U.N.: 3,709 Iraqis Killed In October

In this photo taken Thursday, May 24, 2012, advocate Gcina Malindi leaves the Johannesburg High Court where he appeared for South African President Jacob Zuma in a case to have a portrait of Zuma removed from a gallery and websites. Malinda broke down and cried during proceeding saying that he had been overcome by memories of the apartheid era. (AP Photo/Str) / Str

At least 101 Iraqis died in the country's unending sectarian slaughter Wednesday, and the United Nations reported that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll of the 44-month-old war and one that was sure to be eclipsed when this month's dead are counted.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq also said citizens were fleeing the country at a pace of 100,000 each month, and that at least 1.6 million Iraqis had left since the war began.

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced they will meet Nov. 29-30 in Jordan to discuss the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. "We will focus our discussions on current developments in Iraq, progress made to date in the deliberations of a high-level joint committee on transferring security responsibilities, and the role of the region in supporting Iraq," they said in a statement.

Although collecting accurate statistics in a war zone is impossible, these figures, compiled with the help of the Iraqi health authorities, give some idea of the overall scale and shape of the violence, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports. One hundred and ten children were killed in the past two months and 351 women, according to this report, are being singled out for abuse by religious extremists.

Life for Iraqis, especially in Baghdad and cities and towns in the center of the country, has become increasingly untenable. Many schools failed to open at all in September and professionals — especially professors, physicians, politicians and journalists — were falling to sectarian killer at a stunning pace.

Three hundred teachers have been killed since the start of the year. About 2 million Iraqis have either left, or been forced from their homes, since the invasion, and 1.5 million have left the country already, Palmer reports. And many of those leaving are the best and the brightest.

Lynchings have been reported as Sunnis and Shiites conduct a merciless campaign of revenge killings. Some Shiite residents in the north of Baghdad neighborhood of Hurriyah claim that militiamen and death squads are holding Sunni captives in warehouses then slaughtering them at the funerals of Shiites killed in the tit-for-tat murders.

"Because the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq is on the ground throughout Iraq, they have a more accurate birds-eye view of the deteriorating conditions," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk from the U.N. "The human rights report covers areas that have not been available from other agencies or the press, including arbitrary detentions and torture."

The U.N. report was released as assassins killed a bodyguard of Iraq's parliament speaker one day after a bomb exploded in the hot-tempered politician's motorcade as it drove into a parking lot inside the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad. It was a major security breach in the heavily guarded compound that houses the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government.

In other developments:

The U.S. military reports that three Marines have been killed in Anbar province, the troubled region of western Iraq where many Sunni-Arab insurgents are based. The command says the Marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7, died Wednesday from wounds sustained during enemy action. So far this month in Iraq, 52 American service members have been killed or died.

The Marines may need to grow a bit. The Marine Corps commandant says unless more men and women are added to the force, the Marines might not be able to sustain their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan without undue stress, or without sacrificing needed training. General James Conway also told reporters this morning it could take years to adequately train and equip Iraq's security forces. And he says that could be longer than the timeline that the American people "will support."

U.S. and Iraqi forces backed by helicopters swept into Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite slum in a dark-of-night raid Tuesday that netted seven militiamen, including one believed to know the whereabouts of an American soldier kidnapped nearly a month ago.

A Marine pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the death of Iraqi civilian who was shot and killed by his military unit. Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. entered his pleas through his civilian attorney Steve Immel during court-martial proceedings and was expected to testify about the April incident in the town of Hamdania.

The debate over what to do about the war on Iraq - complete with catch phrases to describe each plan - has intensified, with word of a secret report on the issue, commissioned by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the Washington Post Monday, the options are: "Go big, go long or go home."

Violence also continued against Iraq's journalists Wednesday, when gunmen sprayed Raad Jaafar Hamadi with bullets as he drove his car in the capital's Washash neighborhood, said police 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq. Hamadi worked for the state-run al-Sabah newspaper.

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[pakaal]

jackntx, you wrote: "If the Iraqi population didn't want democracy and don't want Americans there, we would see mass demonstrations! Where are they? The media would jump on that!"

In case you didn't hear, the latest poll (like the one before it) show that the Iraqis want us out. 70%+ of all Iraqis want us out within 6 months, 78% say we're making the situation worse by staying and 61% say they APPROVE of attacks on our troops.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/250.php?nid=&id=&pnt=250&lb=hmpg1

We do not dishonor the memory of our soldiers by withdrawing, we're honoring what they did over there by letting the Iraqis stand up for themselves, and take away the political thorn of continued US presence out of their side so they can rebuild their country.

[pakaal]

If y'all are as annoyed by bushrocks1 posting the same message over and over on every message area on the CBS site, do what I do. Click on the "+ report this comment" link at the bottom of his post, and tell CBS you're tired of it.

[bushrocks1]

Would I send my son to this war? You might ask would I send him to WW II? Or Vietnam? Maybe you would distinguish those conflicts and whether you would send your son to fight in them. But that question is misdirected in a very important way: I can't command my son to go to war. He has to make that choice. So the better question would be: would I volunteer to fight in Iraq, WW II, Vietnam? Would I volunteer to fight in any war? Respond if drafted? I don%u2019t know. I'm not equivocating, only addressing that it is a hypothetical. As a hypothetical, I can say, sure I'd fight. But I have nightmares of battle (from my past life as a Jacobite). So how do I feel toward those who do volunteer? Impressed and maturely knowing that many things go into their decision. But I do strongly believe that a country who can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq. Objectively, I also believe it for other reasons. An attempt to establish democracy in the Middle East is a bold, brilliant, noble effort, facing a high chance of failure. That's why I greatly respect and admire those who have made the attempt--the Bush administration. They have been resolute, something I have not seen in my lifetime. They may not succeed, for reasons outside their control or fault: traitors on the home front, being a big one. But now those traitors have apparently occupied the high ground. Yet... we're still in Iraq. Why?... I'm waiting.

