A MUST WATCH VIDEO
9 YEAR OLD IN US PRISON
THIS HAS TO BE STOPPED!
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est US Crimes. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est US Crimes. Afficher tous les articles
samedi 18 octobre 2008
mardi 14 octobre 2008
Detention has a wide, destructive impact in Iraq: Two Million may be affected
vendredi 10 octobre 2008
Video: THE THIRD NUCLEAR BOMB
Video: THE THIRD NUCLEAR BOMB
THE VETERAN'S ACCUSATION
Maurizio Torrealta, RAINews24
October 9, 2008
THE VETERAN'S ACCUSATION
Maurizio Torrealta, RAINews24
October 9, 2008
and
In the investigative report an American veteran who participated in "Desert Storm" accuses the Us Administration of having used a small nuclear penetration bomb with an energy of 5 kilotons between the Iraqi town of Basra and the border with Iran.
Consulting the "Seismological International Center on line data archive" we found that in the area indicated by the veteran, a seismic event with a power of 5 kilotons was registered the last day of the conflict.
This hint requires a lot of verifications and at RAINEWS24 we want to carry them out involving journalists from other countries, seismological centers that have registered the event, to whom we ask more data about seismic waves and last but not least international organizations that have the task to monitor nuclear activities.
Also in our website:
- Notes on Jim Brown
- The text of our report in Italian and in English
- The video (in Italian and in English)
- Data on the health situation in Basra [The file contains some photoes, crude and realistic, produced by Dr. Jawad al Ali, oncologist of the Basra's hospital] (PowerPoint file - 1,33 MB)
- Data on seismic events in the area registered in February 1991 as reported on the ISC website.
- The 4.2 magnitude datum that we have found during Desert Storm operations
- Comparison table between kilotons and the Richter scale [file doc]
- Seismical data traced in NORSAR seismic monitoring network during March 1, 2 and 3 in 2002 in Afghanistan.
- The text of the 2 letters from the American Defense Department
:: Article nr. 47860 sent on 10-oct-2008 05:20 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=47860
mercredi 21 mai 2008
Depleted Uranium shells used by U.S. Military worse than Nuclear Weapons
David Gutierrez
May 21, 2008(NaturalNews)
The use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions by the U.S. military may lead to a death toll far higher than that from the nuclear bombs dropped at the end of World War II.
DU is a waste product of uranium enrichment, containing approximately one-third the radioactive isotopes of naturally occurring uranium. Because of its high density, it is used in armor- or tank-piercing ammunition. It has been fired by the U.S. and British militaries in the two Iraq wars and in Afghanistan, as well as by NATO forces in Kosovo and the Israeli military in Lebanon and Palestine.
Inhaled or ingested DU particles are highly toxic, and DU has been classified as an illegal weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority has estimated that 50 tons of DU dust from the first Gulf War could lead to 500,000 cancer deaths by the year 2000. To date, a total of 2,000 tons have been generated in the Middle East.
In contrast, approximately 250,000 lives were claimed by the explosions and radiation released by the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki."More than ten times the amount of radiation released during atmospheric testing [of nuclear bombs] has been released from DU weaponry since 1991," said Leuren Moret, a U.S. nuclear scientist. "The genetic future of the Iraqi people, for the most part, is destroyed. The environment now is completely radioactive."
Because DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, the Middle East will, for all practical purposes, be radioactive forever.
The two U.S. wars in Iraq "have been nuclear wars because they have scattered nuclear material across the land, and people, particularly children, are condemned to die of malignancy and congenital disease essentially for eternity," said anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott.
Since the first Gulf War, the rate of birth defects and childhood cancer in Iraq has increased by seven times. More than 35 percent (251,000) of U.S. Gulf War veterans are dead or on permanent medical disability, compared with only 400 who were killed during the conflict.
samedi 10 mai 2008
Shoot, Kill, Lie, Repeat: America's New Moral Universe
Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque
May 9, 2008
Tell me that this doesn't sound like something out of a history of Nazi tactics in World War II:
The rules [of engagement]t explicitly allowed the killing of unarmed Iraqis under certain circumstances...Specifically, the snipers were allowed to shoot unarmed people running away from explosions or firefights....
Of course, it's not unusual for innocent people to run from explosions.Didier, who has since been promoted to captain, said that "if that individual makes contact with you and then breaks contact of their own accord and disarms themselves while they are breaking contact, they are still an engageable target because they are not wounded, nor did they surrender." He explained, "They are only breaking contact so that they can engage coalition forces at a later time." In court, Sgt. Anthony Murphy, one of the snipers who was responsible for a questionable kill, testified that he interpreted this order about breaking contact so they can engage at a later time as: "Engage fleeing local nationals without weapons."
In other words, if an innocent, unarmed Iraqi runs away to seek safety from a suicide bombing, a missile attack or a gunfight -- which any human being would instinctively do -- then he is fair game to be killed by an American sniper.
The excerpt above comes from a story in Salon.com, "Killing by the Numbers," about an "elite" U.S. sniper squad that murdered a captured, unarmed civilian in cold blood. A more detailed excerpt follows below, but I'd like to deal briefly with one ancillary aspect first.
The story expands to talk more generally about the sniper program in Iraq, and is careful -- overly careful -- to emphasize that the snipers responsible for so many "questionable kills" are operating in very stressful conditions: sleep-deprived, sweltering in deadly heat, surrounded by potential "hostiles," at constant risk of attack. All true, of course, but it prompts this simple question: What the hell are they doing there in the first place? Why are they squatting and sweltering in "hides" in a foreign land, looking to kill people who never attacked the United States?
Yes, it is entirely understandable that a soldier subjected to nerve-wracking, physically tormenting conditions might fail to act with reason, patience, judgment and prudence. But is this supposed to be some kind of excuse for crimes committed within the context of a larger crime: a war of aggression, the military invasion and occupation of a foreign country without any provocation?
Surely many of the Nazi atrocities were committed by men under unbearable mental and physical strain as well. So what? Were they absolved of their crimes? And more importantly -- were their leaders absolved for instigating the larger crime that engendered these atrocities?
For as the story also shows, the "questionable kills" by American snipers derive largely from the murderous "rules of engagement" they are given by their superiors -- and by the anxiety of their officers to produce big "kill numbers" to appease the bloodlust -- and PR needs -- of the thugs in the White House and their "counterinsurgency genius," David Petraeus.
But let's return to the story of how a sniper squad murdered Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, an Iraqi vegetable farmer, almost one year ago, after he stumbled upon their "hide" on the banks of the Euphrates.
From Salon.com:
Sandoval, who had been woken by the sound of the Iraqi's approach, motioned toward Vela's gun. Taking the signal, Vela pointed the 9 mm pistol at the farmer's face.
Sandoval woke up Redfern. Redfern and Vela waved the Iraqi into the hide, forced him down on his stomach and put the corner of the plastic poncho over his head. Vela stood over the man with the pistol, while Redfern ran his hands over Khudair's shoulders, arms, sides, back and chest in a cursory search. No weapons.
