To Mark the 18th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War; here are some of the wars darkest moments...
Up to 50,000 Iraqis, 70-90% of whom were innocent, were detained in the infamous torture camp known as Abu Ghraib. Detainees were sexually abused and physically tortured as well.
Bush’s “shock and awe” campaign was kicked off after Iraqi officials said that they would allow US inspectors and would hand over two people connected to 9/11 to the US. However, Bush chose violence over diplomacy. Over 7,000 Iraqi civilians died from the campaign.
The Fallujah killings of April 2003 began when US soldiers fired into a crowd of Iraqi civilians who were peacefully protesting their presence at a school.
The soldiers claimed they were receiving fire from the crowd, whereas the civilians said they were shot at first. Human Rights Watch, which inspected the area after the incident, found no physical evidence of shots fired at the building where US forces were based.
The Mahmudiyah rape and killings were war crimes involving the gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family by United States Army soldiers on March 12, 2006. A 6 year old was also murdered along with the rest of her family
Iraq only became less stable and free from terrorism once the US intervened: Fatalities from terrorism increased by ~21,610% by December of 2004, not even two years into the invasion.
The Mukaradeeb Wedding Party Massacre was the bombing of an Iraqi wedding party. U.S. officials stated that the location was a "suspected foreign fighter safe house."
Local accounts state that 42 people, including 11 women and 14 children, were killed during the incident. Iraqi officials reported 13 children among the dead. 27 members of the groom’s family were killed.
On November 19, 2005 in Haditha, Iraq, eight US Marines fired at civilians after a roadside blast. 24 innocent Iraqis, who were students, parents, children, and working people were killed. 7 children and a taxi driver were “shot from close range” according to witnesses.
Although several innocent people were killed, 6 of the Marines involved had their cases dropped, another was found innocent in his trial, and only 1 was proven guilt, but only had to pay a fine
In Ishaqi, Iraq in 2006, 11 Iraqi civilians, including 4 women and 5 children under the age of 6, were killed after being lined up and shot at by 5 US soldiers. Despite footage revealing that the civilians hadn’t provoked the soldiers at all, none of the soldiers were charged.
On September 16, 2007 in Nisour Sqaure, agents of Blackwater Security, a private American military company, carried out the killings of 17 Iraqi civilians. The company attempted to cover up the incident, but after pressure from the Iraqi Gov., four perpetrators were convicted.
The US also committed war crimes in Fallujah by using Depleted Uranium bullets and White Phosphorus, leading to thousands of birth defects that still affect the city today:
@FDefects
The effects on Fallujah are said to be worst than those of the Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
By the end of the war, ~2.4 million civilians were dead, almost 10% of Iraq’s population, 4 million children became orphans, and at least 3,3 million were displaced.
Iraq’s infrastructure was completely in ruins. Many people had no access to clean water, food, or housing. Scores more would die from these factors after the war. The US invasion also inevitably led to sectarian violence, and the rise of ISIS.