Mission Accomplished, 2 years ago!

From the internet:

"I was appointed by LTG John R. Vines, Commander, Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) on 8 March 2005 to investigate, per U.S. Army Regulation 15-6 (Annex 1B), all the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident at a Traffic Control Point (TCP) in Baghdad, Iraq on 4 March 2005 that resulted in the death of Mr. Nicola Calipari and the wounding of Ms. Giuliana Sgrena and Mr. Andrea Carpani."

Yes, that is the first line of the report issued by US authorities on this incident. Further on in the report are these facts:

"1. (U) Iraq. From July 2004 to late March 2005, there were 15,257 attacks against Coalition Forces throughout Iraq. The U.S. considers all of Iraq a combat zone. (Annex 8E).
2. (U) Baghdad. Baghdad is a city of six million people and is home to a large number of suspected insurgents and terrorists operating both in the city and its environs.
(S//NF) From 1 November 2004 to 12 March 2005 there were a total of 3306 attacks in the Baghdad area. Of these, 2400 were directed against Coalition Forces. (Annex 8E)"

And further on:

"The number of IED detonations from 15 June 2003 through 4 March 2005 (the date of the incident), has steadily increased. Although the effectiveness of those detonations has decreased over that timeframe, the overall average number of casualties during that period is nearly one per IED detonation. (Annex 4E)."

And:

"(S//NF) The week of the incident saw 166 IED incidents, with 131 detonations and 35 IEDs rendered safe. There were 82 casualties from those incidents. (Annex 4E)."

I'd say that Iraq is very much still at war. And most of the violence is directed towards American and coalition forces. The corporate media would leave you with the impression that most violence is directed towards other Iraqis, which is not true. It is true that the Iraqi people are suffering greatly, and dying in large numbers.

We really don't know how many are killed by insurgent activity and how much by American and coalition actions.

We do know that Mr. Calipari was killed by US forces. And probably tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. And we are far from done. May God forgive us for this insanity.

The full report can be seen here: http://213.160.111.174/unclassified.htm