Before we start a reminder: What's an Iraqi Life Worth?: "You have to understand the Arab mind," one company commander told the New York Times, displaying all the self-assurance of Douglas MacArthur discoursing on Orientals in 1945. "The only thing they understand is force -- force, pride and saving face." Far from representing the views of a few underlings, such notions penetrated into the upper echelons of the American command. In their book "Cobra II," Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor offer this ugly comment from a senior officer: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it."
Such crass language, redolent with racist, ethnocentric connotations, speaks volumes. These characterizations, like the use of "gooks" during the Vietnam War, dehumanize the Iraqis and in doing so tacitly permit the otherwise impermissible. Thus, Abu Ghraib and Haditha -- and too many regretted deaths, such as that of Nahiba Husayif Jassim. Remember that? Guess what, the Americans, the ones who "understand the Arab mind," and are busy conditioning the said "Arab mind's" understanding are at it again. This posting is long. As you read it bear in mind that you need look at what people do as opposed to what they say to work out the truth. When you look at what's being done by the Americans in Iraq it's very clear that for the American army Arabs are "sand niggers" and that as far as the Americans in Iraq, the Pentagon, and The White House are concerned: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it."
It's also a good idea to remember that an army reflects the attitudes and values of the society from which it springs. Let's get started:
First compare and contrast the coverage of the latest use of American military air power in Iraq. I'll quote Aswat al Iraq first then what's being said by AP, then by Reuters, then by AFP, I'll end with Al-Jazeera: Aswat al Iraq: Aswat al Iraq Is-haqi-U.S.
Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din
Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 11:50 AM
Is-haqi-U.S.
Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official
By Wathiq Ismail
Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday.
Is-haqi-U.S.
Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official
By Wathiq Ismail
Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday.
“U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area at 1:00 a.m.,” Amer Elwan, mayor of Is-haqi, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.
“The bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children,” he said.
Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad.
The planes completely demolished the houses that belong to the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud and rescue teams were still trying to retrieve the bodies from the rubble, Elwan said.
He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing.
“The local authorities began investigating the incident,” Elwan said with elaboration.
This article is from Aswat al Iraq
http://www.aswataliraq.info/
The URL for this story is:
http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32669
Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1
Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din
Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 12:58 PM
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1
Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds new toll, changes dateline)
Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday.
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1
Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds new toll, changes dateline)
Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday.
“U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area after midnight targeting the houses of the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud in western Is-haqi,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.
“According to a preliminary toll, the bombing resulted in the death of 30 residents,” he said.
He did not say if the U.S. forces were attacked or if military operations were going on in the area.
A local official in Is-haqi has earlier told VOI the U.S. bombing killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, in the village and rescue team were still trying to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble.
He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing.
“The local authorities began investigating the incident,” he said with elaboration.
Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad.
This article is from Aswat al Iraq
http://www.aswataliraq.info/
The URL for this story is:
http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32675
Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2
Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din
Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 08:07 PM
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2
U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement)
Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.”
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2
U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement)
Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.”
Captain Nasser Abdul-Majid, head of the police force that retrieved the bodies, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that U.S. planes bombed after Thursday midnight al-Jalmoud village, 30 km west of Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province.
“The raid targeted the houses of the two brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed Hussein Jalmoud, killing all residents of the adjacent houses including six women and four children,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Amer Elwan, chief of Is-haqi village, told VOI the U.S bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children.
Another security source said the death toll went up to 30 people.
Meanwhile, the U.S. army said in a statement on Friday its forces “killed 20 terrorists Friday morning while targeting al-Qaida terrorists in the Thar Thar area.”
Is-haqi is located north of Falluja and east of the Thar Thar area and lake that borders the provinces of Salah Eddin and Anbar.
The U.S. statement admitted there women among the dead but said they were “terrorists”.
“Coalition Forces also found that two of the terrorists killed were women. Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately,” it said.
Abdul-Majid said the destruction was massive, hindering the efforts to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble.
He noted there were many spent bullets in the area, reinforcing what the residents’ reported of clashes and shooting either before the bombing or after it.
Elwan said: “All retrieved bodies have gunshot wounds which mean the victims were shot dead before the bombing.”
The U.S. statement said: “The Coalition Forces targeted the location based on intelligence reports that indicated associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating in the area.”
“During a search of the objective, Coalition Forces found multiple weapons caches consisting of AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests. All these items were destroyed on site,” the statement added. Coalition raids Iraq areas, killing 20 - Yahoo! News: By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, Friday in fighting and airstrikes that targeted al-Qaida in
Iraq militants northwest of Baghdad, the military said. The mayor of the area said 19 civilians were killed, including seven women and eight children.
During the coalition raid near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad on Friday, ground forces were searching buildings when they were attacked. They returned fire, killing two insurgents, the U.S. military said.
Under continuing fire, the troops called in air support, killing 18 insurgents, including two women, the command said in a brief statement. The military declined to specify which branch of the coalition was involved, but the U.S. provides the bulk of the air support in most of the country.
"Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately," it said.
Searching the area, the coalition forces found and destroyed several weapons caches, including AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests, the command said.
The raid was conducted in an area where intelligence reports had indicated that "associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating," U.S. command said.
Amir Fayadh, the mayor of the al-Ishaqi area, east of the lake, and local police said 19 civilians were killed during airstrikes on two houses, and Fayadh said the dead included seven women and eight children......
[snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ]
Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid: Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid
08 Dec 2006 14:13:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ibon Villelabeitia
BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi officials said five children were killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 suspected al Qaeda militants.
Grieving relatives near Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, showed the bodies of five children wrapped in blankets to journalists.
Houses, surrounded by open fields, were flattened in the raid and police said they found the bodies of 17 civilians.
Complaints that unjustified killings by U.S. troops are common have soured Iraqis' sentiment toward the U.S. presence in Iraq. Earlier this year Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he was losing patience over such reports.
A bipartisan panel, exploring alternatives for U.S. President George W. Bush's strategy, recommended this week the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq evolve to one of training Iraqi forces to take over combat responsibility.
In his first substantive response to the panel, that warned of a "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq, Bush vowed on Thursday to adopt a new strategy but distanced himself from some of its key recommendations.
More than 2,900 U.S. troops have died since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.
The U.S. military said ground forces with air support struck in an area north of Baghdad where the Sunni Arab insurgency is strong. Police and officials said the bodies of 17 civilians were found in the rubble of two homes.
"The Americans have done this before but they always deny it," Ishaqi Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters by telephone.
"I want the world to know what's happening here."
In a statement, the U.S. military said the operation in Salahaddin province followed intelligence reports that indicated al Qaeda militants operated in the area. It said rocket- propelled grenades and explosive suicide vests were found.
Only a handful of complaints involving civilian deaths have led to criminal investigations by the U.S. military.
[snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ]
Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children: Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children
08 Dec 2006 10:49:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi police and local officials said at least six children and eight women were among 32 people killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 al Qaeda militants, including two women.
Police Major Khedr Hussein said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters U.S. aircraft bombed two homes around 1 a.m (2200 GMT). He said 32 people were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children.
U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said the raid in Ishaqi was one in which U.S. ground troops with air support killed 20 al Qaeda suspects in the Thar Thar area of Salahaddin province and recovered weapons.
Controversy over Iraq air strike - Yahoo! News: Controversy over Iraq air strike
by Dave Clark 26 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Controversy has broken out over a US air strike that killed around 20 Iraqis, with the military branding them "Al-Qaeda terrorists" while locals displayed the corpses of children.
The US military said coalition forces called in an air strike after coming under heavy fire during a raid on two buildings housing suspected militants in Salaheddin province, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad.
In all, 20 Al-Qaeda militants were killed by air and ground fire during the raid shortly after midnight on Thursday, it said.
But AFP journalists who visited the village of Taima in the aftermath of the strike found and photographed relatives weeping over several mangled bodies, including those of at least two children, near the ruined homes.
According to the US military the buildings were a hideout of "Al-Qaeda terrorists" who had opened fire on coalition forces with a heavy machine-gun. Coalition forces returned fire, killing two of the attackers.
"Despite efforts to subdue the remaining armed terrorists, Coalition Forces continued to be threatened by enemy fire, causing forces to call in close air support ... resulting in 18 more armed terrorists killed," it said.
A search of the area revealed that two of the "armed terrorists" were women, as well as turning up numerous weapons -- including rocket-propelled grenades, a suicide bomb vest and materials for making roadside bombs.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations, unfortunately," said the statement.
Photographs showing weapons and explosives accompanied the US military's statement. AFP in turn passed its photographs of the dead children to US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver.
"We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation -- there were no children found among the terrorists killed," he said.
"I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike," he added.
Garver could not confirm whether the coalition troops involved were American or from a coalition ally. "There are some units we don't talk about," he said.
Amr Alwan, the mayor of Ishaqi, the main town in Taima's district, vigorously disputed the US military's account.
"This is the third crime done by Americans in this area of Ishaqi. All the casualties were innocent women and children and everything they said about them being part of al-Qaeda is a lie," he said.
Local police provided AFP with the names of 17 victims, four of them women. The names seemed to indicate that the victims were members of two extended families living in neighbouring houses.
Meanwhile, a 1,000-strong force of British and Danish infantry supported by tanks and an amphibious assault clashed with militia gunmen in a raid on a suburb of the southern Iraqi Shiite city of Basra.
"This is the biggest operation of this nature we've done out here since 2003," said Major Charlie Burbridge, adding that the troops had arrested "five leaders of rogue elements of militias operating in Basra".
The British spokesman said that intelligence reports "strongly linked" the detainees to attacks on coalition forces and that artillery shells wired as roadside bombs had been among the weapons seized.
There were no reports of casualties on either side, despite an exchange of fire, but a local spokesman for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement warned of reprisals.
Khalil al-Maliki told AFP in Basra the arrested men were from the Al-Batta tribe and included the so-called "mayor of Al-Hartha", Kadhim Ali.