Vela woke Hensley and told him an unarmed Iraqi was in the hide. Hensley stood up, walked over to the Iraqi -- and from a standing position dropped a knee into his back with the full force of his body.
Khudair threw his head back, gasping for wind. "Staff Sgt. Hensley grabbed him by the mouth," Vela testified, "and told him to shut up or he was going to kill him."Hensley wrapped parachute cord around the Iraqi's hands and Redfern dragged him deeper into the snipers' hide.... Vela said Hensley sat down on the berm for a moment. He then got up and radioed their superior officer, Didier. Hensley reported that he had spotted an Iraqi nearby armed with an AK-47. But Vela couldn't see anyone who matched that description. Vela alerted Hand, who was fading in and out of sleep on a nearby berm, that Hensley "might have seen something." Then Hensley ordered Vela to retrieve his pistol from Sandoval in the pump house....Sandoval peered around the pump house wall to look into the hide.
Khudair was still there. Vela was sitting on his rear, with one leg cocked up and an elbow resting on his knee, holding the pistol in one hand.
Inside the hide, Hensley radioed Didier a second time, saying an insurgent was moving closer to their position. Hensley asked permission to do a "close kill" to avoid being compromised.Vela then looked around, but still didn't see any armed insurgent. "I was just really confused about what he was saying," Vela testified.
Hensley untied the Iraqi. "I thought we were going to let him go," Vela told the Army court."Are you ready?" Hensley allegedly asked Vela.
Hensley stepped aside. "Shoot," he said.
Vela claimed during testimony that he doesn't remember pulling the trigger. "It took me a second to realize that the shot had come from the pistol and it was in my hand."Hensley radioed to Didier that the snipers had killed an insurgent. Meanwhile, the Iraqi's body convulsed.
Hensley "kind of laughed" at the spectacle, according to Vela. Hensley then "[punched] the guy in the throat, and said, 'Shoot him again,' which I did."Vela testified that after he shot the man for the second time, Hensley pulled an AK-47 out of his rucksack and placed it on the body.
The snipers then agreed on a story about the shooting consistent with Hensley's radio calls...Sandoval was charged with murder for the deaths on April 27 and May 11, but convicted only of planting command wire in connection with the April 27 killing. He served about a month and a half in prison.
The Army charged Hensley with three murders for the shootings of April 14, April 27 and May 11. He was convicted of planting a weapon, for placing the AK-47 next to Khudair, and insubordination. He was sentenced to time served and busted down to sergeant.
On February 10, 2008, however, Vela was sentenced to 10 years in a military prison for the murder of Khudair.
It goes without saying that the officers who put these men in this situation -- not to mention the civilian "leaders" in Washington who instigated the mass murder in Iraq -- suffered not the slightest adverse consequence of this crime, for which they bear the primary responsibility.However, it is unlikely that the scapegoat -- and murderer -- Vela will ever serve his whole term for his part in the crime.
The case of a Marine squad who kidnapped and murdered an Iraqi man in Hamdania is instructive on this point, as AP reported this week:
A Marine from Camp Pendleton who was sentenced to 15 years in the brig for killing an Iraqi civilian had his term reduced by four years, the man's attorney said Wednesday.
Rich Brannon, the civilian lawyer for Lawrence G. Hutchins III, said the reduction came after he appealed for clemency to Lt. Gen. Samuel T. Helland, Hutchins' commanding general. "I was pleased to see a reduction, but I would like to see more," Brannon told The Associated Press in a phone call from North Carolina.Hutchins, of Plymouth, Mass., was the leader of an eight-man squad accused of kidnapping Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home in April 2006, then marching him to a ditch and shooting him to death.
The killing took place in Hamdania, a small village in Al Anbar province.
Hutchins was sentenced Aug. 3 after being convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement and larceny. He had been charged with premeditated murder, but premeditation was removed from the verdict, meaning Hutchins no longer faced a mandatory life sentence.
All eight squad members — seven Marines and one Navy corpsmen — were initially charged with murder and kidnapping, but four lower-ranking Marines and the sailor cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison.
Other Marines were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges and freed after their courts-martial.
When even the scapegoats escape justice, what possible hope can there be that the perpetrators and abettors of the Nazi-like war crime in Iraq will ever pay the price -- or even suffer the slightest trouble -- for their monstrous outrage?
Link: www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1506/135/
jeudi 8 mai 2008
U.S. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN IRAQ
Ali Hussein is pulled from the rubble of his home after a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad's Sadr City. The 2-year-old died at a hospital.
Ali Hussein est retiré des ruines de sa maison après une attaque aérienne américaine sur Sadr City. Ce petit garçon âgé de 2 ans est décédé à l'hôpital.
Photo Credit: By Karim Kadim -- Associated Press Photo
A Picture Worth A Thousand Words
Newspaper Criticized For Publishing Photo
By Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist
07/05/08 "Hearst Newspapers" -- --
WASHINGTON -- Some readers resented The Washington Post for publishing an Associated Press photograph of a critically wounded Iraqi child being lifted from the rubble of his home in Baghdad’s Sadr City “after a U.S. airstrike.”
Two-year-old Ali Hussein later died in a hospital.
As the saying goes, the picture was worth a thousand words because it showed the true horrors of this war.
Neither side is immune from the killing of Iraqi civilians. But Americans should be aware of their own responsibility for inflicting death and pain on the innocent.
The Post’s ombudsman, Deborah Howell, said about 20 readers complained about the photo, while a few readers praised the Post for publishing the stark picture on page one.
Some mothers said they were offended that their children might see the picture, though one wonders whether their youngsters watch television and play with violent videos in a pretend world.
From the start of the unprovoked U.S. “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, the government tried to bar the news media from photographing flag-draped coffins of American soldiers returning from Iraq.
A Freedom of Information lawsuit forced the government to release pictures of returning coffins.
Howell said some readers felt the photo of the Iraqi boy was “an anti-war statement; some thought it was in poor taste.” Well, so is war.
Howell said her boss, Executive Editor Len Downie, “is cautious about such photos.”“We have seldom been able to show the human impact of the fighting on Iraqis,” Downie was quoted as saying. “We decided this was a rare instance in which we had a powerful image with which to do so.”It’s unclear to me why this was deemed to be “rare.”
After five years of war, there is finally one photo that is supposed to say it all?
Howell said she checked hundreds of U.S. front pages on the Internet but saw the AP photo nowhere else.
This makes me wonder why the media have shied away from telling the story about Iraqi civilian casualties.
News people and editors were more courageous during the Vietnam War. What are they afraid of now?Who can forget the shocking picture of the little Vietnamese girl running down a road, aflame from a napalm attack? And who can forget the picture of South Vietnamese police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan putting a gun to the temple of a young member of the Viet Cong and executing him on a Saigon street?
