Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

Amid more bomb blasts and assassinations, a US soldier was killed, and the Iraqi government decreed another daytime curfew for Friday March 3, when Muslims would be going to mosques for prayers and sermons.

Our prayers on Friday will be for the safe, immediate release of Tom Fox and the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq now for almost 100 days. There was no news of their whereabouts and condition on Thursday March 2.

Political maneuvering continued, aimed at repairing the fractured coalition that was being negotiated before the Golden Mosque was destroyed. But Sunni leader Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Iraqi Accordance Front barely escaped an assassination attempt. And Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Shi'ite, said he would resist an effort by Sunnis and Kurds to oust him.

And militias loyal to a Shi'ite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, are deploying in the "Sadr City" area of Baghdad which appears to be his stronghold.

As this turmoil continues, the Associated Press disclosed Iraq government figures showing that more than twice as many civilians (4024) were killed in insurgenbcy-related violence in 2005 than were soldiers and police (1695). Moreover, the official civilian toll for the first two months of 2006 is already at 1093.

AP cautions, however, that "There is no way to verify the figures independently. In a dangerous country as large as California, journalists rely on figures provided by local police, hospitals and the Interior Ministry." Further, "Figures in major attacks often vary widely . . . ."

And as of Thursday the official US military death toll stands at 2303.