"The tribe has threatened to attack the provincial governorate if they are not released by this afternoon, and they are very ready," he said.
Both the British and US militaries are suffering heavy losses in Iraq, with the US military losing some 30 soldiers since the start of December and 2,912 since the invasion.
Britain's much smaller force has lost 126 troops since the US-led invasion of March-April 2003. Al Jazeera English - Middle East: 'Children killed' in US Iraq raid
Six children and eight women are among at least 32 people killed in a US air raid northwest of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police and local officials.
Khedr Hussein, an Iraqi police major, said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90km north of Baghdad.
Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters news agency that US aircraft bombed two homes in the early hours of Friday.
He said 32 civilians were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children.
The US military said in a statement that said two women were among 20 suspected "al Qaeda terrorists" killed during the ground and air operation.
"Civilian victims"
Troops raided a cluster of buildings in the area around Thar Thar lake in Salaheddin province on Friday, and came under attack from a machine gun and returned fire, killing two suspects, the US military said.
Air support was then called in and 18 more people were killed, it added.
The statement said: "This is another step closer to defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq and helping establish a safe and peaceful Iraq."
"Coalition forces will continue to target not only senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, but all terrorists regardless of their titles or positions within the community."
Local people also told an Agence France Presse correspondent that the victims had been civilians and included a large number of children.
AFP said it had not been possible to independently authenticate either report.
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, a US military spokesman, said: "Obviously, these are serious accusations and we take them seriously - we are looking into them now."
The US military said AK-47 machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests was confiscated during the operation.
Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident.
"If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said.
In March, Iraqis accused US forces of shooting 11 people in al-Ishaqi, including four women and five children, while US forces maintained it had only killed two women and a child in an air strike.
The BBC later broadcast video footage from the scene showing people with gunshot wounds. The soldiers involved in the case, however, were cleared of all misconduct.
The US military also announced on Friday the death of a soldier who was conducting joint operations with the Iraqi army when a roadside bomb exploded.
Thirty-three American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the first seven days of December.
Annan warning
Elsewhere Kofi Annan, the outgoing secretary-general of the UN, said the worsening conflict in Iraq is increasing the odds of a regional war in the Middle East.
In his final report on the UN role in Iraq before he leaves office on December 31, Annan said on Friday the violence threatened to "aggravate a range of underlying tensions in neighboring countries."
As a result, "the prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict have become much more real" since his last report, issued three months ago, he said.
His comments appeared to go beyond earlier expressions of concern about the deteriorating situation in Iraq.
He said in a BBC interview aired this week that Iraq was in the grips of a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein.
Please note that I deliberately selected the English language story as it appears on Aswataliraq. Did you spot how the AP report buys, highlights, and emphasises the Al-Qaeda boogeyman garbage routinely promoted by the Americans in Iraq? We've been here before haven't we? Let's take a little stroll down memory lane to see the Americans record when it comes to Is-haqi. Remember this? Gorilla's Guides: Why Are These Two Children Dead? or this by Haifa Zangana " All Iraq is Abu Ghraib": "A'beer Qassim al-Janaby, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, was with her family in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, when US troops raided the house. A group of soldiers have been charged with her rape and the murder of her father, mother, and nine-year-old sister. They are also accused of setting A'beer's body on fire.
The al-Janaby family lived near a US checkpoint, and the killings happened at 2pm on March 11. As usual, a US spokesman ascribed the killings to "Sunni Arab insurgents active in the area", contrary to local eyewitnesses.
A'beer's rape and murder is neither incidental nor the product of a US soldier's "personality disorder": it is part of a pattern that includes Abu Ghraib, as well as the Haditha, Ishaqi and Qaiem massacres. And we see this pattern as serving a strategic function beyond indiscriminate revenge: to couple collective humiliation with intimidation and terror."
or this: McClatchy Washington Bureau | 03/19/2006 | Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops: Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops
By Matthew Schofield
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said........
Do you remember this? I wrote about it at the time: Gorilla's Guides: Children of Abraham - Death in the Desert: Did American Marines murder 23 Iraqi civilians? If you read this article in the UK Independent the answer to that question is seems to be "yes." The last paragraph which reads as follows:
"There appears to be a distinct pattern of misinformation," complained Lt-Col Johnson. "This is another clear sign of that happening, making allegations for the sake of prompting media reporting and attempting to discredit coalition operations. This is a pattern we've seen the terrorist-backed insurgency use repeatedly."
My heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - no really …
Then there's this from the UK Times:
Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’
THE villagers of Abu Sifa near the Iraqi town of Balad had become used to the sound of explosions at night as American forces searched the area for suspected insurgents. But one night two weeks ago Issa Harat Khalaf heard a different sound that chilled him to the bone.
Khalaf, a 33-year-old security officer guarding oil pipelines, saw a US helicopter land near his home. American soldiers stormed out of the Chinook and advanced on a house owned by Khalaf’s brother Fayez, firing as they went.
