Iraq: the war logs - one day, 146 deaths
It's just after midnight in Baghdad on 17 October, 2006. A new war day begins. US military clerks, the war's white-collar workers, make their first keystrokes in the log: Murder in the vicinity of Baghdad. One unknown civilian corpse found shot in the head. The body was taken to Justice Medical. No further information.
In the darkness they are already fighting when midnight comes around. Insurgents have rocketed a US infantry base south of Baghdad and set fire to oxygen tanks. The Americans fire back and a civilian is wounded by shrapnel.
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I asked different people their opinions on what they think of the Iraq war and i got a mixed bag of thoughts and thoughts on the topic, some where more in depth than others but overall i think it would be useful for this to have happened and will help a lot when it comes to my project next week.
Key Words...
War
Iraq
Oil
Suggestion
Waste
Soldiers
Death
Suffering
Innocent
Country
Allies
Relevant
20 opinions...
Katie - Our soldiers should stay now because the country would fall apart without our troops there.
Hannah - Our soldiers being there is a bad thing because there are no justified reasons for them entering Iraq
Georgina - The war is bad because there are many young men losing there lives over something not worth fighting for
Abby - War is a bad thing but i cannot give a solid input because i dont know enough about war but it needs stop
Luc - We shouldn't have sent troops there but now that they are there, it would be better for them to stay and try resolve the problem
Sasha - The war is a waste of time and i think we shouldn't have gone
Cathrine - The war is bollocks, its rather pointless because as far as i know the war started over nothing
Bunty - Very sad as things are unresolved, soldiers dont get the recognition they deserve for fighting for their country.
Fred - Waste of funds which could have been better spent on resolving problems in the current economic decline
James - the war is slightly relevant as Osama bin laden and the other leaders were threats but i believe there are other motives in aim
Tasha - Right at the time but they should have thought about the long term more as its now creating more problems
Charlotte - Big mistake going to war and now there staying there more for pride and ego than to sort things out
Joe - When we leave the country it will start all over again and it will just get worse
India - The war is irrelevant as it only brings bad through death and suffering, We cant see the end of the war and innocent families and
people are getting hurt because of this but this will never change
Sarah - I think the idea of keeping peace is a good plan as the country and citizens are always portrayed as dangerous and 'terrorists'.
However i am unsure that peace is the army's main focus as so many news stories contain UN-necessary violence and hate, im
sure some army men just thrive of the power it brings them to hold a gun. So because of this i am UN-sure some parts of this
war are positive but i fear most of this is very negative.
Ross - Bad because they have gone there to stop a war but all they have achieved is more war
Griz - The war shouldn't have happened because we need less problems and this isn't going to help, there are better ways than violence to
solve these issues than war which only brings death
Laura - Tony Blaire just followed George Bush into the war because we are supposed to be allies, this is bad for the UK and the only main
reason which we have done this for is because of there ego and the oil
Facts and Statistics...
Over 4,000 US service personnel have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom since the invasion started on 19 March 2003.
At 26 August 2010 the latest figure from the US Department of Defense stood at 4,421 of which 3,492 were killed in action. Almost 32,000 have been wounded in action.
The UK has lost 179 servicemen and women, of which 136 were killed in action.
According to IBC there have been between 97,461 and 106,348 civilian deaths up to July 2010.
The most bloody period for civilian deaths was the month of invasion, March 2003, in which IBC says 3,977 ordinary Iraqis lost their lives. A further 3,437 were killed in April of that year.
Figures released in June 2010 put the cost of British funding of the Iraq conflict at £9.24bn ($14.32bn), the vast majority of which was for the military but which also included £557m in aid.
UK troop levels in Iraq
End of May 2003: 18,000End of May 2004: 8,600
End of May 2005: 8,500
End of May 2006: 7,200
End of May 2007: 5,500
End of May 2008: 4,100 (in southern Iraq)
End of May 2009: 4,100 (in southern Iraq)
End of Jan 2010: 150
