[CTRL] Fwd: [cia-drugs] The Hidden War

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:58:50 -0700

-Caveat Lector- www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:

http://www.mail-archive.com/[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

--- Begin Message ---
-Caveat Lector-
 
The Hidden War
By: Juan Cole on: 14.10.2004 [20:59 ] (529 reads)

 
Since US attacks typically kill large numbers of civilians, Allawi appears to have been threatening collective punishment, which is a war crime "Allawi threatened the inhabitants of Fallujah with a massive US military assault if they did not turn over Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters suspected of being holed up in Fallujah." Juan Cole opinion piece The Hidden War ".... The Bush administration has represented itself as fighting a handful of foreign terrorists and local criminals or dead-enders. Arab viewers know that most of the guerrilla opposition to the US is Iraqi, and that many of the victims of U.S. attempts to destroy it are civilians."
 
Incredibly, American warplanes still routinely bomb Baghdad, the capital of the country the U.S. conquered in April of 2003. Indeed, they blast any city where a significant guerrilla resistance emerges, whether in the Sunni Arab northwest or in the Shiite south. Although the interim president of Iraq, Ghazi al-Yawir, recently denounced these tactics, the issue has passed virtually without remark on the American political scene.

Al-Yawir's outburst suggests that the behavior of the U.S. military in Iraq may be emerging as a campaign issue within Iraq, as elections loom in January of 2005. The bombing raids are mentioned only in passing in the U.S. press, and U.S. television viewers seldom see footage of the strikes or of the civilian casualties they produce. In contrast, Arab satellite television channels frequently show wounded children in hospital beds after the bombardment.

The Bush administration has represented itself as fighting a handful of foreign terrorists and local criminals or dead-enders. Arab viewers know that most of the guerrilla opposition to the US is Iraqi, and that many of the victims of U.S. attempts to destroy it are civilians. A recent report by the Iraqi health ministry, revealed by Knight Ridder, found that between April and September of this year, U.S. military operations had killed twice as many civilians as had the bombings and shootings carried out by the guerrillas.

President al-Yawir said the images of wounded and dead women and children being dragged from rubble after the U.S. raids reminded him of scenes from Israeli-occupied Gaza. Any such comparison of Washington and Tel Aviv by an Iraqi politician is highly inflammatory. Israeli military actions in Gaza against the Palestinians are about as popular in the Muslim world as Santa Ana's assault on the Alamo was in nineteenth-century America.

Al-Yawir implied that when you bomb a city repeatedly to get at a guerrilla group hiding out there, you are implicitly punishing the civilian population for the actions of the militants. Collective punishment is an ugly tactic, famously practiced by the Nazis in Europe to keep their conquered populations in line. It is forbidden by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

Nor is al-Yawir the only such voice. A British Muslim delegation called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to pressure President Bush to halt the bombing of Iraqi cities, saying that it was hindering the release of hostages. One member of the delegation called the bombings an "indiscriminate" killing of Iraqi civilians, and said that many Iraqis felt these were no less innocent victims than were the hostages.

On a single day in August, U.S. warplanes bombed the southern city of Kut, killing 84 persons and wounding 176, according to the al-Zahra Hospital. Its spokesman said that many of these were women and children. The U.S. military explained that they had targeted the city quarter of Sharqia because of intelligence that Mahdi Army fighters had congregated in it. I watched U.S. television news all day on August 12, and never heard Kut mentioned.

You cannot bomb a densely settled city without killing civilians. Military spokesmen speak of "clean" "precision strikes" on "terrorist" "safehouses." This antiseptic language misleads and covers up the reality. Even with very good technology, not all bombs or missiles hit their targets with precision. Even where that is possible, the military is dependent on intelligence to know where guerrillas are congregating, intelligence that is inevitably murky and of varying quality. Worse, even precision strikes kill noncombatants, sometimes in fair numbers. When a five hundred pound bomb hits a building, it turns the building itself into shrapnel. Glass, stone and adobe fragments fly out, into eyes and into hearts, killing and maiming for hundreds of feet around. Iraqis are organized in clans, and are fiercely protective of their kin. Each innocent Iraqi death produced by an American bomb creates another clan feud with the U.S.

That the president of an Iraqi government more or less installed by the United States should be so bluntly condemning his patrons over this issue is remarkable, and alarming. Like many Iraqi politicians, al-Yawir is positioning himself for the elections scheduled for January 2005. He may well be a bellwether here, signaling that most Iraqi candidates will run against the U.S..

The Bush administration and the Pentagon have signaled that they plan a major campaign against recalcitrant cities like Fallujah and Ramadi in November, after the U.S. elections. Al-Yawir is unlikely to sit quietly through a Dresden-like assault on his Sunni Arab constituents. In the aftermath of such an attack, and a possible diplomatic rift with the president and other high officials, the U.S. may find it is the real loser in the January elections.

Juan Cole teaches history at the University of Michigan, is the author of Sacred Space and Holy War (IB Tauris, 2002) and the daily web log, www.juancole.com


Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/

Please let us stay on topic and be civil.

OM


Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
click here

Yahoo! Groups Links
www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.

Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:

http://www.mail-archive.com/[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


--- End Message ---

Reply via email to