Khalaf ran from his own house and hid in a nearby grove of trees. He saw the soldiers enter his brother’s home and then heard the sound of women and children screaming.
“Then there was a lot of machinegun fire,” he said last week. After that there was the most frightening sound of all — silence, followed by explosions as the soldiers left the house.
Once the troops were gone, Khalaf and his fellow villagers began a frantic search through the ruins of his brother’s home. Abu Sifa was about to join a lengthening list of Iraqi communities claiming to have suffered from American atrocities.
According to Iraqi police, 11 bodies were pulled from the wreckage of the house, among them four women and five children aged between six months and five years. An official police report obtained by a US reporter for Knight Ridder newspapers said: “The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people.*”
[snip]
The problem for the Pentagon is that every new incident involving civilian deaths triggers a new wave of anti-American fervour.
Last week Jalal Abdul Rahman told this newspaper about the death in January of his 12- year-old son Abdul. It was a Sunday evening and father and son were driving home after buying a new game for the boy’s PlayStation.
They were a few hundred yards from their home in the Karkh neighbourhood of Baghdad when — according to Rahman — US forces opened fire on the car, killing Abdul.
Soldiers approached the car and told Rahman he had failed to stop when ordered to do so. Rahman said he had never heard an order to stop. The soldiers searched the car and, as they departed, they threw a black body bag on the ground.
“They said, ‘This is for your son,’ and they left me there with my dead son,” he added.
Rahman claimed he had had nothing to do with the insurgency until that moment. “But this is America, the so-called guardian of humanity, and killing people for them is like drinking water. I shall go after them until I avenge the blood of my son.”
Yes truly my heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - it must be so difficult to repeat the stuff he repeats and keep a straight face. …
* Quote from the attribution to the Knight Ridder story:
"Three Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents contributed to this report. Their identities are being withheld for security reasons."
I wonder who they're afraid of do you?
Still with me? The Americans in Iraq have lost. They're losers. And they're stupidly vicious losers. There are going to be more, there are going to be a lot more "incidents" like this. "Incidents" where the muscle minded tank brains that pass for the US military command in Iraq use air power or artillery strikes against civilians. The incidence of such disgraceful behaviour was already high and is now rising further. Why? Because the Americans have lost. They've lost and they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do because they're losers. The Americans have lost the only war that counts in Iraq and that's the ground war. They've lost the ground war because of the corrupt and savagely racist way in which they've behaved in Iraq from the moment they arrived. But that's the American military way escalate escalate escalate and fuck the lives of civilians especially when those civilians are "ragheads" "ayrabs" or "sand niggers." Then investigate yourself and clear yourself of wrongdoing unless the disgustingly barbaric American war crime in question has been committed by your mercenary pals in which case of course you can claim that you don't have any jurisdiction. Always blame the victims. "She wanted it really." Did you notice Lt. Colonel Garver trotting out the standard American line? Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident. "If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said.
They always trot our the excuse, the stupid excuse, that Al-Qaeda was there. It's ludicrous. The majority of attacks in Iraq are carried out against the Americans. The overwhelming majority of those attacks are carried out by Iraqis. The proportions in this poll:
World Public Opinion:Al Qaeda is exceedingly unpopular among the Iraqi people.
Overall 94 percent have an unfavorable view of al Qaeda, with 82 percent expressing a very unfavorable view. Of all organizations and individuals assessed in this poll, it received the most negative ratings. The Shias and Kurds show similarly intense levels of opposition, with 95 percent and 93 percent respectively saying they have very unfavorable views. The Sunnis are also quite negative, but with less intensity. Seventy-seven percent express an unfavorable view, but only 38 percent are very unfavorable. Twenty-three percent express a favorable view (5% very).
Views of Osama bin Laden are only slightly less negative. Overall 93 percent have an unfavorable view, with 77 percent very unfavorable. Very unfavorable views are expressed by 87 percent of Kurds and 94 percent of Shias. Here again, the Sunnis are negative, but less unequivocally —71 percent have an unfavorable view (23% very), and 29 percent a favorable view (3% very). Are matched by the proportions of the attacks. And yet the incompetent and vicious American command persists in trotting out the tired old lie that their victims were terrorists. It's called adding insult to injury. It's why America and Americans are hated (and increasingly despised) not only throughout the Middle East but throughout the world. The Americans in Iraq are not only corrupt, they're not only incompetent, they're not only savagely viciously racist, they're corrupt, incompetent, savagely vicious racist, losers.
Their corruption, incompetence, and savagely vicious racism have helped ensure that the Americans in Iraq have lost so badly that they're withdrawing their forces from al-Anbar. Other provinces, then Baghdad, and ultimately after quite a lot of Americans have lost their lives by being well and truly introduced to force by the increasingly enraged population of sand niggers we'll see the Americans "withdrawing their forces" from Iraq as a whole.
