Frontlines
http://www.sf-frontlines.com
"The Iraqis are sick people and we are the chemotherapy," said Corporal
Ryan Dupre. "I am starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a
friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just kill him."
The Times, London, March 31, 2003
Today in the online edition of the conservative daily, The Times , was
published a piece by the correspondent Mark Franchetti in Nasiriya. It was
headlined “US Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death” which
graphically described a massacre of Iraqi civilians at the hands of US
Marines in the outskirts of the besieged town. And goes on to show us
generally how young Marines are made into the killers of civilians.
It is useful to note that The Times is a strong supporter of the Tory Party
in Britain and has only once endorsed a Labour Party candidate in recent
times: Tony Blair! Because the current Prime Minister was, according to The
Times, the best choice to defend British interests, namely its decaying
imperial needs.
Nobody could accuse The Times of having the slightest hesitation in its
support for the British government or the invasion of Iraq. The Times was
born during the splendor of the British Empire.
Franchetti writes in a piece most likely to be on the front page of
tomorrow’s edition of the paper:
"...some 15 vehicles, including a minivan and a couple of trucks, blocked
the road. They were riddled with bullet holes. Some had caught fire and
turned into piles of black twisted metal. Others were still burning.
"Amid the wreckage I counted 12 dead civilians, lying in the road or in
Nearby ditches.
"All had been trying to leave this southern town overnight, probably for
fear of being killed by US helicopter attacks and heavy artillery.
"Their mistake had been to flee over a bridge that is crucial to the
coalition's supply lines and to run into a group of shell-shocked young
American marines with orders to shoot anything that moved.
"One man's body was still in flames. It gave out a hissing sound.
"Tucked away in his breast pocket, thick wads of banknotes were turning to
ashes. His savings, perhaps.
"Down the road, a little girl, no older than five and dressed in a pretty
orange and gold dress, lay dead in a ditch next to the body of a man who
may have been her father. Half his head was missing. Nearby, in a battered
old Volga, peppered with ammunition holes, an Iraqi woman perhaps the
girl's mother - was dead, slumped in the back seat.
"A US Abrams tank nicknamed Ghetto Fabulous drove past the bodies.
"...a father, baby girl and boy lay in a shallow grave.
"On the bridge itself a dead Iraqi civilian lay next to the carcass of a
donkey. As I walked away, Lieutenant Matt Martin, whose third child,
Isabella, was born while he was on board ship en route to the Gulf,
appeared beside me.
'Did you see all that?' he asked, his eyes filled with tears. 'Did you see
that little baby girl? I carried her body and buried it as best I could but
I had no time. It really gets to me to see children being killed like this,
but we had no choice.'
They had "no choice?" Every soldier has the choice of refusing to serve or
to open fire against civilians. The ones who did not have any choice, were
the civilians mowed down.
Franchetti added:
"Martin's distress was in contrast to the bitter satisfaction of some of
his fellow marines as they surveyed the scene. 'The Iraqis are sick people
and we are the chemotherapy,' said Corporal Ryan Dupre. 'I am starting to
hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't
get hold of one. I'll just kill him.'
The journalist then described the evolution of these soldiers, from young
arrogant soldiers told that they would be received as "liberators" by their
superiors to become targets of small arms by Iraqi civilians and soldiers,
who inflicted heavy casualties in their ranks and showed courage in
defending their town.
"I was with Alpha company"- continues The Times correspondent, explaining
how they received the news of ambushes of other Marines by armed civilians.
“Five wounded soldiers were rescued by our convoy, including one who had
been shot four times. The attackers were believed to be members of the
Fedayeen Saddam, a group of 15,000 fighters under the command of Saddam's
psychopathic son Uday.
"Blown-up tires, a pool of blood, spent ammunition and shards of glass from
the bullet ridden windscreen marked the spot where the ambush had taken
place.”
“Swiftly, our AAVs (23-ton amphibious assault vehicles) took up defensive
positions. About 100 marines jumped out of their vehicles and took cover in
ditches, pointing their sights at a mud-caked house.
"Was it harboring gunmen? Small groups of marines approached, cautiously,
to search for the enemy.
“A dozen terrified civilians, mainly women and children, emerged with their
hands raised.”It's just a bunch of Hajis," said one gunner from his turret,
using their nickname for Arabs. "Friggin' women and children, that's all."
Now a witness to the war the journalist continues:
“Cobras and Huey attack helicopters began firing missiles at targets on the
edge of the city. Plumes of smoke rose as heavy artillery shook the ground
under our feet.
"Heavy machinegun fire echoed across the huge rubbish dump that marks the
entrance to Nasiriya. Suddenly there was return fire from three large oil
tanks at a refinery.
"The Cobras were called back, and within seconds they roared above our
heads, firing off missiles in clouds of purple tracer fire.
