What Have We Come to in Iraq
By: S. Rowan Wolf, Ph.D., Uncommon
Thought Journal
May 26, 2004 This work is under a fair use Creative Commons
License
The abuse of "people denied their liberty" continues to expand outward
from Abu Ghraib - Abuse of Captives More Widespread, Says Army
Survey,
Marines admit abuse at second prison. Meanwhile
Rumsfeld bans camera phones in Iraq in an effort to stop
embarrassing pictures from flowing, and Halliburton (KBR) cuts troop access to the
internet. But there is a much larger problem emerging- the
indiscriminate killing of civilians.
On May 23, Raymond Whitaker and Justin Huggler had an article in the
Independent 'Spray and slay': are American troops out of control in
Iraq?. In it they state:
"'The Independent on Sunday' has uncovered proof of US
troops deliberately and indiscriminately shooting civilians. Here we
examine new evidence that suggests the lawlessness in the American
military was never confined to the prison camps and torture rooms but
extended to the streets and homes of Iraq."
This was brought further to light by the reports of the massacre
of the wedding party at Mukaradeeb. This event was obviously
planned
and not happenstance. It is estimated that over 11,500 Iraqi civilians
have been killed by Coalition Forces since the invasion of Iraq last
year. The reports of firing on civilians, and random looting and
pillaging by some US troops point to a growing attitude that all Iraqis
are "the enemy."
The attack on the wedding party in Mukaradeeb is reminiscent of another
tragedy from an earlier war - My Lai. Stan Goff has an excellent
article
at CounterPunch (5/24/04) Open Season in
Iraq
- MAMs (Military-Age Males) Are Back that discusses a policy of
targeting Military Aged Males.
Six months after My Lai, an enlisted man by the name of Tom Glen
... " sent a letter to General Creighton Abrams, commander
of US forces in Vietnam. Without specifically mentioning My Lai, Glen
said that murder had become a routine part of American operations. The
letter was shunted over to American Division, and then to the office of
the same officer who had been leading the South Vietnamese arson
campaign five years earlier, since promoted to major. He was now the
deputy assistant Chief of Staff of the division--a functionary who was
directed to craft a response to this report of widespread atrocities
against Vietnamese civilians."
The letter was dismissed by the officer who responded with "In direct
refutation of this portrayal," wrote the officer dismissively and with
no investigation whatsoever, "is the fact that relations between
American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." That
officer was Colin Powell.
Goff states that the policy of killing MAMs is back. The official
response to the event was:
"How many people go into the middle of the desert to hold a
wedding eighty miles from the nearest civilization," scoffed Major
General James Mattis of the 1st Marines. "There were more than two
dozen
MILITARY-AGED MALES."
As Goff rightly points out: "Makr al-Deeb is a real village in a real
civilization."
Every day the fighting continues. Every day
we hear the report that 32 "insurgents" were killed here, 6
"insurgents" were killed there, 23 Saddam "loyalists" were killed in
the
attack. Given the reports, one has to ask exactly who these
"insurgents," "loyalists," and "terrorists" are. Are they simply
"MAMs"? Are they a wider group of civilians as in Mukaradeeb? Isn't the
struggle to "liberate" the people of Iraq lost, when anyone who is
Iraqi
is seen as the "enemy"? Isn't whatever positive might be gained lost
when the there is total disregard for life and humanity?
The war in Iraq bears striking resemblance to Israeli operations
against
Palestinians. The mind set seems to be in both cases that all are
enemies, future enemies, or those who will bear future enemies. It is
the mind set of genocide in the name of safety and there is nothing
moral or noble about it. It is just evil.
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