Wednesday, July 19, 2006
News RhetIraq: UN Report vs. US Energy Secretary on Situation in Iraq
Who: United Nations and Samuel W. Bodman, US Energy Secretary
Source: The New York Times
Quotes: From article titled, "Iraqi Death Toll Rises Above 100 Per Day, U.N. Says"
An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported Tuesday, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad.
The death toll, drawn from Iraqi government agencies, was the most precise measurement of civilian deaths provided by any government organization since the invasion and represented a substantial increase over the figures in daily news media reports.
United Nations officials said Tuesday that the number of violent deaths had climbed steadily since at least last summer. During the first six months of this year, the civilian death toll jumped more than 77 percent, from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June, the organization said.
In its report, the United Nations said that 14,338 civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first six months of the year.
United Nations officials said they had based their figures on tallies provided by two Iraqi agencies: the Ministry of Health, which tracks violent deaths recorded at hospitals around the country; and Baghdad’s central morgue, where unidentified bodies are delivered, a vast majority of which met violent deaths.
Each agency issues death warrants for the bodies it receives, government officials say, and there is no overlap between the two populations of victims.
According to the report, 1,778 civilians were killed in January, 2,165 in February, 2,378 in March, 2,284 in April, 2,669 in May and 3,149 in June.
The totals represent an enormous increase over figures published by media organizations and by nongovernmental organizations that track these trends.
The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent Web site that uses news reports to do its tallies, reported that at least 738 died in June, and another 969 the previous month.
The United Nations report said that in recent months, “the overwhelming majority of casualties were reported in Baghdad.”
The Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organization, issued a statement urging the country “to be wise and rational instead of drifting into the abyss,” and called upon the country’s political and religious leaders to meet and discuss ways “to lead Iraq out of this dark tunnel.”
“God knows what comes next,” the statement said.
The American energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman, who met with Iraq’s oil and electricity ministers in Baghdad, had a rosy view of progress here since his last visit in 2003.
“The situation seems far more stable than when I was here two or three years ago,” he said in an interview in the fortified Green Zone. “The security seems better, people are more relaxed. There is an optimism, at least among the people I talked to.”
Source: The New York Times
Quotes: From article titled, "Iraqi Death Toll Rises Above 100 Per Day, U.N. Says"
An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported Tuesday, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad.
The death toll, drawn from Iraqi government agencies, was the most precise measurement of civilian deaths provided by any government organization since the invasion and represented a substantial increase over the figures in daily news media reports.
United Nations officials said Tuesday that the number of violent deaths had climbed steadily since at least last summer. During the first six months of this year, the civilian death toll jumped more than 77 percent, from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June, the organization said.
In its report, the United Nations said that 14,338 civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first six months of the year.
United Nations officials said they had based their figures on tallies provided by two Iraqi agencies: the Ministry of Health, which tracks violent deaths recorded at hospitals around the country; and Baghdad’s central morgue, where unidentified bodies are delivered, a vast majority of which met violent deaths.
Each agency issues death warrants for the bodies it receives, government officials say, and there is no overlap between the two populations of victims.
According to the report, 1,778 civilians were killed in January, 2,165 in February, 2,378 in March, 2,284 in April, 2,669 in May and 3,149 in June.
The totals represent an enormous increase over figures published by media organizations and by nongovernmental organizations that track these trends.
The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent Web site that uses news reports to do its tallies, reported that at least 738 died in June, and another 969 the previous month.
The United Nations report said that in recent months, “the overwhelming majority of casualties were reported in Baghdad.”
The Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organization, issued a statement urging the country “to be wise and rational instead of drifting into the abyss,” and called upon the country’s political and religious leaders to meet and discuss ways “to lead Iraq out of this dark tunnel.”
“God knows what comes next,” the statement said.
The American energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman, who met with Iraq’s oil and electricity ministers in Baghdad, had a rosy view of progress here since his last visit in 2003.
“The situation seems far more stable than when I was here two or three years ago,” he said in an interview in the fortified Green Zone. “The security seems better, people are more relaxed. There is an optimism, at least among the people I talked to.”
