Ethnic Cleansing and Reduction in Violence Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

As I've mentioned before, to a great extent the reduction in sectarian violence in Iraq has been partially due to ethnic cleansing, which has physically separated the Sunni and Shi'a populations.  People don't kill each other when they are physically separated.  Today comes this news from the Iraqi Red Crescent.

Nearly 2.3 million Iraqis -- the vast majority of them women and children -- have fled their homes but remain inside the country's borders and are in urgent need of basic care, according to a report issued Monday by the Iraqi Red Crescent.

The number of internally displaced people, or IDPs, in Iraq grew by 16 percent in September -- to 2,299,425, the Red Crescent said. That figure has skyrocketed since the beginning of 2007, when less than half a million people were listed as displaced.

Those are some pretty astounding statistics and seem to reinforce the point.  Although to be fair, according to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees the numbers started to move in February 2006 after the Samarra bombing.  I'm not sure what explains the discrepancy between the two reports, but either way in the last year and a half you've had massive ethnic cleansing.

Also, it's worth pointing out that part of the reason for the rise in IDPs relative to refugees is that after keeping their borders open for the first couple of years, Syria and Jordan have closed up the borders.   They were simply too overwhelmed by refugees.  Unfortunately, this only exacerbates a bad situation for the Iraqi people.

Comments

[RM]

I applaud your mention of the refugee crisis in Iraq. I think it gets short-shrift in the media when talking about the decrease in violence in Iraq.

I also think people underestimate the effect of Sadr standing down Mahdi Army offensive operations for six months this past August. At the time most everybody commented it would have a huge effect on driving down the amount of violence, especially attacks on US troops, but now hardly anybody mentions it. I guess its better to think that we've got a handle on things and leave it up to somebody else to note an uptick in violence a few months from now.

[kalonline Geons]

My friends and I like to buy kal geons, because the kal gold is very useful to upgrade equipment. Only your equipment becomes better, then you can win this game. In kal online geons, you can buy everything you want in this game. Yesterday is my birthday, so my friends bought me some kal online gold as gifts. I am so happy.

[cheap silkroad gold]

my brother says sro gold is his favorite games gold he likes,

[dofus kamas]

I hope i can get kamas in low price.
Ibuy dofus kamas for you.

[sro gold]

Once I played silkroad, I did not know how to get strong, someone told me that you must have silkroad gold. He gave me some sro gold.

[cheap Entropiauniverse ped]

The biggest advantage is the cheap Entropiauniverse ped, You can use Entropiauniverse ped in the game.

[cheap mesos]

you must borrow cheap mesos from friends, or you buy maplestory mesos.

[ugg boots sale]

UGG Boots is your best ugg boots sale online Outlet where you can buy the cheapest
Ugg Boots.

[zachariah]

Authentic Products uggsline.co.uk provides all kinds of UGG Boots in high quality but lowest prices possible from UK. We frequently update the styles of uggsline Boots so please check back to choose your favourite Boots.
UGG boots sale

[cheap coach handbags]

Thank you for your sharing! I like i very much!

[m3 zero]

I would like to say it’s time to face the facts: This Civil War is not a winnable situation – especially by a third party who has inserted themselves into what has been waging for decades. How idiotic are we to imagine that we can “win” this thing in any way, shape or form.

[Air Jordan Shoes]

Google have just unveiled a feature for Gmail called jordan to go.