Throughout the entire Iraq War, there have been human rights abuses on all sides of the conflict.
Post-invasion Iraq Government
editThe post-invasion Iraqi government used systematic torture of its detainees, including children. [1] The treatment included beatings, electric shocks, prolonged hanging by the wrists, food and water deprivation, and blindfolding for multiple days. Iraqi police from the Interior Ministry were accused of forming Death Squads and committing numerous massacres and the torturing of Sunni Arabs.[2]
Coalition forces and private contractors
edit[[:File:Abu_Ghraib_53.jpg|thumb|This photograph from Abu Ghraib released in 2006 shows a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners.]]
- Deaths of civilians as a result of bombing and missile strikes that fail to take all feasible precautions with regards to civilians casualties.[3]
- The killing and raping of 14-year old Abeer Qasim Humza and subsequent burning of her body as well as the murder of 3 of her relatives by a US soldier.[4]
- Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse by US Army personnel,[5] involving the detention of thousands of Iraqi men and women. Torture at Abu Ghraib included rape, sodomy and extensive sexual abuse, waterboarding, pouring phosphoric acid on detainees, sleep deprivation and physical beatings.
- Haditha killings of 24 civilians.
- Widespread use of the incendiary munition white phosphorus such as during the battle of Fallujah. The documentary Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre, claimed that Iraqi civilians, including women and children, had died of burns caused by white phosphorus during the battle, however, US Department of Defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable denied that this was true but confirmed to the BBC that US forces had used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon there against enemy combatants. [6][7][8] The use of white phosphorus against civilian populations is banned by international legislation.[9]
- Use of depleted uranium rounds by Coalition Forces, estimated to number at least 300,000 rounds fired in Iraq during the war.[10] Several 2012 studies in Iraq have identified increased occurrence of deformities, cancers, and other serious health problems in areas where depleted uranium shells were used. Some Iraqi doctors attributed these malformations to possible long-term effects of depleted uranium. Studies disagree on whether depleted uranium ammunition has any measurable detrimental health effects.[11][12]
- Mahmudiyah rape and killings and murder of an Iraqi girl, and murder of her family.[13]
- The torture and killing of prisoner of war, Iraqi Air Force commander, Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
- The killing of Baha Mousa.
- Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre.[14] where 42 civilians were allegedly killed by coalition forces.
- Planting weapons on noncombatant, unarmed Iraqis by three US Marines after killing them.[15][16] According to a report by The Nation, other similar acts have been witnessed by US soldiers.[17]
- Blackwater Baghdad shootings.
- Allegations of beatings, electrocution, mock executions, and sexual assault by British troops were presented to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) on 12 January 2014.[18]
Insurgent groups
edit- Killing over 12,000 Iraqis from January 2005 to June 2006, according to Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, giving the first official count for the victims of bombings, ambushes and other deadly attacks.[19] The insurgents have also conducted numerous suicide attacks on the Iraqi civilian population, mostly targeting the majority Shia community.[20][21] An October 2005 report from Human Rights Watch examines the range of civilian attacks and their purported justification.[22]
- Attacks against civilians by sectarian death squads primarily during the Iraqi Civil War. Iraq Body Count project data shows that 33% of civilian deaths during the Iraq War resulted from execution after abduction or capture. These were overwhelmingly carried out by unknown actors including insurgents, sectarian militias and criminals.[23]
- Attacks on diplomats and diplomatic facilities including; the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003 killing the top UN representative in Iraq and 21 other UN staff members;[24] beheading several diplomats: two Algerian diplomatic envoys Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi,[25] Egyptian diplomatic envoy al-Sherif,[26] and four Russian diplomats[27]
- The February 2006 bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, destroying one of the holiest Shiite shrines, killing over 165 worshipers and igniting sectarian strife and reprisal killings[28]
- The publicised killing of several contractors; Eugene Armstrong, Jack Hensley, Kenneth Bigley, Ivaylo Kepov and Georgi Lazov (Bulgarian truck drivers.)[29] Other non-military personnel murdered include: translator Kim Sun-il, Shosei Koda, Fabrizio Quattrocchi (Italian), charity worker Margaret Hassan, reconstruction engineer Nick Berg, photographer Salvatore Santoro (Italian)[30] and supply worker Seif Adnan Kanaan (Iraqi.) Four private armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire, their bodies dragged from their vehicles, beaten and set ablaze. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.[31]
- Torture or killing of members of the New Iraqi Army,[32] and assassination of civilians associated with the Coalition Provisional Authority, such as Fern Holland, or the Iraqi Governing Council, such as Aqila al-Hashimi and Ezzedine Salim, or other foreign civilians, such as those from Kenya[33]
- A group of Iraqi Shia militia supporters broke into the compound of the US Embassy in Baghdad and set fire in the reception area. US soldiers fired tears gas at the militants, who advanced no further. The attack came after US airstrikes on 29 December, which killed 25 militants of Iran-backed group, Kataeb Hezbollah.[34]
- ^ "Iraq: Torture Continues at Hands of New Government". Human Rights News. 25 January 2005.