[cilvie]

Just a comment about the whole, them being in civil war thing. Does it really count as a civil war if they aren't actually fighting their own government?

Democracy, or whatever it is that they have there now isn't how they've been handling their government for the last uh... couple of decades or whatever and they didn't have a civil war then did they? Sure Sadam was killing all kinds of people sarcasm but if they didn't fight then and all of the sudden they want to fight our "help"? Does that not prove anything?

[sin472260157]

READERS:Wars cost human lives! Our Wars are fought, yes, on the battle-field on both sides! But it does not surprise me anymore to see not what may have really happened for many people to die for GOD knows who is telling the true account of the deaths and how they came to happen!! We judge our SOLDIERS!! HOW DARE WE!! LOOK TO THE ENEMY AND JUDGE-SUICIDE BOMBS-TERRORISM IN EVERY SENSE of the WORD-EXECUTIONS BECAUSE WE DO NOT WANT TO GIVE BACK TERORISTS WE CAUGHT-9-11-AND ON AND ON!! I say do what you have to do ALLIED SOLDIERS they look better in BODY-BAGS than any of you would TO ME THAT IS!!DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO MAKE IT HOME SOLDIERS!!! GOD BLESS.

[bushrocks1]

Would I send my son to this war? You might ask would I send him to WW II? Or Vietnam? Maybe you would distinguish those conflicts and whether you would send your son to fight in them. But that question is misdirected in a very important way: I can't command my son to go to war. He has to make that choice. So the better question would be: would I volunteer to fight in Iraq, WW II, Vietnam? Would I volunteer to fight in any war? Respond if drafted? I don%u2019t know. I'm not equivocating, only addressing that it is a hypothetical. As a hypothetical, I can say, sure I'd fight. But I have nightmares of battle (from my past life as a Jacobite). So how do I feel toward those who do volunteer? Impressed and maturely knowing that many things go into their decision. But I do strongly believe that a country who can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq. Objectively, I also believe it for other reasons. An attempt to establish democracy in the Middle East is a bold, brilliant, noble effort, facing a high chance of failure. That's why I greatly respect and admire those who have made the attempt--the Bush administration. They have been resolute, something I have not seen in my lifetime. They may not succeed, for reasons outside their control or fault: traitors on the home front, being a big one. But now those traitors have apparently occupied the high ground. Yet... we're still in Iraq. Why?... I'm waiting.

[patriotic9]

Main source of all the miseries and problems in the world is the belief in an UNSEEN GOD whose existance is not proven by any scientific evidence.More people are getting killed everyday on the name of GOD then any other reason.Only religion which makes a little bit of sense is HINDU RELIGION.Atleast they worship those GODS they have seen.They worship MONKEY they have seen MONKEYS,they worship COW they have seen COWS,they worship RAT,they have seen RATS,etc.

[webdepot]

Unfortunately, Iraq is already in a civil war, and any American official that thinks otherwise is only deluding themselves. Not only is Iraq in a civil war, but it is drawing in participants from all around the region.

As for those that still say, "Stay the Course, the Iraqi Army is almost ready", you're not reading the papers. The Iraqi police, and to a somewhat lesser degree, the Iraqi Army, do not exibit any allegiance to the country, but rather, their first allegiance is to their tribe, sect, home village.
They are and will be using their new warfighting education to kill their own, with weapons we provided. Whole Iraqi battalions refuse to be deployed to areas where they can do the most good.
I wouldn't put much faith in the Iraqi security forces, either police or army.

This exerpt appeared today in an article from Rueters:
In Damascus, a Syrian analyst close to the Assad government warned that other countries would intervene if Iraq descended into full-scale civil war. "Iran will get involved, Turkey will get involved, Saudi Arabia, Syria," said the analyst, who spoke on condition he not be identified further.

"Regional war is very much a possibility," said Hiltermann, the analyst for the International Crisis Group. Iraq's neighbors "are hysterical about Iranian strategic advances in the region," he said.

Bush has opened pandora's box. You think $3.50 a gallon of gas was high... you ain't seen nothing yet..

So...... do they like have americans working in the 7-11s over there or what?

[patriotic9]

rsoxfan1123
Which site are you talking about?memri or ogrish.Both of these sites are AMERICANS.I know things on those sites are from their perspective and we need to know that.We need to know how many of our soldiers are getting killed every day specially when our own media and govt are telling lies.frankly,I don't care much about Iraqi casualties but I am really concerned about AMERICAN CASUALTIES,WHAT ARE THE REASONS OF THOSE CASUALTIES,HOW CAN WE PREVENT THEM AND WHETHER IT'S GOOD FOR OUR SOLDIERS TO BE IN IRAQ OR NOT?After seeing on those websites that how our soldiers getting killed by unseen enemies either by snipers or by IEDs,you got pissed.Can you imagine how pissed I am when I know that our soldeiers are dying there to remove a SECULAR GOVT of SADDAM and bringing an ISLAMIC RADICAL named MALIKI to form a RADICAL ISLAMIC SHIA EMPIRE.I have no shame in saying that I hate all the religious RADICALISM not only islamic.When I see that our soldiers are dying because some CHRISTIAN RADICALS believe that this war will help the second coming of CHRIST.The people I hate the most are CHRISTIANS.