So, what do you want?
You want nobody to bother Tyrants?
Saddam's Tyranny was legal because USA's Tyranny is not?
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Isha Khan <bdmailer@...> wrote:
>
> Iraq: Toppling a Country: from Statue to Legality
>
> by Felicity Arbuthnot
>
>
> "*The welfare of the people, in particular, has always been the alibi of
> tyrants."* (Albert Camus, 1913-1960.)
>
>
> Throughout Iraq, Americans bringing "freedom from tyranny", with their
> British auxiliaries, and their few arm twisted "coalition", largely morphed
> in to tyrants overnight. As with Saddam Hussein's statue, the U.S., simply
> covered legality with an American flag - and toppled it. And as across the
> country, indiscriminate, unaccountable killing sprees started early on - and
> continue still.
>
> U.S., wickednesses in Fallujah, the district by district liquidations, have
> probably been documented in more detail, than any other city, town or
> village, in deaths, injuries and deformities, so serves one tragic service -
> as an invaluable test case for war crimes and crimes against humanity in
> Iraq. Whilst the recent, chilling Report by Busby, et al., (1) in the
> International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, has
> received deserved publicity, and been presented to the U.N., another,
> presented to the 15th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in
> Geneva (13th September-1st October) has received less so.
>
> "Testimonies of Crimes Against Humanity in Fallujah - Towards a Fair
> International Criminal Trial"(2): "... pleads and implores", the United
> Nations in : ".. respect for the memory (of the) victims, to investigate the
> crimes and violations", in the document, and all that: "has been inflicted
> upon Iraq, placing the country at the top of the world's daily list for
> deaths, displaced persons, both internally and externally, the ensuing
> savage corruption, child molestation, rape, rampant kidnapping, contrary to
> the noble goals and (founding aspirations) of your Organisation."
>
> After the invasion and fall of Baghdad, the document records, Fallujah
> remained calm, escaping the turmoil engulfing the rest of Iraq. Exactly two
> weeks after the toppling of the statue, on 23rd April 2003, when a group of
> students peacefully demonstrated outside Al Quds school, for its return by
> the U.S., soldiers, who had - without consultation - taken it over as a
> base, so they could resume studies. The response was massive violence.
>
> The troops fired "indiscriminately" killing thirteen and wounding seventy
> five. Three of the dead were children under eleven. In a depressingly
> familiar story, according to Dr Ahmed Ghanim Al-Ali, the then hospital
> Director, they also fired on the medical staff who came to rescue the
> injured.
>
> A week later, troops fired on a funeral, the first such occurrence in Iraq,
> which, with Afghanistan, along with wedding parties and mourning gatherings,
> have become a disgraceful litany. Two were killed and fourteen wounded,
> including children.
>
> In the early hours of the second anniversary of the falling of the Twin
> Towers, a group driving a blue BMW, fired on the offices of the Mayor of
> Fallujah. Chased by the Fallujah Protection Force, the car disappeared in to
> a U.S., camp just outside the city. Returning, they came under heavy fire,
> eight were killed and two wounded. Again the ambulances were fired on and
> prevented assisting.
>
> Those marking an atrocity at home, with executions abroad, transpired to be
> both U.S., forces and allegedly, with much substantiating evidence,
> mercenaries of the notorious Blackwater Security (now XL.) It took repeated
> demands by Fallujah's Mayor and others for the U.S., military to finally
> hand back the bodies (which: " ... had been left in the back of crushed
> vehicles in the burning sun") and two traumatised injured.
>
> Acts of violence, murders, arrests, incarceration without trial and general
> acts of terror, are the hallmark of the freedom promised to the people of
> Iraq.
>
> Ironically, American forces, with representatives from then U.S., "Viceroy"
> Paul Bremer's Office, in a meeting with the City Council, tried to recruit
> locals as agents, for protection. Seemingly, they were told that according
> to the Geneva Conventions, protection of Iraqis lay with the occupying
> forces. Outside, were BMWs - driven by Blackwater staff. Bremer had given
> the company its first contract (for a reported $21 million) in Iraq.
>
> It was against the background the brutal, deviant behaviour, that, on 31st
> March 2004, four Blackwater employees, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Slovko,
> Wesley Bataloni and Mike Teague, were brutally murdered, dragged through the
> streets, their bodies hung over a bridge spanning the Euphrates.