"There were several loud explosions. Flames burst high into the sky from
one of the oil tanks.
"The marines believed that what opposition there was had now been crushed.
"We are going in, we are going in," shouted one of the officers.
“More than 20 AAVs, several tanks and about 10 Hummers equipped with
roof-mounted, anti-tank missile launchers prepared to move in.
"Crammed inside them were some 400 marines. Tension rose as they loaded
their guns and stuck their heads over the side of the AAVs through the open
roof, their M-16 pointed in all directions.
"As we set off towards the eastern city gate there was no sense of the
mayhem awaiting us down the road.
"A few locals dressed in rags watched the awesome spectacle of America's
war machine on the move. Nobody waved.
“Slowly we approached the first bridge. Fires were raging on either side of
the road; Cobras had destroyed an Iraqi military truck and a T55 tank
positioned inside a dugout. Powerful explosions came from inside the bowels
of the tank as its ammunition and heavy shells were set off by the fire […]”
“[…] We charged onto the bridge, and as we crossed the Euphrates, a large
mural of Saddam came into view. Some marines reached for their disposable
cameras.
“[…] Suddenly, as we approached ambush alley on the far side of the bridge,
the crackle of AK-47s broke out. Our AAVs began to zigzag to avoid being
hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).
"The road widened out to a square, with a mosque and the portrait of Saddam
on the left-hand side […]”"
The journalist even tried to somehow justify the actions of the Marines:
“[…] The exchange of fire was relentless. We were pinned down for more than
three hours as Iraqis hiding inside houses and a hospital and behind street
corners fired a barrage of ammunition. Despite the marines' overwhelming
firepower, hitting the Iraqis was not easy.
"The gunmen were not wearing uniforms and had planned their ambush well ‐
stockpiling weapons in dozens of houses, between which they moved freely
pretending to be civilians.
"It's a bad situation," said First Sergeant James Thompson, who was running
around with a 9mm pistol in his hand.
"We don't know who is shooting at us. They are even using women as scouts.
The women come out waving at us, or with their hands raised. We freeze, but
the next minute we can see how she is looking at our positions and giving
them away to the fighters hiding behind a street corner. It's very
difficult to distinguish between the fighters and civilians."
“Across the square, genuine civilians were running for their lives. Many,
including some children, were gunned down in the crossfire. In a surreal
scene, a father and mother stood out on a balcony with their children in
their arms to give them a better view of the battle raging below. A few
minutes later several US mortar shells landed in front of their house.
“In all probability, the family is dead.
“[…]An AAV from Charlie company was racing back towards the bridge to
evacuate some wounded marines when it was hit by two RPGs.
"The heavy vehicle shook but withstood the explosions.
“Then the Iraqis fired again. This time the rocket plunged into the vehicle
through the open rooftop. The explosion was deadly, made 10 times more
powerful by the ammunition stored in the back.
"The wreckage smoldered in the middle of the road. I jumped out from the
rear hatch of our vehicle, briefly taking cover behind a wall.
"When I reached the stricken AAV, the scene was mayhem. The heavy, thick
rear ramp had been
blown open. There were pools of blood and bits of flesh everywhere.
"A severed leg, still wearing a desert boot, lay on what was left of the
ramp among playing cards, a magazine, cans of Coke and a small bloodstained
teddy bear.
"They are f****** dead, they are dead. Oh my God. Get in there. Get in
there now and pull them out," shouted a gunner in a state verging on
hysterical.
"There was panic and confusion as a group of young marines, shouting and
cursing orders at one another, pulled out a maimed body.
"Two men struggled to lift the body on a stretcher and into the back of a
Hummer, but it would not fit inside, so the stretcher remained almost
upright, the dead man's leg, partly blown away, dangling in the air.
"We shouldn't be here," said Lieutenant Campbell Kane, 25, who was born in
Northern Ireland. "We can't hold this. They are trying to suck us into the
city and we haven't got enough ass up here to sustain this. We need more
tanks, more helicopters."
"Closer to the destroyed AAV, another young marine was transfixed with fear
and kept repeating: "Oh my God, I can't believe this. Did you see his leg?
It was blown off. It was blown off."
“[…]About 1pm, after three hours of intense fighting, the order was given
to regroup and try to head out of the city in convoy.
"Several marines who had lost their vehicles piled into the back of ours.
"We raced along ambush alley at full speed, close to a line of houses. "My
driver got hit," said one of the marines who joined us, his face and
uniform caked in mud. "I went to try to help him when he got hit by another
RPG or a mortar."
"I don't even know how many friends I have lost. I don't care if they nuke
that bloody city now. From one house they were waving while shooting at us
with AKs from the next. It was insane."
“There was relief when we finally crossed the second bridge to the
northeast of the city in mid-afternoon.