"Withdrawing your forces" is the polite military way of saying "running away"- it's a well known military tactic engaged in exclusively by losers.
markfromirelandBefore we start a reminder: What's an Iraqi Life Worth?: "You have to understand the Arab mind," one company commander told the New York Times, displaying all the self-assurance of Douglas MacArthur discoursing on Orientals in 1945. "The only thing they understand is force -- force, pride and saving face." Far from representing the views of a few underlings, such notions penetrated into the upper echelons of the American command. In their book "Cobra II," Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor offer this ugly comment from a senior officer: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it."
Such crass language, redolent with racist, ethnocentric connotations, speaks volumes. These characterizations, like the use of "gooks" during the Vietnam War, dehumanize the Iraqis and in doing so tacitly permit the otherwise impermissible. Thus, Abu Ghraib and Haditha -- and too many regretted deaths, such as that of Nahiba Husayif Jassim. Remember that? Guess what, the Americans, the ones who "understand the Arab mind," and are busy conditioning the said "Arab mind's" understanding are at it again. This posting is long. As you read it bear in mind that you need look at what people do as opposed to what they say to work out the truth. When you look at what's being done by the Americans in Iraq it's very clear that for the American army Arabs are "sand niggers" and that as far as the Americans in Iraq, the Pentagon, and The White House are concerned: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it."
It's also a good idea to remember that an army reflects the attitudes and values of the society from which it springs. Let's get started:
First compare and contrast the coverage of the latest use of American military air power in Iraq. I'll quote Aswat al Iraq first then what's being said by AP, then by Reuters, then by AFP, I'll end with Al-Jazeera: Aswat al Iraq: Aswat al Iraq Is-haqi-U.S.
Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din
Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 11:50 AM
Is-haqi-U.S.
Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official
By Wathiq Ismail
Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday.
Is-haqi-U.S.
Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official
By Wathiq Ismail
Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday.
“U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area at 1:00 a.m.,” Amer Elwan, mayor of Is-haqi, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.
“The bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children,” he said.
Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad.
The planes completely demolished the houses that belong to the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud and rescue teams were still trying to retrieve the bodies from the rubble, Elwan said.
He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing.
“The local authorities began investigating the incident,” Elwan said with elaboration.
This article is from Aswat al Iraq
http://www.aswataliraq.info/
The URL for this story is:
http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32669
Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1
Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din
Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 12:58 PM
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1
Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds new toll, changes dateline)
Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday.
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1
Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds new toll, changes dateline)
Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday.
“U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area after midnight targeting the houses of the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud in western Is-haqi,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.
“According to a preliminary toll, the bombing resulted in the death of 30 residents,” he said.
He did not say if the U.S. forces were attacked or if military operations were going on in the area.
A local official in Is-haqi has earlier told VOI the U.S. bombing killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, in the village and rescue team were still trying to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble.
He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing.
“The local authorities began investigating the incident,” he said with elaboration.
Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad.
This article is from Aswat al Iraq
http://www.aswataliraq.info/
The URL for this story is:
http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32675
Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2
Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din
Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 08:07 PM
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2
U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement)
Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.”
Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2
U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women
By Ghazwan al-Juburi
(Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement)
Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.”
Captain Nasser Abdul-Majid, head of the police force that retrieved the bodies, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that U.S. planes bombed after Thursday midnight al-Jalmoud village, 30 km west of Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province.
“The raid targeted the houses of the two brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed Hussein Jalmoud, killing all residents of the adjacent houses including six women and four children,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Amer Elwan, chief of Is-haqi village, told VOI the U.S bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children.
Another security source said the death toll went up to 30 people.
Meanwhile, the U.S. army said in a statement on Friday its forces “killed 20 terrorists Friday morning while targeting al-Qaida terrorists in the Thar Thar area.”
Is-haqi is located north of Falluja and east of the Thar Thar area and lake that borders the provinces of Salah Eddin and Anbar.
The U.S. statement admitted there women among the dead but said they were “terrorists”.
“Coalition Forces also found that two of the terrorists killed were women. Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately,” it said.
Abdul-Majid said the destruction was massive, hindering the efforts to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble.
He noted there were many spent bullets in the area, reinforcing what the residents’ reported of clashes and shooting either before the bombing or after it.
Elwan said: “All retrieved bodies have gunshot wounds which mean the victims were shot dead before the bombing.”
The U.S. statement said: “The Coalition Forces targeted the location based on intelligence reports that indicated associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating in the area.”
“During a search of the objective, Coalition Forces found multiple weapons caches consisting of AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests. All these items were destroyed on site,” the statement added. Coalition raids Iraq areas, killing 20 - Yahoo! News: By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, Friday in fighting and airstrikes that targeted al-Qaida in
Iraq militants northwest of Baghdad, the military said. The mayor of the area said 19 civilians were killed, including seven women and eight children.
During the coalition raid near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad on Friday, ground forces were searching buildings when they were attacked. They returned fire, killing two insurgents, the U.S. military said.
Under continuing fire, the troops called in air support, killing 18 insurgents, including two women, the command said in a brief statement. The military declined to specify which branch of the coalition was involved, but the U.S. provides the bulk of the air support in most of the country.
"Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately," it said.
Searching the area, the coalition forces found and destroyed several weapons caches, including AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests, the command said.
The raid was conducted in an area where intelligence reports had indicated that "associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating," U.S. command said.
Amir Fayadh, the mayor of the al-Ishaqi area, east of the lake, and local police said 19 civilians were killed during airstrikes on two houses, and Fayadh said the dead included seven women and eight children......
[snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ]
Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid: Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid
08 Dec 2006 14:13:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ibon Villelabeitia
BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi officials said five children were killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 suspected al Qaeda militants.
Grieving relatives near Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, showed the bodies of five children wrapped in blankets to journalists.
Houses, surrounded by open fields, were flattened in the raid and police said they found the bodies of 17 civilians.
Complaints that unjustified killings by U.S. troops are common have soured Iraqis' sentiment toward the U.S. presence in Iraq. Earlier this year Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he was losing patience over such reports.
A bipartisan panel, exploring alternatives for U.S. President George W. Bush's strategy, recommended this week the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq evolve to one of training Iraqi forces to take over combat responsibility.
In his first substantive response to the panel, that warned of a "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq, Bush vowed on Thursday to adopt a new strategy but distanced himself from some of its key recommendations.
More than 2,900 U.S. troops have died since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.
The U.S. military said ground forces with air support struck in an area north of Baghdad where the Sunni Arab insurgency is strong. Police and officials said the bodies of 17 civilians were found in the rubble of two homes.
"The Americans have done this before but they always deny it," Ishaqi Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters by telephone.
"I want the world to know what's happening here."
In a statement, the U.S. military said the operation in Salahaddin province followed intelligence reports that indicated al Qaeda militants operated in the area. It said rocket- propelled grenades and explosive suicide vests were found.
Only a handful of complaints involving civilian deaths have led to criminal investigations by the U.S. military.
[snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ]
Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children: Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children
08 Dec 2006 10:49:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi police and local officials said at least six children and eight women were among 32 people killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 al Qaeda militants, including two women.
Police Major Khedr Hussein said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters U.S. aircraft bombed two homes around 1 a.m (2200 GMT). He said 32 people were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children.
U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said the raid in Ishaqi was one in which U.S. ground troops with air support killed 20 al Qaeda suspects in the Thar Thar area of Salahaddin province and recovered weapons.
Controversy over Iraq air strike - Yahoo! News: Controversy over Iraq air strike
by Dave Clark 26 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Controversy has broken out over a US air strike that killed around 20 Iraqis, with the military branding them "Al-Qaeda terrorists" while locals displayed the corpses of children.
The US military said coalition forces called in an air strike after coming under heavy fire during a raid on two buildings housing suspected militants in Salaheddin province, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad.
In all, 20 Al-Qaeda militants were killed by air and ground fire during the raid shortly after midnight on Thursday, it said.
But AFP journalists who visited the village of Taima in the aftermath of the strike found and photographed relatives weeping over several mangled bodies, including those of at least two children, near the ruined homes.
According to the US military the buildings were a hideout of "Al-Qaeda terrorists" who had opened fire on coalition forces with a heavy machine-gun. Coalition forces returned fire, killing two of the attackers.
"Despite efforts to subdue the remaining armed terrorists, Coalition Forces continued to be threatened by enemy fire, causing forces to call in close air support ... resulting in 18 more armed terrorists killed," it said.
A search of the area revealed that two of the "armed terrorists" were women, as well as turning up numerous weapons -- including rocket-propelled grenades, a suicide bomb vest and materials for making roadside bombs.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations, unfortunately," said the statement.
Photographs showing weapons and explosives accompanied the US military's statement. AFP in turn passed its photographs of the dead children to US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver.
"We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation -- there were no children found among the terrorists killed," he said.
"I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike," he added.
Garver could not confirm whether the coalition troops involved were American or from a coalition ally. "There are some units we don't talk about," he said.
Amr Alwan, the mayor of Ishaqi, the main town in Taima's district, vigorously disputed the US military's account.
"This is the third crime done by Americans in this area of Ishaqi. All the casualties were innocent women and children and everything they said about them being part of al-Qaeda is a lie," he said.
Local police provided AFP with the names of 17 victims, four of them women. The names seemed to indicate that the victims were members of two extended families living in neighbouring houses.
Meanwhile, a 1,000-strong force of British and Danish infantry supported by tanks and an amphibious assault clashed with militia gunmen in a raid on a suburb of the southern Iraqi Shiite city of Basra.
"This is the biggest operation of this nature we've done out here since 2003," said Major Charlie Burbridge, adding that the troops had arrested "five leaders of rogue elements of militias operating in Basra".
The British spokesman said that intelligence reports "strongly linked" the detainees to attacks on coalition forces and that artillery shells wired as roadside bombs had been among the weapons seized.
There were no reports of casualties on either side, despite an exchange of fire, but a local spokesman for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement warned of reprisals.
