Bodies pile up as Iraq murder rate soars

( ) - Grieving women wail and beat their heads at the back door of the Baghdad coroner’s office, waiting for the bodies of their murdered loved ones to be released for burial.

…… The bodies of some 35 Iraqis who met violent or suspicious deaths passed through Baghdad’s Institute of Forensic Medicine on Thursday, a typical daily toll in the capital since the U.S.-led war which deposed Saddam Hussein in April.

As occupying powers of Iraq the United States and Great Britain have specific responsibilities under international law regarding the safety and protection of Iraqi citizens.

streets, killing those who stand in their way. Revenge killings are also common as people settle old scores in the knowledge that murders are likely to go unpunished.

They are not living up to these responsibilities.

Baghdad’s murder rate eclipses that of other major cities. New York, whose former police chief Bernard Kerik is tasked with revamping the Iraqi police force, last year recorded around 48 homicides per month, barely more than the daily murder rate in Baghdad.

A little bit of basic math tells us that almost 1,100 people per month are being killed in a city supposedly controlled by the United States military….. the capital city of a country invaded and occupied by the Americans in order to bring peace, liberty, security, and [some type of U.S. approved] democracy to its residents. Just another story you’re unlikely to see on CNN.

(The content of this post came from an older pMachine incarnation of stageleft with a different hosting company - comments, if any, didn’t make it into the rebuild)