I don’t remember any American outcry against the press for showing the horror of war when these photographs were published. Were we braver then? Or maybe more conscience stricken?Of course, the Pentagon did not enjoy such images coming out of Saigon in that era. Most Americans found them appalling, as further evidence of our misbegotten venture in Vietnam.
Americans rallied to the streets in protest and eventually persuaded President Lyndon Johnson to give up his dreams of reelection in 1968.
Some Americans believe the media were to blame for the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. Nonsense.
Johnson knew the war was unwinnable, especially after the 1968 Tet offensive and the request by Army Gen. William Westmoreland for 200,000 more troops, in addition to the 500,000 already in Vietnam.
The Pentagon made a command decision after the Vietnam War to get better control of the dissemination of information in future wars.
This led then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to create an office of disinformation at the start of the Iraqi war. It was later disbanded after howls from the media.
More recently we have seen the Pentagon’s propaganda efforts take the form of carefully coaching retired generals about how to spin the Iraq war when they appear on television as alleged military experts.
The New York Times’ revelations about these pet generals have cast a pall over their reputations.Too often in this war, the news media seem to have tried to shield the public from the suffering this war has brought to Americans and Iraqis.
It’s not the job of the media to protect the nation from the reality of war. Rather, it is up to the media to tell the people the truth. They can handle it.
Helen Thomas can be reached at hthomas@hearstdc.com
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19878.htm
Copyright 2008 by Hearst Newspapers
Click on "comments" below to read or post comments
Comments (28) Comment (0)
jeudi 1 mai 2008
WORLD REMAINS SILENT WHILE INNOCENTS CONTINUE TO BE KILLED BY U.S. AIRSTRIKES IN IRAQ
A woman cries while carrying the body of her son wrapped in white cloth for his funeral in Najaf, 160 km (99 miles) south of Baghdad, April 30, 2008. The boy was among the bodies recovered from a rubble of destroyed houses after an air strike on Tuesday in Sadr City, relatives said.
REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)
REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)
AFP says of Iraqis, "1,745 civilians, 159 policemen and 104 soldiers" were killed in April.
mercredi 30 avril 2008
Sadr City attacks are killing mostly unarmed civilians
Sunni parliamentarian: "Sadr City attacks are killing mostly unarmed civilians"
badger, Arablinks
In this photo 2 year old Ali Hussein is seen being pulled from the rubble of his family’s home in Sadr City Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Ali’s home was one of four destroyed by U.S. missiles. Ali died in hospital a few hours later.(http://gorillasguides.com/2008/04/29/scenes-from-an-iraki-childhood-april-29th-2008/)
April 29, 2008
A member of the Iraqi Accord Front (biggest Sunni bloc in parliament) Ahmed Radhi, who was in Sadr City on Sunday as part of the multi-party sit-in, repeated yesterday the call to implement the group's demands for an end to the crisis, and he said: "The majority of those who are being killed are civilians, and not armed persons."
And another Sunni deputy, Mustafa al-Heeti, from the Iraqi Dialogue Front, said at a press conference with other members of that group: "I urge an end to the military operations, an adoption of the language of dialogue, and an prompt meeting of the council (government executive committee, the so-called three plus one) in order to end the military operations."
Both statements are reported by Aswat al Iraq.
Rather than any easing, there was a dramatic escalation in military operations in Sadr City, where US forces intervened in one case with Abrams tanks, killing 22, and in another case with airstrikes killing 16. (See this summary in AlHayat, among many other accounts). *
And at the same time, the GreenZone and US accusations against Iran have taken on a new stridency. For instance, AlHayat reminds readers that US officials have said the Sadr City campaign is against "special groups" of criminals that are supported by Iran. And here's how Azzaman leads its main story this morning: "Armed groups linked to Iran took advangage of the bad weather for the third time, launching a round of self-propelled Katyusha rockets at various locations in the Green Zone..."
So along with (1) signs of domestic political solidarity against the attacks on Sadr City; and (2) dramatic military escalation in Sadr City; there is also (3) a sharper framing of this as a struggle between Iraq on the one side, and Iranian proxies on the other.
It's worth trying to keep the overall picture in mind, because there is a tendency not only in the corporate media, but in the Washington-based commentary as well, to talk exclusively about the third point, to the almost complete exclusion of the first two. As if America, politically and militarily, was some kind of a passive bystander.
_____________
* Update to Tuesday evening Baghdad time: VOI quotes a medical source who said in the period from 11 am to 6 pm Tuesday April 29, US forces shelled sectors 10 and 11 of Sadr City, causing 24 deaths and 60 injuries. The medical source said most of the victims were women and children. And everyone is silent.
arablinks.blogspot.com/2008/04/sunni-parliamentarian-sadr-city-attacks.html
In this photo 2 year old Ali Hussein is seen being pulled from the rubble of his family’s home in Sadr City Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Ali’s home was one of four destroyed by U.S. missiles. Ali died in hospital a few hours later.(http://gorillasguides.com/2008/04/29/scenes-from-an-iraki-childhood-april-29th-2008/)
April 29, 2008
A member of the Iraqi Accord Front (biggest Sunni bloc in parliament) Ahmed Radhi, who was in Sadr City on Sunday as part of the multi-party sit-in, repeated yesterday the call to implement the group's demands for an end to the crisis, and he said: "The majority of those who are being killed are civilians, and not armed persons."
And another Sunni deputy, Mustafa al-Heeti, from the Iraqi Dialogue Front, said at a press conference with other members of that group: "I urge an end to the military operations, an adoption of the language of dialogue, and an prompt meeting of the council (government executive committee, the so-called three plus one) in order to end the military operations."
Both statements are reported by Aswat al Iraq.
Rather than any easing, there was a dramatic escalation in military operations in Sadr City, where US forces intervened in one case with Abrams tanks, killing 22, and in another case with airstrikes killing 16. (See this summary in AlHayat, among many other accounts). *
And at the same time, the GreenZone and US accusations against Iran have taken on a new stridency. For instance, AlHayat reminds readers that US officials have said the Sadr City campaign is against "special groups" of criminals that are supported by Iran. And here's how Azzaman leads its main story this morning: "Armed groups linked to Iran took advangage of the bad weather for the third time, launching a round of self-propelled Katyusha rockets at various locations in the Green Zone..."
So along with (1) signs of domestic political solidarity against the attacks on Sadr City; and (2) dramatic military escalation in Sadr City; there is also (3) a sharper framing of this as a struggle between Iraq on the one side, and Iranian proxies on the other.
It's worth trying to keep the overall picture in mind, because there is a tendency not only in the corporate media, but in the Washington-based commentary as well, to talk exclusively about the third point, to the almost complete exclusion of the first two. As if America, politically and militarily, was some kind of a passive bystander.
