Five years of carnage and despair in Iraq

Iraqi men crying after Iraqi-US raid, Sadr City,
Baghdad, 8 October 2007 © APGraphicsBank

Aftermath of suicide bomb blast, Baghdad, Iraq,
10 March 2008 © APGraphicsBank

Iraqi police search people at checkpoint,
Iskandariya, Iraq © APGraphicsBank
Five years after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraq remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights, Amnesty International said on 17 March 2008.
A new report, Carnage and Despair, says attacks and sectarian killings by armed groups, torture and ill-treatment by Iraqi Government forces and the continuing detention of thousands of suspects by U.S. and Iraqi forces have had a devastating impact, causing more than four million Iraqis to be displaced from their homes. Many of the detainees are held without charge or trial, some for several years.
Millions of dollars have been spent on security but today two out of three Iraqis still have no access to safe drinking water and almost one in three of the population - some eight million people - need emergency aid to survive.
"Saddam Husseins administration was a byword for human rights abuse," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty Internationals Director for the Middle East and North Africa, "but its replacement has brought no respite at all for the Iraqi people".
Thousands of people have been killed or maimed, and communities that formerly lived in relative harmony have been propelled into open conflict. Civilians have born the heaviest brunt. For many women, now at risk from religious militants, conditions have actually deteriorated compared with the time of Saddam Hussein.
According to the report, even in the relatively peaceful Kurdish region of northern Iraq, economic improvement has not been accompanied by greater respect for human rights.
"Arbitrary arrests, detentions and torture continue to be reported even from the Kurdish provinces," said Malcolm Smart, "and peaceful political dissent is scarcely tolerated. Political opponents have been detained without trial and so-called 'honour crimes', in which women are killed by members of their families, remain a deep-seated problem which the authorities criticise but have failed to address adequately".
No-one knows exactly how many people have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. According to the largest survey, carried out jointly by the World Health Organisation and the Iraqi Government and published last January, more than 150,000 people had been killed by June 2006. The UN reported that almost 35,000 people were killed in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available.
The continuing problem of insecurity has hampered efforts to restore order, but even when the Iraqi authorities have been in a position to uphold human rights, they have largely failed to do so. Trials are routinely unfair with convictions on evidence allegedly obtained under torture, and hundreds of people have been sentenced to death.
"This is one of the most worrying aspects for the future," said Malcolm Smart. "Even when faced with overwhelming evidence of torture under their watch, the Iraqi authorities have failed to hold the perpetrators to account - and the U.S. and its allies have failed to demand that they do so."
Read Amnesty International's report - Carnage and Despair.
Comments
Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact the web editor.
The people from North-America is audacious. But can’t harden yours hearts and minds… My point of view: is imperative to react! Young people can’t be dispatched(?) to death in the name of the a foreign transitory policy that is a insult for human rights… Torture, invasion, abuse. They - Iraqui population - are suffering horriblely so as the young people of North-America and his family too.
comment by:
Lúcia Nunes
26/03/2008
09:12 AM
Please, my english is very limited. It’s incredible that the Bush Government don’t know it’s a mistake. It’s as plain as the nose on our
face. I live in Latin-American. I’m sorry about it situation for the Iraqui people. The North-American population have been so sad lately… The Brazilian democracy have “imperfectiveness” - unprincipled statesman… Lets’go! Everything is possible into civil low, in the name of the God and the peace. Yourselves have to try to solve the problem, even if it’s hard. Dont’t give up! Is urgent to stop these all death! Best regards.
Lúcia Nunes.
comment by:
Lúcia Nunes
26/03/2008
05:25 AM
This massive killing has to stop, too many have suffered and continue suffering. We must be for peace and do all we can to convince leaders that wars and abuse are senseless destruction. People in the world all have rights and deserve to live without fear.
comment by:
Anna B Rasztabiga
23/03/2008
02:47 PM
I am keen to write protest letters about human rights issues, but don’t know how to access this option. Could you help me, please?
Suzanne Ferris
comment by:
suzanne ferris
21/03/2008
05:44 PM
How often must we hear Bush say “we will win the war”? It began as a war against Iraq by the Americans, and America wants to claim victory. But what about the Iraqi people. Wasn’t this about them to begin with? Wasn’t this war staged in the name of democracy for the Iraqi people? It began with a lie about weapons of mass destruction, and continues with lies about wanting to ‘free a nation from dictatorship’. The only dictator I see now is Bush. His own country is in tatters, on the brink of recession...because he is a war monger. What about all the American people forced to suffer under the Bush dictatorship. And when do the Iraqi people have the chance to say ‘enough is enough’. Shame on the USA, and shame on the rest of the world for supporting such a sham.