Khalil al-Maliki told AFP in Basra the arrested men were from the Al-Batta tribe and included the so-called "mayor of Al-Hartha", Kadhim Ali.
"The tribe has threatened to attack the provincial governorate if they are not released by this afternoon, and they are very ready," he said.
Both the British and US militaries are suffering heavy losses in Iraq, with the US military losing some 30 soldiers since the start of December and 2,912 since the invasion.
Britain's much smaller force has lost 126 troops since the US-led invasion of March-April 2003. Al Jazeera English - Middle East: 'Children killed' in US Iraq raid
Six children and eight women are among at least 32 people killed in a US air raid northwest of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police and local officials.
Khedr Hussein, an Iraqi police major, said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90km north of Baghdad.
Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters news agency that US aircraft bombed two homes in the early hours of Friday.
He said 32 civilians were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children.
The US military said in a statement that said two women were among 20 suspected "al Qaeda terrorists" killed during the ground and air operation.
"Civilian victims"
Troops raided a cluster of buildings in the area around Thar Thar lake in Salaheddin province on Friday, and came under attack from a machine gun and returned fire, killing two suspects, the US military said.
Air support was then called in and 18 more people were killed, it added.
The statement said: "This is another step closer to defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq and helping establish a safe and peaceful Iraq."
"Coalition forces will continue to target not only senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, but all terrorists regardless of their titles or positions within the community."
Local people also told an Agence France Presse correspondent that the victims had been civilians and included a large number of children.
AFP said it had not been possible to independently authenticate either report.
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, a US military spokesman, said: "Obviously, these are serious accusations and we take them seriously - we are looking into them now."
The US military said AK-47 machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests was confiscated during the operation.
Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident.
"If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said.
In March, Iraqis accused US forces of shooting 11 people in al-Ishaqi, including four women and five children, while US forces maintained it had only killed two women and a child in an air strike.
The BBC later broadcast video footage from the scene showing people with gunshot wounds. The soldiers involved in the case, however, were cleared of all misconduct.
The US military also announced on Friday the death of a soldier who was conducting joint operations with the Iraqi army when a roadside bomb exploded.
Thirty-three American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the first seven days of December.
Annan warning
Elsewhere Kofi Annan, the outgoing secretary-general of the UN, said the worsening conflict in Iraq is increasing the odds of a regional war in the Middle East.
In his final report on the UN role in Iraq before he leaves office on December 31, Annan said on Friday the violence threatened to "aggravate a range of underlying tensions in neighboring countries."
As a result, "the prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict have become much more real" since his last report, issued three months ago, he said.
His comments appeared to go beyond earlier expressions of concern about the deteriorating situation in Iraq.
He said in a BBC interview aired this week that Iraq was in the grips of a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein.
Please note that I deliberately selected the English language story as it appears on Aswataliraq. Did you spot how the AP report buys, highlights, and emphasises the Al-Qaeda boogeyman garbage routinely promoted by the Americans in Iraq? We've been here before haven't we? Let's take a little stroll down memory lane to see the Americans record when it comes to Is-haqi. Remember this? Gorilla's Guides: Why Are These Two Children Dead? or this by Haifa Zangana " All Iraq is Abu Ghraib": "A'beer Qassim al-Janaby, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, was with her family in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, when US troops raided the house. A group of soldiers have been charged with her rape and the murder of her father, mother, and nine-year-old sister. They are also accused of setting A'beer's body on fire.
The al-Janaby family lived near a US checkpoint, and the killings happened at 2pm on March 11. As usual, a US spokesman ascribed the killings to "Sunni Arab insurgents active in the area", contrary to local eyewitnesses.
A'beer's rape and murder is neither incidental nor the product of a US soldier's "personality disorder": it is part of a pattern that includes Abu Ghraib, as well as the Haditha, Ishaqi and Qaiem massacres. And we see this pattern as serving a strategic function beyond indiscriminate revenge: to couple collective humiliation with intimidation and terror."
or this: McClatchy Washington Bureau | 03/19/2006 | Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops: Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops
By Matthew Schofield
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said........
Do you remember this? I wrote about it at the time: Gorilla's Guides: Children of Abraham - Death in the Desert: Did American Marines murder 23 Iraqi civilians? If you read this article in the UK Independent the answer to that question is seems to be "yes." The last paragraph which reads as follows:
"There appears to be a distinct pattern of misinformation," complained Lt-Col Johnson. "This is another clear sign of that happening, making allegations for the sake of prompting media reporting and attempting to discredit coalition operations. This is a pattern we've seen the terrorist-backed insurgency use repeatedly."
My heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - no really …
Then there's this from the UK Times:
Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’
THE villagers of Abu Sifa near the Iraqi town of Balad had become used to the sound of explosions at night as American forces searched the area for suspected insurgents. But one night two weeks ago Issa Harat Khalaf heard a different sound that chilled him to the bone.
Khalaf, a 33-year-old security officer guarding oil pipelines, saw a US helicopter land near his home. American soldiers stormed out of the Chinook and advanced on a house owned by Khalaf’s brother Fayez, firing as they went.