_____________
* Update to Tuesday evening Baghdad time: VOI quotes a medical source who said in the period from 11 am to 6 pm Tuesday April 29, US forces shelled sectors 10 and 11 of Sadr City, causing 24 deaths and 60 injuries. The medical source said most of the victims were women and children. And everyone is silent.
arablinks.blogspot.com/2008/04/sunni-parliamentarian-sadr-city-attacks.html
vendredi 25 avril 2008
U.S. kills 800 in 3 weeks in Sadr city
Sadr city - Men grieving after U.S. raidLaith Jawad, Azzaman
April 24, 2008
U.S. occupation forces have killed more than 800 people, most of them innocent civilians, in their three-week long military campaign to subdue the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, the leader of Sadr movement in Baghdad said.
Sheikh Salaman al-fariji said the troops have also injured more than 1,800 people and caused large-scale destruction of private property and the city’s rickety infrastructure.
Fariji made the remarks as he accompanied a delegation of 20 members of parliament on a tour of the impoverished city home to more than 2 million people.
U.S. troops have imposed a tight embargo on the city and bombing by war planes and helicopter gun ships in the densely populated Baghdad neighborhood continued even during the MPs’ tour.
Falah Shanshal, an MP, said the group would write to the parliament to lift the siege of Sadr City and reach a peaceful solution to the standoff with Mahdi Army.
Mahdi Army is the military wing of Sadr movement which has 30 deputies in parliament.
"The MPs were shocked by the scale of damage," said Fariji.
Shanshal said: "The people of Sadr City undergo horrific humanitarian conditions as a result of U.S. military operations and embargo."
www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-04-24\kurd.htm
April 24, 2008
U.S. occupation forces have killed more than 800 people, most of them innocent civilians, in their three-week long military campaign to subdue the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, the leader of Sadr movement in Baghdad said.
Sheikh Salaman al-fariji said the troops have also injured more than 1,800 people and caused large-scale destruction of private property and the city’s rickety infrastructure.
Fariji made the remarks as he accompanied a delegation of 20 members of parliament on a tour of the impoverished city home to more than 2 million people.
U.S. troops have imposed a tight embargo on the city and bombing by war planes and helicopter gun ships in the densely populated Baghdad neighborhood continued even during the MPs’ tour.
Falah Shanshal, an MP, said the group would write to the parliament to lift the siege of Sadr City and reach a peaceful solution to the standoff with Mahdi Army.
Mahdi Army is the military wing of Sadr movement which has 30 deputies in parliament.
"The MPs were shocked by the scale of damage," said Fariji.
Shanshal said: "The people of Sadr City undergo horrific humanitarian conditions as a result of U.S. military operations and embargo."
www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-04-24\kurd.htm
Gabriele Zamparini: Exchange with Graham Watson Member of European Parliament
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Dream
April 24, 2008
An e-mail exchange with Graham Watson MEP, Member of the European Parliament for South West England and Gibraltar and Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament
Dear Graham,
I hope all is well.
Please find below an e-mail I sent to your colleagues Edward Davey and Nick Clegg.
I kindly invite you too to highlight the human cost of the Iraq war.
Thank you.
Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini
London
email to Liberal Democrats MPs Edward Davey and Nick Clegg RE: Iraq war death toll
Graham Watson's reply:
Dear Gabriele Zamparini
Thank you for copying me in on your email to Edward Davey and Nick Clegg. You may be interested to read a speech I made in the EP on Iraq. It can be found at: [link]
Yours sincerely
Graham Watson MEP
My reply to Graham Watson MEP:
Dear Graham Watson MEP,
Thank you for your reply and for sending the link to the speech you gave on Wednesday, 16 November 2005 at the European Parliament at Strasbourg.
You said then: "Yet after two years and eight months of war, the deaths of countless Iraqis and over 2 000 coalition troops, it is clear that life in Iraq is little better than before."
Yes, "little better" indeed.
Let’s remember that the "before" was when the UN, under the US and UK pressure, imposed an embargo to Iraq, that helped destroyed the country and caused the death of a terrifying number of innocent people. One million? Two millions? Will we ever know?
Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1997-98) said: "I had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that had effectively killed well over a million individuals, children and adults." After thirty-four years with the United Nations, he resigned in protest over the effects of the embargo on the civilian population.
Hans Von Sponeck, who had succeeded Denis Halliday as UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1998-2000), resigned on February 13, 2000. He asked: "How long should the civilian population of Iraq be exposed to such punishment for something they have never done?"
Like Halliday, he had been with the United Nations for more than thirty years. [Source: The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, Verso, 2002]
Then came the US+UK war of aggression, illegal under the UN Charter – as recognised by the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan - and called at Nuremberg in 1945 the supreme international crime: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." - Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Trial of German Major War Criminals - Nuremberg, Germany 1946
I was glad to read in the second part of your speech, the first of your three concerns: "First, the Pentagon’s acknowledgement a few hours ago that the US used phosphorous incendiary devices in Fallujah.
The European Union must demand a UN inquiry into the use of these banned weapons." This was in November 2005.
Please, may I ask you if the European Union demanded that UN inquiry?
Most importantly, I would kindly like to have your attention on one point. Once again, as the media watch FAIR wrote a few weeks ago: "There is no more important question about the Iraq War than the question of how many Iraqis have died. It is impossible to truly evaluate the war or discuss where to go from here without knowing the human cost of the war, and that cost has overwhelmingly been borne by Iraqis."
Please, it would be possible for the European Parliament to ask for an investigation on the human cost of the Iraq war?
Thank you again for your time and all you’ll be able to do on this issue.
Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini
London
P.S. Useful resources:
Iraq: the Human CostUpdated Iraq Survey Affirms Earlier Mortality EstimatesORB Update on Iraqi Casualty DataAnswers to Questions About Iraq Mortality SurveysCounting Iraqi Casualties -- and a Media ControversyWhat is the real death toll in Iraq?Iraqi deaths survey 'was robust'
www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2008/04/exchange-with-graham-watson-mep-leader.htm
April 24, 2008
An e-mail exchange with Graham Watson MEP, Member of the European Parliament for South West England and Gibraltar and Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament
Dear Graham,
I hope all is well.
Please find below an e-mail I sent to your colleagues Edward Davey and Nick Clegg.
I kindly invite you too to highlight the human cost of the Iraq war.
Thank you.
Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini
London
email to Liberal Democrats MPs Edward Davey and Nick Clegg RE: Iraq war death toll
Graham Watson's reply:
Dear Gabriele Zamparini
Thank you for copying me in on your email to Edward Davey and Nick Clegg. You may be interested to read a speech I made in the EP on Iraq. It can be found at: [link]
Yours sincerely
Graham Watson MEP
My reply to Graham Watson MEP:
Dear Graham Watson MEP,
Thank you for your reply and for sending the link to the speech you gave on Wednesday, 16 November 2005 at the European Parliament at Strasbourg.