comment by:
Monica Shore
21/03/2008
10:54 AM
Dear Secretary of State,
Martin Luther King wrote..."Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend”
Iraq lies in tatters...the sooner you take your troops out and then inject
massive restoration funds for the infrastructure {electricity, hospitals, water, sewage etc}
that your bombing etc has destroyed, the sooner peace will occur.
Let the Iraqi’s rule Iraq.... that is inevitable anyway.... they will do it their way and in their own time…
long after you have pulled out.
You cannot nuke anyone into democracy...cannot you see the inherent and fatal contradiction?
Read Luther’s quote above.
Make sure you Americans uphold the declaration of Human rights in Iraq otherwise all your positive rhetoric
will be as plutonium blowing in the wind.
Rev’d Sid Rogers
Australia
comment by:
Sid Rogers
21/03/2008
12:04 AM
WMDs??? No. War on terror? And WHO are the terrorists? How many Iraqis civilians have been killed, and how many American troops? Saddam Hussein has been killed - a horrible dictator that treated his own people terribly - but let’s not forget who supported and financed Hussein to wage war on Iran for 9 years! The “freedom-loving” Americans! Yes, it is “truth and justice in the American way”. And can somebody tell me what happened to Bin Laden? Where is HE in all this? The situation in Iraq is turning into another Vietnam… one day, the Americans will have no choice but to tuck their tail between their legs and leave quietly. And what was it all for? How sad… Nobody has “won” anything.
comment by:
maha
20/03/2008
11:18 PM
bush is the devel .he alone should clean iraq .blood on his hands ..a dangers man in washington .his time is soon up .lets hope ..that that the mac can clown does not win.
comment by:
udo
20/03/2008
09:05 PM
bush is the war criminal but nobody holds him accountable in the usa for his mass murder in iraq by his troops .the devels advocate g.ww bush....h..larkin.hannover
comment by:
horst
20/03/2008
09:01 PM
This war began with a lie about weapons of mass destruction, it has continued with a lie about helping Iraqi civilians. Both US soldiers and Iraqi citizens are now locked in a situation where no one can win. Please stop the “spin” about a war on terror and recognize the impossible disaster that this invasion has created.
comment by:
{logged_in_screen_name}
20/03/2008
06:33 PM
It is way beyond time that the International terrorist George W Bush be brought to book. The mess in Iraq is wholly his doing and he must not be allowed to get away with it by retiring as President; he should be impeached. Not to do so will confirm, what many now believe, namely that power now carries no responsibility and that Americans support his position. To impeach Bush would be a significant step toward rehabilitating America in the World’s opinion. While this is being done, certain of his neocon “advisers” should also be put on trial for human rights abuses.
comment by:
Ken Jones
20/03/2008
02:20 PM
I can remember a time when it was easy to tell who were the “good guys” and who were the “bad guys”. Now it seems anything goes. The Iraqi people are just that - people. It’s time to stop these abuses and give them the dignity, care and respect they deserve. It’s time for our leaders to stand up and be the “good guys"they profess to be.
comment by:
Cindy Kock
20/03/2008
01:47 PM
It’s hard to believe the lack of respect and value placed upon one’s life by the coalition forces. Just because it’s a war, doesn’t make it ok.
Human Rights should not be obligations; they are the foundation of a healthy society and way of life.
comment by:
Luke Brennan
20/03/2008
11:48 AM
Amnesty Internationals say Iraq remains dangerous???what about protecting innocent victims like the women and children in Iraq?
i seen graphics pictures of ill-treatment of Iraqi civilian by coalition forces. and not to mentions pictures after pictures of Iraqi children without head and bodies laying on the roadsides.i read the coalition soldiers raping 14 years of Iraqi girl without charges!!!!
how many more carnages and despair that Iraqi have to suffered.they did not bring this war upon themselves!!
comment by:
leo
20/03/2008
10:41 AM
21.Century.
Violence in the World coming from
religion
poverty
power greediness
When we look at religion aspect.The countries like Sudan,Afganistan,Pakistan,Israel religion base conflict mostly link to poverty and education.
When we look at poverty.The countries like Kenya,Zimbabwe, poverty and education
When we look at power greediness.the country like so call Westerns rich,educated,not dominated by religion but power greediness,self ego,self centered minds.
Iraq is the one of the fine sample of this action.instead of promoting justice for all,fairness for all,sharing and understanding each other.We will waste an other Century
comment by:
Ali Firat
20/03/2008
10:22 AM
America you have failed us all. You went in there to prtoect the Iraqi people not terrorise them. Please meet your human rights obligaitons and begin to make amends for the damage alreday inflicted on these people.
comment by:
Keri Chiveralls
20/03/2008
10:20 AM





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