Republished from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism

October 22nd, 2010 |  by Yuba Bessaoud

When the Iraq Study Group published its report on December 6 2006 – a month to the day after Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation – their opinion was clear from the first line:

“The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.”

On the same day 123 secret logs, including reports of the murder of 128 civilians, were filed.*

From synchronised attacks on higher education ministers and officials, to a series of closely timed Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosions in Sadr City, the following entries, revealed here for the first time, underline the routine violence that had become an everyday occurrence.

The first report of violence is logged before daybreak.

0450: Baghdad – Patrol finds a dead body with a “GSW” – gunshot wound.

0545: Kirkuk – Explosion reported at interpreter’s house.

0650: Baghdad – Civilian corpse found “handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the        head”.

0700: Baghdad – Corpse found handcuffed, blindfolded and shot dead in Sadr City.

0750: Iskandariyah – “17-20-year-old” found shot in the head.

0800: Baghdad – Man found shot in head.

0806: Baghdad – “AIF” (Anti-Iraqi Forces) kill a man.

0825: Iskandariyah – IED ignites fire, kills one and wounds four Iraqis.

0825: Baghdad – University worker shot dead by AIF.

0830: Iskandariyah – IED explodes in garage killing four and injuring 12.

0830: Baghdad – Unknown corpse found.

0840: Baghdad – Two unknown corpses found shot in the head.

0900: Baghdad – Private security contractor is killed protecting the government’s minister for higher education (who is wounded).

0900: Baghdad –[in related attack] Higher education ministry driver is killed and ministry employee injured after attack by AIF.

0900: Baghdad – Man killed by AIF.

0910: Mosul – Male found with gunshot and axe wounds to the head.

0935: Baghdad – AIF kill Iraqi.

0945: Baghdad – Mahdi Army (JAM) suspected of killing of “high ranking” Ba’ath Party member.

0950: Mosul – AIF kill Iraqi male.

1010: Baghdad – Patrol finds four Iraqis – three murdered, one still alive. Wounded person is “medevaced” (medical evacuation).

1010: Baghdad – Two dead and two wounded people found after shooting.

1015: Baghdad – Corpse shot in the head.

1030: Khan Azad – AIF kill Iraqi.

1040: Al Musaiyib – Two people found shot in head.

1045: Baghdad – Corpse found.

1050: Baghdad – Mortar round kills eight Iraqis, injures 41 more.

1055: Baghdad – 30-40-year-old male found shot in head.

1100: Baghdad – AIF kill man.

1106: Baghdad – Man in mid–20s found dead.

1110: Baghdad – Unknown corpse found.

1100: Baghdad – Corpse found shot in head.

1120: Baghdad – Corpse found killed.

1130: Baghdad – 15 people killed and 25 injured in IED attack outside old Ministry of Defence building.

1145: Mosul – IED explodes killing one Iraqi.

1155: Baghdad – Two corpses found shot in head.

1155: Baghdad – Corpse found shot dead near power station.

1159: Baghdad (Sadr City) – IED kills three and wounds eight.

1200: Baghdad – AIF kill two Iraqis.

1206: Baghdad – Corpse found.

1215: Baghdad – AIF kill three Iraqi men.

1220: Baghdad – Two unknown corpses found.

1220: Baghdad (Sadr City) – IED kills one woman, injures 22.

1230: Baghdad – Two corpses found shot in head.

1240: Baghdad – Man in late-30s found shot in head.

1250: Baghdad – Bodies of two murdered Iraqi males found with gunshot wounds (GSW) to the head.

1300: Baghdad – Two corpses found.

1330: Baghdad – AIF kill Iraqi man.

1335: Baghdad – Unknown corpse found.

1335: Baghdad – Corpse found.

1355: Baghdad – Four bodies found.

1355: Baghdad – Two Iraqi males in their 30s found dead with their arms “zip tied behind their backs”.

1355: Baghdad – Two corpses found.

1400: Baghdad – University director assassinated.

1400: Baghdad – ( a second) University director killed.

1400: Basra – AIF attack British troops. One soldier and five civilians killed.

1400: Baghdad – Police report two bodies found.

1400: Mosul – AIF shoot and kill Iraqi man.

1406: Diyala Province – Two truck drivers found dead.

1411: Baghdad – Corpse found.

1416: Baghdad – Body found with “hands and feet bound”.

1436: Baghdad – “Christian” male in 40s found in truck with GSW to chest.

1458: Baghdad – 30-year-old male with GSWs to both eyes, broken teeth and crushed forehead found at “dump site”.

1500: Baghdad – Police report dead body.

1528: Baghdad – Two explosions after a gunfight kill one Iraqi and injure two more.

1530: Central Iraq – Checkpoint attacked by AIF killing eight civilians and wounding five. One policeman also killed.

1530: Baghdad – Body found with GSW to head.

1553: Baghdad – Corpse found.

1600: Baghdad – Body found near mosque.

1610: Baghdad – Corpse found.

1610: Baghdad – Corpse found shot in head.

1635: Baghdad – AIF disguised as police kill and rob Iraqi male at his house.

1635: Baghdad – Two males, 46 and 42 years old, found “shot in top of the head”.

1645: Baghdad – 35-year-old man found shot once to left wrist, five times to chest, once to the stomach and once to the head.

1651: Baghdad – 17-year-old female shot in “head and torso” found in “trash pile”.

1654: Baghdad – 50-year-old male found shot in head.

1701: Baghdad – 40-year-old male found shot twice to head and twice to body.

1720: Baghdad – Two bodies found with unknown causes of death.

1720: Baghdad – Two bodies found near primary school.

1730: Baghdad – Police find body in industrial zone.

1730: Baghdad – Unidentified corpse shot in head.

1735: Baghdad – Police report death of Iraqi male.

1735: Baghdad – AIF shoot man dead.

1800: Baghdad – Unknown male found shot in head.

1800: Baghdad – Police report body found.

1830: Baghdad – Mortar kills civilian.

1845: Baghdad – Man “assassinated”.

1900: Basra – Two Katyusha rockets hit two houses, killing a girl and wounding three others.

1900: Baghdad – Mortar kills civilian.

1940: Baghdad – Unknown corpse found shot in head.

1950: Baghdad – Unknown female found shot in head.

1950: Basra – AIF shoot and kill watchman at medical clinic.

2000: Baghdad – Iraqi working for US killed by gunmen at his home.

2200: MND (Multinational Division)-Central – AIF shoot possible former Ba’ath Party member.

2215: Baghdad – Corpse blindfolded, handcuffed and with signs of torture found shot in head.

2344: Ash Shamiyah – Shop owner and former Ba’ath Party member shot in head and chest.

*In the interests of security for the families of the individuals concerned – some of whom are named in the documents – no logs have been made available for this story.