AFP Article: Iraq bloodletting leaves 150,000 dead since invasion

Iraq bloodletting leaves 150,000 dead since invasion
by Sabah Jerges Fri Nov 10, 5:41 AM ET


BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq has said nearly 150,000 people have died since the US-led invasion, as outgoing Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accepted his military faced difficulties in fighting extremists in the country.

The war-ravaged country's Shiites and Sunnis, meanwhile, headed to their respective mosques for weekly prayers amid a fresh bout of violence over the past three days that has left dozens dead.

Iraq's health ministry estimated on Friday that some 150,000 people have been killed since the March 2003 invasion, more than three times the previously agreed upon figure.

The latest death toll was first mentioned by Health Minister Ali al-Shamari in Vienna on Thursday and was subsequently confirmed by a public affairs official in the ministry.

"We have statistics and we send them every day to the cabinet. We also have monthly and bi-annual figures," he said.

"Some 75 to 80 people die every day on average ... but in some cases the figures exceed that number, so the total will be nearing 150,000."

The dead came from military clashes, those killed in cold blood and bodies brought to morgues, he added.

The number of dead in Iraq has been a controversial topic of repeated speculation. Most estimates, such as those by the Iraq Body Count project, put the figure at between 50,000 and 60,000.

In October, British medical journal the Lancet published a report estimating that 650,000 people had died since the invasion, based on extrapolations from people interviewed.

The figure has been dismissed as wildly exaggerated by the Iraqi government, press agencies and the US military, who themselves will not release data on civilian casualties.

The bulk of the dead in the past year have been killed in a bitter Shiite-Sunni sectarian conflict across Iraq. Baghdad has been the worst hit, with dozens of bodies found on the streets every week.

The US military and Sunni politicians have often accused followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr of spearheading the killings of the members of the former Sunni elite.

The health ministry is controlled by supporters of Sadr.

Rumsfeld, meanwhile, acknowledged Thursday that US efforts to stabilize Iraq have not gone well and that the military was ill-suited to fight extremists.

"I will say this: It is very clear that the major combat operations were an enormous success. It is clear that in phase two of this, it has not gone well enough or fast enough," he said in his first speech after President George W. Bush ousted him on Wednesday.

Iraq had made tangible progress, he said, but the sectarian violence and the killings of Muslims by Muslim extremists had created "a much more complex situation."

"And quite honestly, our country does not have experience attempting to impose control and our will over vicious, violent extremists that don't have armies, that don't have navies, don't have air forces and operate in the shadows," he said.

Rumsfeld further cautioned that dealing with Muslim extremism will take patience and perseverance, just as the Cold War struggle against communism did.

Meanwhile, the US military announced Friday the death of three US serviceman, including a marine in Fallujah and two military policemen in Baghdad. That brought total US casualties since the March 2003 invasion to 2,839, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.

There was a lull in Baghdad's violence Friday morning as the warring Shiites and Sunnis went to prayers amid a vehicle curfew.

But nearly 100 people were reported dead since Tuesday after the lifting of a curfew imposed to coincide with the sentencing two days earlier of Saddam Hussein. Dozens of bodies have been found, including two Friday in the central city of Diwaniyah.

In the Shiite holy city of Najaf authorities on Friday announced the arrest of a senior former ruling Baath party member suspected of abetting insurgency.

Provincial spokesman Ahmed Daebil said the Baathist, whose name was not released, was accused of helping recruit insurgents, organizing funding from Baathists in Syria and carrying out violent operations in the center and south of the country.

Leaflets intended to provoke violence were also discovered on his person, Daebil said.