You said then: "Yet after two years and eight months of war, the deaths of countless Iraqis and over 2 000 coalition troops, it is clear that life in Iraq is little better than before."
Yes, "little better" indeed.
Let’s remember that the "before" was when the UN, under the US and UK pressure, imposed an embargo to Iraq, that helped destroyed the country and caused the death of a terrifying number of innocent people. One million? Two millions? Will we ever know?
Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1997-98) said: "I had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that had effectively killed well over a million individuals, children and adults." After thirty-four years with the United Nations, he resigned in protest over the effects of the embargo on the civilian population.
Hans Von Sponeck, who had succeeded Denis Halliday as UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1998-2000), resigned on February 13, 2000. He asked: "How long should the civilian population of Iraq be exposed to such punishment for something they have never done?"
Like Halliday, he had been with the United Nations for more than thirty years. [Source: The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, Verso, 2002]
Then came the US+UK war of aggression, illegal under the UN Charter – as recognised by the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan - and called at Nuremberg in 1945 the supreme international crime: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." - Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Trial of German Major War Criminals - Nuremberg, Germany 1946
I was glad to read in the second part of your speech, the first of your three concerns: "First, the Pentagon’s acknowledgement a few hours ago that the US used phosphorous incendiary devices in Fallujah.
The European Union must demand a UN inquiry into the use of these banned weapons." This was in November 2005.
Please, may I ask you if the European Union demanded that UN inquiry?
Most importantly, I would kindly like to have your attention on one point. Once again, as the media watch FAIR wrote a few weeks ago: "There is no more important question about the Iraq War than the question of how many Iraqis have died. It is impossible to truly evaluate the war or discuss where to go from here without knowing the human cost of the war, and that cost has overwhelmingly been borne by Iraqis."
Please, it would be possible for the European Parliament to ask for an investigation on the human cost of the Iraq war?
Thank you again for your time and all you’ll be able to do on this issue.
Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini
London
P.S. Useful resources:
Iraq: the Human CostUpdated Iraq Survey Affirms Earlier Mortality EstimatesORB Update on Iraqi Casualty DataAnswers to Questions About Iraq Mortality SurveysCounting Iraqi Casualties -- and a Media ControversyWhat is the real death toll in Iraq?Iraqi deaths survey 'was robust'
www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2008/04/exchange-with-graham-watson-mep-leader.htm
mercredi 23 avril 2008
U.S. snipers accused of targeting civilians in Sadr City
Residents, doctors of Baghdad's Sadr City say US snipers deliberately shoot civilians in feet, stomachs.
April 22, 2008BAGHDAD - Civilians caught up in the crossfire during raging street battles between Shiite militiamen and security forces in Baghdad's Shiite bastion Sadr City are blaming an unseen danger – US military snipers.
At least 321 people have been killed in Sadr City since March 25 and hundreds more wounded, many of them brought to hospitals with wounds that doctors say appear to be caused by high-powered rifles and "American bullets."
US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover dismissed claims that US snipers are targeting women and children as "preposterous" and said the wounds could be the result of "un-aimed" militia fire.
Residents of Sadr City, however, bastion of the Shiite militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, blame US snipers whenever someone is shot in the stomach or the legs.
The mother of Ali Murtatha, a three-year-old boy lying with bullet wounds to his stomach in Al-Sadr hospital, has no doubt that her only son was shot by a US sniper.
"An American sniper shot my child. Who else would shoot my boy? The place where we stay is tense. There are American soldiers everywhere near us," she said as she watched over him on his hospital bed, where he is lying with bandages on his stomach and an oxygen tube in his nose.
His mother, Umm Murtatha, says he was shot outside his home in a southern sector of the impoverished slum district, which is criss-crossed by tiny lanes lined with small overcrowded homes.
In the same hospital, Tharwat Abbas, aged 26, lies under a heavy blanket in one of the hospital's few air-conditioned rooms on the ground floor.
Abbas has two bullet wounds -- one in the stomach, the other in his left thigh."There was some random shooting in our area. After a while it stopped and I stepped out of my house to fetch my younger brother when suddenly I was shot twice," Abbas said.
He too believes the bullets were fired by a US sharpshooter."I don't know who shot me but I believe it was an American soldier," he said.
Medics at Al-Sadr Hospital say some bullet wounds are difficult to explain as being caused by random fire."Random shots usually hit anywhere, but these people have wounds on specific parts of the body ... like their stomachs and legs," said Doctor Ala Haider.
He said some patients had been cut down by bullets that appear to have been fired by US forces." During the operations on the patients we found bullets inside the bodies. They were American bullets. We can distinguish the American bullets from the Iraqis," he said.
Lawmaker from Sadr's political bloc, Falah Shanshal, backed the widespread claims by locals that US snipers have been targeting residents of Sadr City since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shiite militants."American snipers are on the roof-tops. They have killed many people. It has become difficult to move now, especially in the evenings," he said.
The US military dismissed the allegations."No American soldier is targeting innocent civilians of any age. We don't do that," Lieutenant Colonel Stover, spokesman for the US military command in Baghdad told."Allegations that we would target innocent teenagers, children, women and men are preposterous. Tell the mother of the three-year-old our hearts go out to her, but her son was not targeted by an American sniper."
Observers say, however, the US military is well known for its indiscriminate fire whenever they come under attack.
www.middle-east-online.com/english/features/?id=25503
www.middle-east-online.com/english/features/?id=25503
jeudi 14 février 2008
The destruction of Al-Ameriya Civilian Shelter by the U.S. 17 years ago
Al-Ameriya Shelter Abri d'Al Ameriya
Photos taken during our first visit to the shelter on 1st March 1992
Photos prises lors de notre première visite de l'abri le 1er mars 1992
BOMBING A CIVILIAN SHELTER IS
A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
BOMBARDER UN ABRI CIVIL
EST UN CRIME CONTRE L'HUMANITE
Seventeen years ago, during the night of 13-14 February 1991 the U.S. sent 2 laser guided missiles to destroy the Ameriya Shelter in Baghdad, killing several hundreds civilians, the majority of whom were women and children who had sought refuge there.
When we visited Al-Ameriya one year after the U.S. attack, all the houses around the shelter still had black banners with the names of their relatives who had died inside the shelter during that terrible night.
Il y a 17 ans, pendant la nuit du 13-14 février 1991, les Etats Unis ont envoyé 2 missiles sur l'abri civil d'Al Ameriya à Bagdad, tuant plusieurs centaines de civils, la majorité d'entre eux étaient des femmes et des enfants qui s'y étaient réfugié lors des bombardements américains sur les quartiers résidentiels de Bagdad.
See VIDEO :
1991, USA Crime in Iraq جريمة أمريكية في العراق
and also:
mardi 5 février 2008
US soldiers storm a house in Baghdad and kill unarmed Iraqi family
An Iraqi couple and their son, 19, have been killed when US soldiers stormed a tiny one-room house north of Baghdad.The US military says its troops killed the two men in self-defence after gunfire came from the house, but local people say the victims were unarmed.
