that Hussein had WMDs, which he didn't and the UN inspectors said that he didn't, but Cheney even said in one interview that they knew where they were, they knew the exact locations. And that they had cadres in major cities all over the world, which they certainly didn't.

Even if Hussein had had WMDs, which he didn't, of course, but just imagine he had had them, why shouldn't he when everyone around him was armed to the teeth with WMDs?

Hussein had Iraq in some kind of balance, not a good one, but it was mostly working, living conditions weren't terrible, they were much better than now.

I wish Manning could throw some light on what really happened at this time.

Maybe he did, and maybe he gave documents to Wikileaks that give this information. And maybe that's what the incredible panic and secrecy is about.

I wonder.

@bertie

Hussein may have been a bastard, but he had it under control.

Oppressing 60% of the Iraqi Shiite population, slaughtering them, torturing them, not to mention his sons actually out did him in that regard. Uday, raping and the often killing the women afterwards, but yeah, Saddam had everything under lock and key and Iraq with the Entire Hussein family made Iraq a total utopia, silly me for thinking otherwise.

Then what did the U.S.A. do?

Got rid of a physo murderous tyrant and his sons.

Shot up several hundred thousand people, removed their leader, totally devastated large areas of cities and cut out just when they were most needed.

Sorry, for almost 30 years between the Shiite and the Kurds and the minority Christian population, Saddam and his thuggish sons did far worse.

Freedom and democracy?

Freedom

Bertie, you seem to never factor in the Sectarian violence between The Sunni minority that under Saddam controlled the majority Shiite population with and Iron fist. That was THE first and foremost reason as to why so many people got killed, but I know for people as yourself and liberals, you need a bogeyman to blame. I was there and I know for a fact, the US and allied forces were NOT the main cause for the disintegration of Iraq. If you want to call someone a slimeball, then you should call Saddam and his sons that.

bass4funk,

So you're saying that the U.S.A. invaded Iraq, killed hundreds of thousands, many of them non-combatants, trashed whole areas of cities because Hussein was a "physo(???) murderous tyrant?"

There have been murderous tyrants in many countries, a couple of notables being Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe. There was a horrendous situation in Uganda, far worse than Iraq ever was, but, strangely, that bastion of Freedom and Democracy, the U.S.A. didn't go near them.

I wonder if it's because they didn't have any oil.

You can't get away from the fact that Bush and the wrecking crew invaded Iraq based on lies.

We need a whistleblower like Manning to blow away the smokescreen so that these guys can be brought to justice.

Or it's going to get a whole lot worse!

@Bertie

So you're saying that the U.S.A. invaded Iraq, killed hundreds of thousands, many of them non-combatants, trashed whole areas of cities because Hussein was a "physo(???) murderous tyrant?"

I guess you have never fought in a war, but this might come as a big surprise, but in a war innocent will ALWAYS be killed. Iraq is no exception. Hussein posed a threat to the US, not to mention, had either one of his lunatic sons taken power it would have been far worse, but again, you want to blame the bogeyman which is the US, but I can tell you have NO idea about the various factions and the Sectarian violence between the Sunnis and Shiites. Of course, the Shiites wanted payback. Why is it that you don't show ANY outrage at what Saddam and the Sunnis were doing to the Shiites and other minority groups living in Iraq?

There have been murderous tyrants in many countries, a couple of notables being Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe.

Idi Amin? Ask the Israelis about Amin. He found out first hand what happens. Mugabe was inherently a problem of the British, what did they do, just cut ties with him and didn't care about what he did and still doing in his country. At least the IDF got Amin to leave in shame and exile like the coward he was.

There was a horrendous situation in Uganda, far worse than Iraq ever was, but, strangely, that bastion of Freedom and Democracy, the U.S.A. didn't go near them.

What in blazes are you talking about? What was going on in Uganda doesn't even come close to what was happening in Iraq. That is not to say, Amin wasn't a thug, he was, but comparing him to the Butcher of Baghdad? Hardly...

I wonder if it's because they didn't have any oil.

Sorry, most of the oil, the US gets is from Mexico, but Bertie as always, nice try. By the way, where is your outrage at the French for making secret deals with Iraq? They were bribed in Vetoing any military action against Iraq and Saddam promised to reward them handsomely with huge oil deals.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/10/france.iraq

I don't understand why people are opposed to leaders going on trial. No doubt for some it is politically motivated, but the sight of an ex-US President and ex-UK PM standing trial and being answerable for alleged war crimes would send out a powerful message and reduce resentment - nobody is above international law. It would also make future leaders think more carefully about sending servicepeople to their deaths and wasting taxpayer's money. Do people believe that the leaders of the major powers shouldn't be subject to the same laws governing others?

"989 killed in Iraq in July"

And there were about 13,000 killed in Venezuela in the past year.

The big question is, why was Saddam allowed to remain in power after he invaded Kuwait?