Baghdad: not a nice place to live - or die

I wonder why so many people are dying in Baghdad. Didn’t the Coalition assume control of Iraq four years ago after being greeted with wine and roses? Oh yeah. Well, that said, what is the cause of all this violence? But wait. That isn’t the right question. The right question is, how are people getting away with all this violence. This violence was repeatedly predicted as the outcome of the fall of Saddam. Furthermore, aren’t there any police there? Who is in charge of law and order? Who is supposed to be protecting the civilians of Iraq?

Generally, the responsibility of the United States to restore law and order and public life in areas under effective control of its military is reflected in Article 43 of the Annex to the Hague Convention of 1907, which requires that the occupying power “shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.”

Read the rest here.

So, then why is all this violence happening?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — More than 140 bodies have been found dumped across Baghdad over the past three days, police said Wednesday.

Police said 52 bullet-riddled bodies were found Wednesday, with 20 of them blindfolded, tied up and possibly tortured.

Police also discovered 29 bodies on Tuesday and 60 on Monday.

The dead are thought to be victims of Sunni-Shiite sectarian revenge killings.

That word came as the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a grim bimonthly human rights report that underscored the instability and death resulting from sectarian violence.

The report said 7,054 civilians were killed violently in September and October in Iraq, with almost 5,000 in Baghdad alone — most of them shot to death and showing signs of torture.

It is now beyond clear, with the sacking of Rumsfeld, that the United States bears full responsibility for not keeping order in Iraq after occupation. This is just blunt point in fact. Mission Accomplished day was the day when Iraqi civilians should have been able to move about in their country under law and order. It was all just a farce, and average folks are being slaughtered because the United States has still not gotten a handle on a situation that, from the start, has been their responsibility to control.