At least one of the couple's daughters was also wounded in the raid, in the village of al-Dawr, near Tikrit.
The military said it was unclear who had fired at the female casualties and the incident is being investigated.
'Immediate fire'
A cousin of the those killed in al-Dawr (about 175km or 110 miles north of Baghdad) said he watched the killings from his house across the street.
Karim Hamad told Associated Press news agency that at about 2300 local time on Monday night US soldiers opened the door to the house and immediately opened fire, killing or injuring its unarmed occupants.
He identified the dead as Ali Hamad Shihab, 55, and his wife Naima Sulaiman, 40, and their son Diya, who was a member of a US-backed anti-al-Qaeda militia.
He said the two wounded daughters were transported to hospitals and one of them had died.
AP says an Iraqi police officer speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed Mr Hamad's account.
The US military said the raid was based on intelligence from an informant.
It expressed regret at "the loss of an innocent civilian (in reference to Ms Sulaiman) and the wounding of the child, who is currently receiving medical care" at a US military hospital.
The US statement did not mention the girl said to have died, who may have been taken to an Iraqi hospital.
The US statement did not mention the girl said to have died, who may have been taken to an Iraqi hospital.
Correspondents say killings of Iraqi civilians by US soldiers have put strains the relations between the US and Iraq.
On Monday the military said US troops had killed nine civilians, including a child, in strikes south of Baghdad on Saturday.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7228428.stm
lundi 4 février 2008
20 IRAQI CIVILIANS KILLED IN US STRIKE
US admits killing Iraqi civilians
The US military has admitted accidentally killing nine Iraqi civilians, including a child, during raids south of Baghdad.
In a statement, it said the civilian deaths occurred on Saturday near the town of Iskandariya, 50km (30 miles) from the Iraqi capital.
It added that three more civilians, two of them children, were wounded "as coalition forces pursued al-Qaeda".
Witnesses say 20 people were killed in an US air strike in the area.
They said the dead included 17 members of the same family.
In a statement, the US military said: "Shortly after the incident, coalition forces leaders met with a sheikh representing the citizens of the local area.
"The incident is under investigation. We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life."
It gave no further details.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7225613.stm
The US military has admitted accidentally killing nine Iraqi civilians, including a child, during raids south of Baghdad.
In a statement, it said the civilian deaths occurred on Saturday near the town of Iskandariya, 50km (30 miles) from the Iraqi capital.
It added that three more civilians, two of them children, were wounded "as coalition forces pursued al-Qaeda".
Witnesses say 20 people were killed in an US air strike in the area.
They said the dead included 17 members of the same family.
In a statement, the US military said: "Shortly after the incident, coalition forces leaders met with a sheikh representing the citizens of the local area.
"The incident is under investigation. We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life."
It gave no further details.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7225613.stm
vendredi 1 février 2008
Les crimes de l’Occident contre l’Irak continuent
En Irak, des négociations cruciales pour le pays occupé se dérouleront ce 31 janvier 2008 à Amman, sans doute faute d’espace « sécurisé » à offrir aux partenaires économiques. En effet, la Jordanie depuis Septembre Noir 1971 au cours duquel l’essentiel des Palestiniens patriotes a été expulsé et plus encore depuis septembre 2001, constitue plus qu’Israël un îlot de stabilité encadré par les services de renseignement étasuniens fonctionnant comme une base à la fois militaire et politique dans l’Orient arabe.
Le porte-parole du ministère irakien du Pétrole ne précise pas les compagnies étrangères représentées dans le marchandage pour l’exploitation de cinq champ pétrolifères actuels, mais tout porte à croire qu’il s’agit de BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron et Total. Sous couvert de soutien technique à apporter aux sites déjà répertoriés et plus ou moins actifs, ce sont cinq nouvelles régions qui seraient proposées à l’exploration et l’exploitation par ces multinationales prédatrices.
Une première rencontre a eu lieu en décembre qui a initié ces cycles de ventes aux sociétés privées occidentales, sans que le simulacre de Parlement élu sous les auspices de la puissance militaire occupante n’en soit saisi.Dans le sillage de la préparation de cette immense forfaiture et dépossession d’un peuple de ses ressources, lors de l’examen de la situation en Irak par le Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU, la Russie, puissance énergétique qui travaille avec assiduité et quelque succès à organiser un consortium gazier et pétrolier, et qui fait pièce aux firmes occidentales, est intervenue en exigeant, le terme est précis, le retrait des sociétés mercenaires privées d’Irak.
Estimés à plus de 100 000 individus, les soldats privés payés par le contribuable étasunien ont un statut diplomatique d’immunité qui les autorise à semer la terreur, viols, vols, assassinats perpétrés sur la population. Ils sont en réalité l’élément majeur du dispositif de l’oppression coloniale. Ce sont eux qui assurent la « sécurisation » des convois militaires et qui auraient en charge la surveillance des points stratégiques d’exploitation du pétrole.
Sans ces bandes de tueurs fous, anciens soldats pour la plupart, convaincus de crimes innombrables, et certains de leur impunité, la domination étasunienne sur le terrain serait une pure fiction, car la seule autonomie dont se prévaut l’armée régulière est réduite à des attaques aériennes massives, aveugles, tellement non discriminantes que l’on se demande si elles ne se font pas aléatoirement. Des centaines de tonnes de bombes sont larguées par semaine.
La Résistance irakienne est fière d’avoir fait savoir qu’elle est capable de détruire les MRAP, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, nouveaux blindés conçus pour résister mieux que les Humvee aux petites bombes artisanales. Les forces d’occupation ont reconnu avoir perdu un soldat mitrailleur le 19 janvier lors d’une explosion au passage d’un MRAP. Le programme de remplacement des chars en Irak coûtera la bagatelle d’une vingtaine de milliards.
L’Irak détient un certain nombre de records dans les items de la destruction d’une nation par la coalition des nations occidentales prédatrices.Parmi eux, le nombre de mines anti-personnelles qui ont été semées par les démocraties promotrices des droits de l’homme est impressionnant. Il est dénombré plus de mines que d’Irakiens soit une trentaine de millions, une belle performance qui rend impossible l’agriculture dans un pays envahi depuis bientôt cinq années.
Tuer, terroriser, affamer, les constantes de l’impérialisme européen de l’extermination des peuples indigènes sont transposées ad integrum par les US(a).La Résistance s’affronte d’abord aux collaborateurs autochtones car l’ennemi a enrôlé des supplétifs locaux derrière lesquels il se tapit. Ses actes sont toujours audacieux, et sans limitation sur tout le territoire national.Les récentes attaques sur des chefs de police irakienne en témoignent.
