Violence breaks out in Iraq amidst “dire” human rights situation
The news today from Iraq was US forces have bombed a Mosque compound in Fallujah, with a sketchy report of about 40 Iraqi deaths. I’ll offer my immediate opinion–this is a huge mistake for the Americans, no matter how much fire they were taking from this area. It’s a declaration reinforcing what Iraqis and the world already suspect–that the US is through with compromise, if it ever was open to genuine political solutions.
America will rule by overwhelming force without regard for the fabric or culture of the country, and with little respect for Iraqi lives, or even those of our own soldiers. The whole episode is so unnecessary, even on its own merits in the dubious context of the occupation. US leadership invites open rebellion and revenge attacks that, given hardheaded US predilection, will be met with bullets, bombs, and endless blood.
Building an episode of violence
Earlier in the week, the situation became tense as, according to the Washington Post, “A joint force of 1,300 U.S. Marines and Iraqi security forces sealed off the Iraqi city of Fallujah Monday in advance of what a military spokesman called an extended operation aimed at restoring the security of the city and capturing the insurgents who killed and mutilated four U.S. contractors last week.
“Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said ‘Operation Vigilant Resolve’ was ‘the first in a series of actions taken to attack anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi forces.’ He said a dawn-to-dusk curfew has been imposed on the city”.
This follows Kimmitt’s ominous declaration last Thursday (April 1) in response to the killings of four American contractors that, “We will be back in Fallujah. It will be at the time and the place of our choosing. We will hunt down the criminals. We will kill them or we will capture them. And we will pacify Fallujah”.
The BBC reported that, “several people were killed when a US warplane dropped bombs on a residential area of [Fallujah] after a mortar attack on troops”.
Meanwhile, signs of Shia discontent threaten to explode into a full-fledged uprising. Following a decision taken last week by US viceroy in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer to shut down Al-Hawza Al-Natiqa Weekly, a newspaper controlled by supporters of the Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, some of the worst bloody clashes of the occupation ensued over the weekend.
Provocations?
Even before the horrific killing and bodily desecration of the four private security forces last week, an American operation to pacify Fallujah was already underway.
In an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, retired engineer and Baghdad resident Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar reported,
“This incident happened in Fallujah where two days before that, the American army shot many many people, women and children, on the streets, and–in a bizarre shooting incident that was unjustified, killing many people. Fallujah has been a place where the US Army has actually used brutal force to suppress the people there, including using the F-15s, and F-16s to attack villages and place where they think the resistances are, which is unjustified to use high explosives against individuals. This resulted in many, many casualties in the province. Added to it, they have detained, for 50 or 60 days, hundreds of people on and off, which alienated the people against the American forces and the American contractors or the American security contractors, which are really a private army, uncontrollable by the US. This is part of the privatization of the war”.
Application of this incredible violence, unleashing of uncontrollable private gunmen, and wonton use of disappearance and detention of local residents forces festering discontent to explode. Bremer and the CPA, and Kimmitt and the commanders are totally incompetent in running a colonial occupation. They’re supporting a project infected by greed and they’re ignorant of the culture of the people they are killing. Their strategy is already a big, big loser.
Gilliard offers clarity
Please see Steve Gilliard for his always prescient remarks on the situation: “The Iraqi resistance is going to win. They have more men, more weapons and control much of the country. Americans live in a fantasy world where we have incomplete knowledge of Iraq and allow our procounsel to act as if we give a damn about Iraqis”.
Gilliard goes on to detail these facts which should be quite evident to everyone by now:
“Fact 1: US forces are woefully undermanned
“Fact 2: US troops are incredibly sloppy and unable to deal with the locals [see incident above]
“Fact 3: There is no government
“Fact 4: The rebellion is widely supported
“Fact 5: Tough talk is a sign of weakness”
Gilliard’s details are well worth reading.
Amnesty reports dire Iraq human rights situation
Amnesty International’s little-noticed expos¿ released last month, Iraq; One year on the human rights situation remains dire, lays out realities few Americans understand:
“Every day Iraqis face threats to their lives and security. Violence is endemic, whether in the form of attacks by armed groups, abuses by the occupying forces, or violence against women. Millions of people have suffered the consequences of destroyed or looted infrastructure, mass unemployment and uncertainty about their future. And there is little or no confidence that those responsible for past and present human rights abuses will be brought to justice”.
Use of torture by US and coalition forces is routine. Here are further excerpts from the report:
“Abdallah Khudhran al-Shamran, a Saudi Arabian national, was arrested in al-Rutba in early April 2003 by US and allied Iraqi forces while travelling from Syria to Baghdad. On reaching an unknown site, he said he was beaten, given electric shocks, suspended by his legs, had his penis tied and was subjected to sleep deprivation. He was held there for four days before being transferred to a camp hospital in Um Qasr. He was then interrogated and released without money or passport. He approached a British soldier, whereupon he was taken to another place of detention, then transferred to a military field hospital and again interrogated and tortured. This time torture methods reportedly included prolonged exposure in the sun, being locked in a container, and being threatened with execution.
“Such reports of torture or other ill-treatment by Coalition Forces have been frequent in the past year…
“In February 2004, during a hearing into the death in June 2003 of Najem Sa’doun Hattab at Camp Whitehorse detention centre near Nassiriya, a former US marine testified that it was common practice to kick and punch prisoners who did not cooperate–and even some who did. The marine had been granted immunity from prosecution for his testimony. Najem Sa’doun Hattab, a former Ba’ath Party official, died after he was beaten and choked by a US marine reservist…”
On the other side of the world, President George W. Bush lives in a fantasy of lies constructed by the Pentagon/White House propaganda machine. How else could he tell guests at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner without irony that, “Saddam’s torture chambers are closed… Because we acted, an example of democracy is rising at the very heart of the Middle East… A free Iraq will make the whole world more secure. We stand with the Iraqi people, the brave Iraqi people, as they assume more of their own defense and move toward self-government. These are not easy tasks, but they’re essential tasks. We will finish what we have begun, and we will win this essential victory in the war on terror”.
Contrary to what he says, Bush and his minions have created terror and torture in Iraq, way more than existed there on March 18, 2003.