>
> The action was presented to the world, largely, as an example of the
> irrational endemic violence in Iraqis. The brutal treatment of Iraqis, at
> the hands of the invading forces and Blackwater, had scant mention in the
> main stream media.
>
> Little can be found about the last three victims - but surreally,
> Helvenston, a former U.S., Navy SEAL, had been a personal trainer for
> Hollywood celebrities, including Demi Moore and had taken to reality shows
> such as: "Combat Missions", and: "Man vs Beast", where he completed an
> obstacle course faster then a chimpanzee. Tragically, though, not faster
> than the Fallujans. His last reality show appearance: "Extreme Expeditions :
> Model Behaviour", had still to be shown at the time of his death.(3)
>
> The revenge April retaliation, came in spite of attempts by the City Council
> to mediate and negotiate. "U.S., troops rejected the intervention of and
> presence of the U.N." A tape recording of their refusal to negotiate and
> stated determination to strike the city, is witness to their lawless
> rejection.
>
> U.S., troops gave orders that no one was to leave the city. The population
> was trapped, reminiscent of General Norman Schwartzkopf's "turkey shoot" on
> the Basra Road, in 1991, with the road blocked at both ends and no escape.
> The bridge to the hospital was cut off, condemning the wounded to death,
> with five hundred pound bombs, and cluster bombs being dropped on Fallujah's
> families - who had nowhere to hide.
>
> That attack, with the subsequent one in October-November 2004, were compared
> to Guernica, and without doubt equal some of history's most shameful
> episodes. The people besieged in a reign of terror, of pure, primitive,
> savagery - targeted with weaponry of mass destruction.
>
> Instructed by the troops to hold a white flag if they ventured out,
> sickeningly, U.S., snipers, then targeted heads of those who dared, in
> desperation, for help, food, water, medical aid, water and telephones having
> been cut, in contravention to the Geneva Convention. Also in contravention,
> is fact the forces had anyway, prevented essential foodstuffs and medicines
> from coming in.
>
> The Report to the Human Rights Commission further reminds of the ongoing
> bombing between the two major assaults, which has continued, year on year.
> Whilst the two major attacks on Fallujah have been recorded in acres of
> newsprint (see also 4) the voices of the survivors have been largely absent.
> The document records those of one hundred and sixteen, from April's
> onslaught, with several earlier ones. Just some of the newly enfranchised,
> collaterally damaged, disposable Iraqis, include:
>
> *Ahmed Hassan Shaker was killed on 6th January 2004, on going outside his
> home to find the cause of bullets "which were ringing out." A missile killed
> him and his wife, Sihan, instantly. They left six orphans, the eldest six,
> the youngest, just seven months. (Witness, Ahmed Hassan's father.) The U.S.,
> military apologized to the family. No compensation has been forthcoming.
>
> *Montaser Sami Hammad Ali al-Awani, killed, on 7th June 2003: " .. by random
> firing of U.S., troops on civilians", in Fallujah's Nazzal district.
> (Witness, his father.)
>
> *Ahmed Obaid M'hidi Saud Issawi, died on 27th October 2003, when: "U.S.,
> forces opened fire indiscrimately at everyone ..." (Witness, his brother.)
>
> *In April 2004, Ali Dahi Abd Muflih lost fifteen members of his family, the
> majority women and children, when their home was completely destroyed by a
> U.S., missile. (Witness, surviving family member.)
>
> *April 2004, Alaa Najim Abdullah Al-Issawi shot in the head by a U.S.,
> sniper. (Witness, his brother.)
>
> * St Valentine's Day, 14th April 2004, Fatah Saad Abbas al-Issawi, eight
> years old, killed as a result of "indiscriminate firearm" discharge.
> (Witness, her father.)
>
> * Heba Abd Awda Jafil al-Halbusi, twenty, killed by U.S., sniper, whilst
> trying to escape "hell of U.S., fire", with her family. (Witness, her
> father.)
>
> *Marwa Mohammed Khalif, her age not recorded, by a bullet to the head.
> (Witness, her mother.)
>
> *17th April 2004, Ali Ismail Obeid Jassim Salman al-Issawi, aged five, and
> his brother, Hakki, Ismail Obeid Jassim Salman al-Issawi, ten, both killed
> by a sniper, whilst playing in front of their house. Buried together in the
> same grave. (Witness, their father.)