Par ailleurs, huit hommes armés de la résistance irakienne ont attaqué un check point tenu par une unité du corps de mercenaires irakiens nouvellement formé par le Général Petraeus, le Conseil du Réveil, au Nord Est de Fallouja, dans la région de Zeraa Dagla.Ce lundi 21 janvier, ils ont tué quatre membres de l’unité et en ont blessé deux, perdant deux des leurs.
Les nouveaux collaborateurs sont en train d’apprendre que le salaire de 300 dollars par mois est largement insuffisant pour le risque encouru car la guérilla peut fondre avec célérité et disparaître tout aussitôt. Ce salaire est très inférieur à celui des contractants étasuniens qui sont beaucoup moins exposés. Comme pour les soldats de la nouvelle armée que les occupants tentent de former depuis 2003, les instructeurs US dénombrent déjà de nombreuses défections dans cette unité de mercenaires irakiens.
Convergence des Causes
26 janvier 2008
Le porte-parole du ministère irakien du Pétrole ne précise pas les compagnies étrangères représentées dans le marchandage pour l’exploitation de cinq champ pétrolifères actuels, mais tout porte à croire qu’il s’agit de BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron et Total. Sous couvert de soutien technique à apporter aux sites déjà répertoriés et plus ou moins actifs, ce sont cinq nouvelles régions qui seraient proposées à l’exploration et l’exploitation par ces multinationales prédatrices.
Une première rencontre a eu lieu en décembre qui a initié ces cycles de ventes aux sociétés privées occidentales, sans que le simulacre de Parlement élu sous les auspices de la puissance militaire occupante n’en soit saisi.Dans le sillage de la préparation de cette immense forfaiture et dépossession d’un peuple de ses ressources, lors de l’examen de la situation en Irak par le Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU, la Russie, puissance énergétique qui travaille avec assiduité et quelque succès à organiser un consortium gazier et pétrolier, et qui fait pièce aux firmes occidentales, est intervenue en exigeant, le terme est précis, le retrait des sociétés mercenaires privées d’Irak.
Estimés à plus de 100 000 individus, les soldats privés payés par le contribuable étasunien ont un statut diplomatique d’immunité qui les autorise à semer la terreur, viols, vols, assassinats perpétrés sur la population. Ils sont en réalité l’élément majeur du dispositif de l’oppression coloniale. Ce sont eux qui assurent la « sécurisation » des convois militaires et qui auraient en charge la surveillance des points stratégiques d’exploitation du pétrole.
Sans ces bandes de tueurs fous, anciens soldats pour la plupart, convaincus de crimes innombrables, et certains de leur impunité, la domination étasunienne sur le terrain serait une pure fiction, car la seule autonomie dont se prévaut l’armée régulière est réduite à des attaques aériennes massives, aveugles, tellement non discriminantes que l’on se demande si elles ne se font pas aléatoirement. Des centaines de tonnes de bombes sont larguées par semaine.
La Résistance irakienne est fière d’avoir fait savoir qu’elle est capable de détruire les MRAP, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, nouveaux blindés conçus pour résister mieux que les Humvee aux petites bombes artisanales. Les forces d’occupation ont reconnu avoir perdu un soldat mitrailleur le 19 janvier lors d’une explosion au passage d’un MRAP. Le programme de remplacement des chars en Irak coûtera la bagatelle d’une vingtaine de milliards.
L’Irak détient un certain nombre de records dans les items de la destruction d’une nation par la coalition des nations occidentales prédatrices.Parmi eux, le nombre de mines anti-personnelles qui ont été semées par les démocraties promotrices des droits de l’homme est impressionnant. Il est dénombré plus de mines que d’Irakiens soit une trentaine de millions, une belle performance qui rend impossible l’agriculture dans un pays envahi depuis bientôt cinq années.
Tuer, terroriser, affamer, les constantes de l’impérialisme européen de l’extermination des peuples indigènes sont transposées ad integrum par les US(a).La Résistance s’affronte d’abord aux collaborateurs autochtones car l’ennemi a enrôlé des supplétifs locaux derrière lesquels il se tapit. Ses actes sont toujours audacieux, et sans limitation sur tout le territoire national.Les récentes attaques sur des chefs de police irakienne en témoignent.
Par ailleurs, huit hommes armés de la résistance irakienne ont attaqué un check point tenu par une unité du corps de mercenaires irakiens nouvellement formé par le Général Petraeus, le Conseil du Réveil, au Nord Est de Fallouja, dans la région de Zeraa Dagla.Ce lundi 21 janvier, ils ont tué quatre membres de l’unité et en ont blessé deux, perdant deux des leurs.
Les nouveaux collaborateurs sont en train d’apprendre que le salaire de 300 dollars par mois est largement insuffisant pour le risque encouru car la guérilla peut fondre avec célérité et disparaître tout aussitôt. Ce salaire est très inférieur à celui des contractants étasuniens qui sont beaucoup moins exposés. Comme pour les soldats de la nouvelle armée que les occupants tentent de former depuis 2003, les instructeurs US dénombrent déjà de nombreuses défections dans cette unité de mercenaires irakiens.
Convergence des Causes
26 janvier 2008
jeudi 10 janvier 2008
Chief rabbi thanks chief US war criminal for waging an illegal war against Iraq
Jewish 'religious' chief has no qualms about the genocide committed on the Iraqi people
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517338408&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FS
Excerpt:
Chief rabbi thanks Bush for 'war against Iraq'
MATTHEW WAGNER, Jerusalem Post
January 9, 2008
Excerpt:
Chief rabbi thanks Bush for 'war against Iraq'
MATTHEW WAGNER, Jerusalem Post
January 9, 2008
During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq."I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief rabbi's spokesman.
Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his heart."….
In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.
Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the Sikh and Muslim religions.
dimanche 6 janvier 2008
Hail Caesar? Hussein Al-alak, The Iraq Solidarity Campaign
It would come as no surprise, if an entire generation of Iraqi boys were born to bear the name of Caesar Saadi Al-Jibouri, the Iraqi soldier who recently killed three American soldiers after seeing them kicking down the door of a house in Mosul and assaulting a pregnant woman.Angered by the actions, it has been reported that Caesar opened fire on the US troops and killed two soldiers and a captain but now, like many other Iraqi’s in the “democratic” country, Caesar is languishing in a Government prison, although his actions have not gone unnoticed.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-akhbar have reported, that in the streets of Mosul, graffiti has appeared on walls proclaiming “Well done Caesar!” with groups also distributing leaflets sending their greetings and congratulations to the Iraqi soldier.
Praise has also been given by the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq, claiming that Caesar is a “hero” and have called upon the Iraqi police force and Army to look upon his response to repression as being that of a “role model”.But what is rarely debated within the West, is where such reactions do come from and undoubtedly some will claim this is an “isolated incident” and bares no connection to the fact, that inside of Iraq, there currently exists a minimum of five million orphaned children.
Unlike the empty promises and false allegations of Western leaders, the killing of the US soldiers was a direct response to the death, destruction and misery which the US and UK have brought with them to Iraq but more importantly, it was an act of defence and a reflection of the reality which Al-Jibouri and millions of Iraqis are facing daily.
