Basra carnage escalates as one person killed every hour

One person is being assassinated in Basra every hour and twenty five percent of Iraqi children have been found to be suffering from malnutrition according to a survey of 20,000 households by the Iraqi government and Unicef.

Violence in Basra is now approaching levels similar to that in Baghdad. The breakdown in public order is so severe that police no longer attend murder scenes because they fear for their own safety.

Insurgent attacks on American and British troops are also proving more lethal, with 44 US soldiers and seven British killed so far this month, and with daily losses exceeding anything seen for more than a year.

The number of Iraqis killed as a result of violence receives some international attention, but many others, particularly young children, die because they are malnourished and vulnerable to disease. A quarter of all Iraqi children suffer from chronic malnutrition, according to an Iraqi government survey of more than 20,000 households, backed by Unicef's Iraq Support Centre.

Meanwhile, Baghdad has slipped into civil war.

Yesterday gunmen shot dead five guards in the largely Shia district of Shaab. As bystanders went to help the dead and dying, a car bomb blew up beside an oil tanker, killing another 13 people.

There is no way to massage the reality behind these figures. Iraq is collapsing and the two men responsible for this human catastrophe remain in their respective offices with no coherent plan to stop the carnage that their actions have unleashed.

This week Bush continued to spout his meaningless platitudes on the subject: "It's important to have a secure Iraq in order for people to go about their daily lives," Bush said. Blair, with many of his own party calling for his resignation, daren't even broach the issue.

Given the situation on the ground in Iraq, it's hard to remember that prior to the invasion both these men implied comparisons between themselves and Winston Churchill in an attempt to drum up support for their illegal invasion.

Since the invasion and it's disastrous aftermath, both have suggested that they expect to bequeath the cleaning up of the mess to their successors.

It's the greatest abdication of personal responsibility I expect to see in my lifetime.

Churchill will be turning in his grave.

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Tags: Iraq, Basra, Bush, Blair, Churchill, civil war,