Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

On the day a new video was aired showing three of the CPT captives [see our earlier update for details], Iraqi fishermen who ply the Tigris river as it flows through Baghdad told reporters what they are now bringing in as daily catch: human bodies, most killed execution style. One fisherman told Reuters his nets haul in as many as five bodies per day.

And the killing of a top Iraqi general by a sniper yesterday was an "inside job ," according to other Iraqi officers, casting serious doubt on the "cohesion" of the US-trained forces. And the Washington Post reported that the general was one of 20 Iraqis killed Monday in continuing sectarian violence.

And since the fall of Saddam Hussein nearly three years ago the number of women attacked for not wearing head scarves and veils has tripled, according to the Women's Rights Association in Baghdad. Several women have reportedly been killed in such attacks.

The US military death toll in Iraq now stands at 2301, by a Pentagon count. Official figures of seriously wounded is more than 17000.

In Washington, meantime, Donald Rumsfeld insisted that "I do not believe [Iraqis] are in a civil war today." Repeating a familiar and utterly hollow talking point, he added, "From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation."

In England, there was more talk by the top general about withdrawing UK troops from Iraq by mid-2008, plus more waffling and bluff about "there-is-no-timetable" from the prime minister's office.

We continue to appeal for the safe release of all the CPT and other captives in Iraq. Tom Fox, missing from the new video, is especially in our thoughts and prayers.