- ^ Dexter Filkins (29 November 2005). "Sunnis Accuse Iraqi Military of Kidnappings and Slayings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
- ^ "Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Amnesty International Report 2007, the state of the world's human rights. New York, NY: Amnesty International USA. 2007. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-887204-46-0.
- ^ Hersh, Seymour M. (17 May 2004). "Chain of Command". The New Yorker. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers "severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and 'acting inappropriately with a dead body.' The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys."
- ^ "US forces used 'chemical weapon' in Iraq". The Independent. 16 November 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ Wilson, Jamie (16 November 2005). "US admits using white phosphorus in Falluja". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "White phosphorus use by US-led coalition forces in Iraq condemned by humanitarian groups". The Independent. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ EST, Tareq Haddad On 11/4/19 at 7:17 AM (4 November 2019). "White phosphorus melts children's flesh but no government wants to investigate—and the U.S. keeps using it, too". Newsweek. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in 2003 Iraq war, report finds". the Guardian. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ Caputi, Ross (25 October 2012). "The victims of Fallujah's health crisis are stifled by western silence". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ Fathi, R. A.; Matti, L. Y.; Al-Salih, H. S.; Godbold, D. (2013). "Environmental pollution by depleted uranium in Iraq with special reference to Mosul and possible effects on cancer and birth defect rates". Medicine, Conflict and Survival. 29 (1): 7–25. doi:10.1080/13623699.2013.765173. PMID 23729095. S2CID 45404607.
- ^ "Iraq rape soldier jailed for life". BBC News. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ Neil Mackay (14 March 2004). "Iraq: The Wedding Party Massacre". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009.
- ^ "2 GIs charged with murder of Iraqis – International Herald Tribune". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ "Multi-National Force – Iraq – Additional Soldier charged with murder". Mnf-iraq.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ Chris Hedges. "The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness". The Nation. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
- ^ Owen, Jonathan (12 January 2014). "Exclusive: Devastating dossier on 'abuse' by UK forces in Iraq goes to International Criminal Court". The Independent. London.
- ^ Ellen Knickmeyer (3 June 2005). "Iraq Puts Civilian Toll at 12,000". The Washington Post.
- ^ Paul McGeough (2 February 2005). "Handicapped boy who was made into a bomb". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ Iraq bombing toll rises. The Age 2 July 2006
- ^ A Face and a Name. Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq. Human Rights Watch October 2005.
- ^ The Weapons That Kill Civilians — Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq, 2003–2008 by Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks, M.D., M.R.C.Psych., Hamit Dardagan, Gabriela Guerrero Serdán, M.A., Peter M. Bagnall, M.Res., John A. Sloboda, PhD, F.B.A., and Michael Spagat, PhD, The New England Journal of Medicine.
- ^ "Who are the Iraq Insurgents?". NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS. 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006.
- ^ "Kidnappers Kill Algerian Diplomats". Free Internet Press. 27 July 2005. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
- ^ "Captors kill Egypt envoy to Iraq". BBC News. 8 July 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Russian diplomat deaths confirmed". BBC News. 26 June 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ Alex Rodriguez, Iraqi shrine blast suspect caught (paid archive), The Chicago Tribune 29 June 2006.
- ^ "Insurgents kill Bulgarian hostage: Al-Jazeera". CBC News. 14 July 2004.
- ^ "Foreign hostages in Iraq". CBC News. 22 June 2006. Archived from the original on 7 August 2006.
- ^ "4 Contractors murdered by al Qaeda". The Washington Post. 31 March 2004. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ Sabrina Tavernise (19 June 2005). "Iraqis Found in Torture House Tell of Brutality of Insurgents". The New York Times.
- ^ "Iraq kidnappings stun Kenya press". BBC News. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Supporters of Shia militia storm into US Embassy compound in Baghdad". Helensburgh Advertiser. Retrieved 31 December 2019.