7/16/2005 Every day in Iraq brings dozens of new civilian deaths in attacks carried out by US forces and the Iraqi Resistance. Between January 1st and June 30th of this year, figures from the Ministries of the Interior and the Defense showed 275 Iraqi soldiers and 620 police were killed in bombings, assassinations or armed clashes with insurgents, while the Iraqi Ministry of Health estimates that 1,594 civilians were killed during the same period. Some estimates of civilian casualties since the US invasion started now surpass 128,000.

A look at a few of the attacks in just the past week reveals the extent of Iraq's suffering. On July 10th, ten men suffocated in police custody. Also on July 10th, a car bomb exploded Kirkuk, and there were other bombings in Tal Afar and Baghdad. On July 12th, a bomb at a Sunni mosque killed several and wounded over a dozen in Jalowla near the Iranian border. In Kirkuk, a suicide bomber killed 3 persons and wounded 15. In west Baghdad, guerrillas invaded the offices of a construction company and killed 4 persons, wounding one. The bodies of 11 Sunni men were found on July 12th hours after they were taken by Iraqi security forces in early morning raids. On July 13th, 26 Iraqis, mostly children died in a suicide car bomb attack on US forces that were handing out candy (some Iraqis claim the US troops are using children as shields). Also on the 13th a bomb exploded at a Sunni mosque in eastern Iraq, killing two people and wounding 16. On July 15th, there were 10 suicide bombings in Baghdad alone, killing several dozen people. On July 16th almost 60 people were killed in suicide bombing near a Shia mosque.

While the United States still has over one-hundred-thousand troops in Iraq, splits between the Iraqi government and the US are starting to emerge. One of the clearest signs of this split is the growing closeness between Jaafari and the government of Iran. Jaafari has apologized to Iran for the Iran-Iraq war and there are signs that Iran may become involved in training Iraq's armed forces.

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