Khalaf ran from his own house and hid in a nearby grove of trees. He saw the soldiers enter his brother’s home and then heard the sound of women and children screaming.
“Then there was a lot of machinegun fire,” he said last week. After that there was the most frightening sound of all — silence, followed by explosions as the soldiers left the house.
Once the troops were gone, Khalaf and his fellow villagers began a frantic search through the ruins of his brother’s home. Abu Sifa was about to join a lengthening list of Iraqi communities claiming to have suffered from American atrocities.
According to Iraqi police, 11 bodies were pulled from the wreckage of the house, among them four women and five children aged between six months and five years. An official police report obtained by a US reporter for Knight Ridder newspapers said: “The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people.*”
[snip]
The problem for the Pentagon is that every new incident involving civilian deaths triggers a new wave of anti-American fervour.
Last week Jalal Abdul Rahman told this newspaper about the death in January of his 12- year-old son Abdul. It was a Sunday evening and father and son were driving home after buying a new game for the boy’s PlayStation.
They were a few hundred yards from their home in the Karkh neighbourhood of Baghdad when — according to Rahman — US forces opened fire on the car, killing Abdul.
Soldiers approached the car and told Rahman he had failed to stop when ordered to do so. Rahman said he had never heard an order to stop. The soldiers searched the car and, as they departed, they threw a black body bag on the ground.
“They said, ‘This is for your son,’ and they left me there with my dead son,” he added.
Rahman claimed he had had nothing to do with the insurgency until that moment. “But this is America, the so-called guardian of humanity, and killing people for them is like drinking water. I shall go after them until I avenge the blood of my son.”
Yes truly my heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - it must be so difficult to repeat the stuff he repeats and keep a straight face. …
* Quote from the attribution to the Knight Ridder story:
"Three Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents contributed to this report. Their identities are being withheld for security reasons."
I wonder who they're afraid of do you?
Still with me? The Americans in Iraq have lost. They're losers. And they're stupidly vicious losers. There are going to be more, there are going to be a lot more "incidents" like this. "Incidents" where the muscle minded tank brains that pass for the US military command in Iraq use air power or artillery strikes against civilians. The incidence of such disgraceful behaviour was already high and is now rising further. Why? Because the Americans have lost. They've lost and they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do because they're losers. The Americans have lost the only war that counts in Iraq and that's the ground war. They've lost the ground war because of the corrupt and savagely racist way in which they've behaved in Iraq from the moment they arrived. But that's the American military way escalate escalate escalate and fuck the lives of civilians especially when those civilians are "ragheads" "ayrabs" or "sand niggers." Then investigate yourself and clear yourself of wrongdoing unless the disgustingly barbaric American war crime in question has been committed by your mercenary pals in which case of course you can claim that you don't have any jurisdiction. Always blame the victims. "She wanted it really." Did you notice Lt. Colonel Garver trotting out the standard American line? Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident. "If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said.
They always trot our the excuse, the stupid excuse, that Al-Qaeda was there. It's ludicrous. The majority of attacks in Iraq are carried out against the Americans. The overwhelming majority of those attacks are carried out by Iraqis. The proportions in this poll:
World Public Opinion:Al Qaeda is exceedingly unpopular among the Iraqi people.
Overall 94 percent have an unfavorable view of al Qaeda, with 82 percent expressing a very unfavorable view. Of all organizations and individuals assessed in this poll, it received the most negative ratings. The Shias and Kurds show similarly intense levels of opposition, with 95 percent and 93 percent respectively saying they have very unfavorable views. The Sunnis are also quite negative, but with less intensity. Seventy-seven percent express an unfavorable view, but only 38 percent are very unfavorable. Twenty-three percent express a favorable view (5% very).
Views of Osama bin Laden are only slightly less negative. Overall 93 percent have an unfavorable view, with 77 percent very unfavorable. Very unfavorable views are expressed by 87 percent of Kurds and 94 percent of Shias. Here again, the Sunnis are negative, but less unequivocally —71 percent have an unfavorable view (23% very), and 29 percent a favorable view (3% very). Are matched by the proportions of the attacks. And yet the incompetent and vicious American command persists in trotting out the tired old lie that their victims were terrorists. It's called adding insult to injury. It's why America and Americans are hated (and increasingly despised) not only throughout the Middle East but throughout the world. The Americans in Iraq are not only corrupt, they're not only incompetent, they're not only savagely viciously racist, they're corrupt, incompetent, savagely vicious racist, losers.
Their corruption, incompetence, and savagely vicious racism have helped ensure that the Americans in Iraq have lost so badly that they're withdrawing their forces from al-Anbar. Other provinces, then Baghdad, and ultimately after quite a lot of Americans have lost their lives by being well and truly introduced to force by the increasingly enraged population of sand niggers we'll see the Americans "withdrawing their forces" from Iraq as a whole.
"Withdrawing your forces" is the polite military way of saying "running away"- it's a well known military tactic engaged in exclusively by losers.
markfromireland |