The British and American governments have ignored the repeated warnings, which have been given to them, such as those by the Independents 23/6/2005 State of the Nation report, which stated that “more young people today are illiterate in Iraq than in previous generations,” and that “Almost a quarter of children between the ages of six months and five years suffer from malnutrition.”
The West also fell silent to the Association of Iraqi Psychologists, who also announced in 2005 that there had been an increase in learning impediments, brought on by the fear of guns, bullets, death and a general “fear of the US occupation.”
Whilst the world cheered the murder of Saddam Hussein, the Iraq Solidarity Campaign published several article’s in Feb 2006 which stated that around two million Iraqi families were living below the poverty line, with many “war widows being forced to separate their families“ and with poverty growing to such a degree, consistent reports have left the country of people being forced to eat out of rubbish dumps.
In post invasion Iraq, there are families who through fear and the economic situation who are actually selling their children, with the hope that somebody may be able to provide these traumatised kids with a semblance of stability, whilst other people are turning to alcohol, drugs and prostitution, as a financial alternative to the forced separation of families.But with over one million dead and millions displaced, normality for Iraq’s children is highly unlikely, when you also consider the fact that nearly 400,000 of these children, are suffering from a condition called “wasting”, which is characterised by chronic diarrhoea and high deficiencies of protein.
Even as refugees there has been no escape, with the aid agency CARE International reporting last year, that “many disorders in Jordan relate to gender based violence among Iraqi refugees. "There are many Iraqi refugees living in Jordan under extremely poor conditions, a situation that can lead a frustrated husband who cannot find a job to beat his wife."
“Also prevalent is Post Traumatic Symptom Disorder (PTSD), affecting men, women and children, who were exposed to torture or witnessed the killing of a family member.”
One example given by the charity was of a child who witnessed his “father’s murder while driving with him and has since developed PTSD. According to counsellors, the child keeps drawing graves with his father’s face on it, as well as red and black cars”, which represent the colours of both his fathers and the killers vehicles.
The situation for the Iraqi people, is likely to deteriorate further, as the dictatorship of Nouri Al-Maliki is preparing to cut the already meagre rationing system and will render the majority of Iraqi families into further poverty and destitution, in an oil rich country which is already impoverished and destitute.Such cuts to the food rationing system will only increase the difficulties and tensions facing the population, as one health worker told Dahr Jamail of the International Press Service last month: "I and my wife have five boys and six girls so the ration costs a lot when it has to be bought. I cannot afford food and other expenses like study, clothes and doctors."
The most deprived layers of Iraqi society are also going to face the prospect of malnutrition and outright starvation, with one mother telling Al Jazeerah: "If they reduce the quantity of the ration, we will be displaced [made homeless] as the money to pay bills will have to be used for food. If we are considered a poor family today, tomorrow we will be considered absolutely desperate."
It is most probable with these reasons, why Caesar Saadi would have pulled the trigger, which killed the illegally occupying US soldiers and their Captain but unlike the US soldiers who were found guilty of the Abu Ghraib “scandal”, I doubt Caesar will receive a slap on the wrists and a few months in a comfortable prison cell.
For his actions, I am sure we will hear families shouting the name “Caesar” throughout the streets of Iraq.
samedi 5 janvier 2008
US occupation forces kill innocent Iraqi civilian and his son in Mosul
The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) described the criminal acts committed by the American occupation forces in Mosul City as disregard for all human values.
The occupation forces killed a civilian with his son in their home in Mosul City arresting a woman.
At the press statement issued on 24 Dhil Hijja 1428 / 2 January 2008 AMSI told that the blood of innocent Iraqis will not go in vain. It will be a fire on whom they are indulging sooner or later insaallah.
The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) condemned this heinous crime; carried the occupation forces fully responsible, calling immediate release of the detainees including a boy and a woman.
The media had reported news of the crimes committed by the occupation forces in the in Mosul on 27/12/2007.
AMSI also worked through the use of the identification of some undisclosed details of this heinous crime.
AMSI revealed that the American forces raided the home of Danoun Younis Khayyat17 Dhil Hijjah 1428. One soldier shot him, killing instantly. Another soldier opened fire on his son (Zaid) while he was lifting his head from his bed after awaking up and killed him as well. Then occupation forces searched the house, broke the furniture, detained all women in the bathroom, pouring cold water on them while passing through the scene to show him the dead people and horror.
The American soldiers set an operating system in the home, they conducted it to be loud, and then forces withdrew after left the house. The occupation forces arrested 14 years old boy.
The day after the incident some occupation soldiers contact with the American occupation troops across hotline (Hot line) about two deceased martyrs. One speaker said to them – after being questioned by the leadership – they were sorry; they killed the man and his son wrongly, it is not his son, the person sought in that task! !.
AMSI Net
http://heyetnet.org/en/content/view/2396/1/
Iraqi soldier killed US soldiers for kicking a pregnant Iraqi woman
Roads to Iraq
Reported on many Iraqi news sites, an Iraqi soldier killed two American soldiers and a captain for kicking a pregnant Iraqi woman.
The incident happened three days ago when an Iraqi soldier "Caesar Saadi" joined the American occupation forces in a raid in Mosul, he opened fire after he saw the American soldiers started to beat and kick an Iraqi pregnant woman.
Lebanese newspaper Al-akhbar reported today the story added:In the streets of Mosul, graffiti appeared on the walls yesterday saying:
Well done Caesar!
Also, people in the city are distributing leaflets saying the same text.Caesar is now in custody accused with killing three Americans.d US Soldiers
Reported on many Iraqi news sites, an Iraqi soldier killed two American soldiers and a captain for kicking a pregnant Iraqi woman.
The incident happened three days ago when an Iraqi soldier "Caesar Saadi" joined the American occupation forces in a raid in Mosul, he opened fire after he saw the American soldiers started to beat and kick an Iraqi pregnant woman.
Lebanese newspaper Al-akhbar reported today the story added:In the streets of Mosul, graffiti appeared on the walls yesterday saying:
Well done Caesar!
Also, people in the city are distributing leaflets saying the same text.Caesar is now in custody accused with killing three Americans.d US Soldiers
U.S. criminals kill two civilians, including one child in Tel Afar
Reuter reports:
TAL AFAR - Two civilians, including one child, died when U.S. forces returned fire after a roadside bomb struck a convoy that included the police chief of the town of Tal Afar 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi police Brigadier-General Mohammed al-Wagaa said.
The morgue in the town confirmed the deaths of the two civilians. . .
TAL AFAR - Two civilians, including one child, died when U.S. forces returned fire after a roadside bomb struck a convoy that included the police chief of the town of Tal Afar 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi police Brigadier-General Mohammed al-Wagaa said.
The morgue in the town confirmed the deaths of the two civilians. . .
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)
