Iraq Still Lacks Clean Water, Health Care

Cable from UN demanded answers, got no reply

(NEWSER) - In 2006, a group of US soldiers burst into a house in Ishaqi, Iraq, where they handcuffed and executed at least 10 people—including an infant and four other children, none older than five years old—then called an airstrike to cover up the evidence. Or at least that’s the conclusion a UN investigator reached, according to an unclassified diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks last week. The cable contains questions for US authorities, which they appear to have never answered, the investigator tells the McClatchy Newspapers . More»

(AP) - At least 85,694 Iraqis lost their lives from 2004 to 2008 in violence, the Iraqi government said today in its first comprehensive tally released since the war began. Another 147,195 were wounded during that four-year period, says the Human Rights Ministry. The number includes Iraqi civilians, military, and police, but not insurgents, US troops, or other foreign forces or contractors. It also excludes the first months of the war after the 2003 invasion. More»

Stars visit with displaced people in Syria

(NEWSER) - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are in Syria, using their powers for good. The celebrity übercouple visited Iraqi refugees in Damascus today in an attempt to keep the lowest-profile victims of the war from falling off the radar, People reports. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN's refugee agency, released a statement that reads in part: "Most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services." More»

Constitution America fought to give Iraq guarantees its citizens health care

(NEWSER) - Many US lawmakers opposing health care reform need to be asked why it's OK for Iraqis but not Americans, Mark Dorlester writes for the Huffington Post. Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution—made possible by the war, and hailed as a victory by the Bush administration—guarantees every Iraqi state-funded health care, a provision Dorlester thinks would be slammed as out-of-control socialism by right-wingers if it applied to Americans. More»

(NEWSER) - Iraq's government has a put a number on the toll of violence in the country: 87,215 deaths since 2005. The number—provided to AP by a Health Ministry official—counts people killed in violent attacks such as bombings through February. It doesn't count deaths attributed to factors such as infrastructure damage or poor health care. Official figures don't exist before 2005, but AP puts the total number of violent deaths at more than 110,000 since the US-led invasion in 2003. More»