"But there was more horror to come. Beside the smoldering wreckage of
another AAV were the bodies of another four marines, laid out in the mud
and covered with camouflage ponchos.
"There were body parts everywhere. One of the dead was Second Lieutenant
Fred Pokorney, 31, a marine artillery officer from Washington state.
“[…]Pokorney made it over the second bridge and a few hundred yards down a
highway through dusty flatlands before his vehicle was ambushed. Pokorney
and his men had no chance.
"Fully loaded with ammunition, their truck exploded in the middle of the
road, its remains burning for hours. Pokorney was hit in the chest by an RPG.
“Another man who died was Fitzgerald Jordan, a staff sergeant from Texas.
“[…]Frantic medics did what they could to relieve horrific injuries, until
four helicopters landed in the middle of the highway to take the injured to
a military hospital.
"Each wounded marine had a tag describing his injury. One had gunshot
wounds to the face, another to the chest. Another simply lay on his side in
the sand with a tag reading: "Urgent - surgery, buttock."
“One young marine was assigned the job of keeping the flies at bay. Some of
his comrades, exhausted, covered in blood, dirt and sweat walked around dazed.
"There were loud cheers as the sound of the heaviest artillery yet to pound
Nasiriya shook the ground. Before last week the overwhelming majority of
these young men had never been in combat. Few had even seen a dead body.
Now, their faces had changed.
“[…]They suspected that civilian cars, including taxis, had helped resupply
the enemy inside the city. When cars were spotted speeding along two roads,
frantic calls were made over the radio to get permission to "kill the
vehicles". Twenty-four hours earlier it would almost certainly have been
denied: now it was granted.
“Immediately, the level of force levelled at civilian vehicles was
overwhelming. Tanks were placed on the road and AAVs lined along one side.
Several taxis were destroyed by helicopter gunships as they drove down the
road.
“A lorry filled with sacks of wheat made the fatal mistake of driving
through US lines. The order was given to fire. Several AAVs pounded it with
a barrage of machinegun fire, riddling the windscreen with at least 20
holes. The driver was killed instantly.
"The lorry swerved off the road and into a ditch. Rumor spread that the
driver had been armed and had fired at the marines. I walked up to the
lorry, but could find no trace of a weapon. This was the start of day that
claimed many civilian casualties.
“After the lorry a truck came down the road. Again the marines fired.
Inside, four men were killed. They had been traveling with some 10 other
civilians, mainly women and children who were evacuated, crying, their
clothes splattered in blood. Hours later a dog belonging to the dead driver
was still by his side[…]”
“[…]Two tanks and three AAVs were placed at the north end of the third
bridge, their guns pointing down towards Nasiriya, and given orders to
shoot at any vehicle that drove towards American positions.
"Though civilians on foot passed by safely, the policy was to shoot
anything that moved on wheels. Inevitably, terrified civilians drove at
speed to escape: marines took that speed to be a threat and hit out.
"During the night, our teeth on edge, we listened a dozen times as the
AVVs' machineguns opened fire, cutting through cars and trucks like paper.
“Next morning I saw the result of this order - the dead civilians, the
little girl in the orange and gold dress. Suddenly, some of the young men
who had crossed into Iraq with me reminded me now of their fathers'
generation, the trigger-happy grunts of Vietnam.
"Covered in the mud from the violent storms, they were drained and
dangerously aggressive.
“[…] Mike Brooks was one of the commanders who had given the order to shoot
at civilian vehicles. It weighed on his mind, even though he felt he had no
choice but to do everything to protect his marines from another ambush.
"On Friday, making coffee in the dust, he told me he had been writing a
diary, partly for his wife Kelly, a nurse at home in Jacksonville, North
Carolina, with their sons Colin, 6, and four-year-old twins Brian and Evan.
When he came to jotting down the incident about the two babies getting
killed by his men he couldn't do it.
"But he said he would tell her when he got home. I offered to let him call
his wife on my satellite phone to tell her he was okay. He turned down the
offer and had me write and send her an e-mail instead. He was too
emotional. If she heard his voice, he said, she would know that something
was wrong.”
Franchetti’s story is likely to unleash a storm of angry responses by
working and young people from around the world. Creating a scandal of great
proportions we hope will help to stop these crimes.
It is absolutely clear that those who gave the orders around Nasariya are
at risk of being indicted as war criminals. We hope that the indictment
gets all the way to the top of the US military hierarchy.
After all, George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld and the US Armed
Forces High Command are the ones who made these young Americans war criminals.
Meanwhile, the US media continues to show the “clean war” waged by powerful
empires against Iraq. Possibly, they are already at work manufacturing
stories that would explain how these Marines did not have "any other
choice" but shooting civilians.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om 2">
