Associated Press reports the Iraq war's affects on iraqi families.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Sectarian violence has forced about 100,000 families across Iraq to flee their homes, a top Iraqi official said. At least 17 people, including a U.S. soldier, were killed Saturday in fighting.
One hundred thousand families not individuals. They also report that other sources put the number much lower.
Dr. Salah Abdul-Razzaq, spokesman of a government body that runs Shiite religious institutions, put the number of displaced Shiite families at 13,750 nationwide, or about 90,000 people.
That includes 25,000 Shiites who have fled since the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra on Feb. 22 triggered a wave of attacks on Sunni mosques and clerics.
Predictably, the US has a different take.
U.S. command spokesman Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said this week that U.S. troops investigate all reports of displaced people and have found no evidence of “widespread movement” away from religiously mixed areas.
Maybe he should check with Human Relief Organization, an iraqi NGO. "We get some every day," said Omar Mansour, an official with the relief group. "I'm afraid the numbers will increase greatly when the school year ends and people feel freer to flee. All these families have letters with death threats. So they came here fearing for their lives, only to live in these harsh conditions."
Maj. Gen. Lynch has a bad habit of telling outright lies on behalf of the administration. Here are a few of his gems:
"We're not seeing civil war igniting in Iraq." (1)
"The people of Iraq are uniting against the insurgency." (2)
"We are not seeing widespread militia operations across Iraq. We are not seeing widespread movement of displaced personnel. So we do not see us moving towards a civil war in Iraq. In fact we see us moving away from it." (3)
Remember 'Baghdad Bob'?
--Wisco