>
> Throughout the testimonies, the words "indiscriminate", "random", "rampage"
> and "sniper" come up unceasingly. Other victims of this very democratic kind
> of killing, since there was no discrimination, included: Ayah (six);
> Fadhela, (thirteen); Mohammed, (nine); Shaimaa (fifteen); Alia (thirteen);
> Bushra (fifteen); Naba (three); Salwa (twelve); Baida (eleven); Hanin
> (seven.) As in the following November's psychopathic purge, the football
> pitch became a cemetery - but in November, they would need two.
>
> The reign of terror in this city, which has existed since - and in some
> linguistic and archeological evidence, maybe before - Babylonian times, has
> continued, with "arbitrary arrests", "systematic torture", and allegations
> "of a policy of humiliation."
>
> Dogs were unleashed by both military and often those accompanying them in
> plain clothes, suspicions falling on Blackwater again, in a litany. Just one
> victim was thirteen year old Ameen, whose twenty two year old university
> student and bread winner brother, Sineen, was shot "in a hail of bullets"
> when these mixed forces broke in to their home, after blowing out the door.
>
> Ameen was beaten, his hand badly damaged by dogs, the all, he described
> carried out by men with beards and ear rings. As he was being beaten, it
> transpired, others were putting his brother's bloodied, mutilated body under
> a mattress, behind the curtains. This was after their father had been killed
> in the April 2004 bombardment.
>
> Leaving the house ransacked and belongings smashed, the group allegedly
> rampaged through the neighbourhood, injuring, "robbing and stealing ...
> money and jewellery .." The U.S., forces, has thus taken a town which had
> escaped the invasion's murderous chaos, but has it rained upon them by the
> occupying forces, for now, approaching eight years.
>
> As Dirk Adriaensens (5) has written: "The latest 'incident' occurred on
> Wednesday 15 September 2010 (following the official 'withdrawal' of US
> troops.) Seven civilians were killed and four injured. Their names will be
> added to the endless list of victims of the U.S., aggression against this
> troubled city. May they never be forgotten."
>
> Killed during the raid by US/Iraqi forces on 15 September 2010
>
> * Humadi Jassim Ahmed..........old man
> * Manzel Humadi Jassim Ahmed.........youngster
> * Sameer Humadi Jassim Ahmed........youngster
> * Sadiek Humadi Jassim Ahmed.........youngster
> * Abid Swissan Ahmed.........old man
> * Yassein Abid Swissan Ahmed.......youngster
> * Yassein Kassar Saad........Former Iraqi officer in Iraqi army
> • Injured civilians
> * Omar Humadi Jassim.......youngster
> * Ibrahim Abid Kassar.........youngster
> * Hathima Jassim (85 years old)
> * Ahmed Humadi Jassim ....youngster
>
>
> Whilst the people of Fallujah are stalked by visible killers in the form of
> Americans with their hardware, they live with an invisible one, in the
> residues left by the weapons used, including depleted uranium, the
> radioactivity and toxicity of which they eat, breathe and drink, since it
> can be measured in air and seeps in to the water table, affecting fauna and
> flora.
>
> "In 2006, 5,928 cases of previously unknown, or rarely seen diseases were
> diagnosed (in Fallujah)", records the Report. "In the first half of 2007,
> 2,447 seriously ill patients were admitted, showing mostly little known
> symptoms. Fifty percent were children ... five years after the 2004 attacks,
> cancers had multiplied by four." In five years: "a twelve fold incident in
> fourteen year olds was noted." Birth defects rose by twenty five percent in
> a six year period.(See 4 and 5 for detail.)
>
> Dr Bill Wilson, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, who is determined to
> see Tony Blair in Court on war crimes charges, also has the British
> government's culpability in using depleted uranium (DU) high on his agenda.
> In 1996 and again in 1997, the UN Human Rights Committee included DU., in
> their list of weapons of mass destruction, urging all States to curb the
> spread and production of these weapons.
> On 19th October 2010, Dr Wilson wrote to the (UK) Nuclear Decommissioning
> Authority, the successor to British Nuclear Fuels Limited, asking for
> details of all the documents it holds pertaining to the effects of spent or
> "depleted" uranium on health.
>
> Dr Wilson comments: "Depleted uranium, high in the U-238 isotope, is what is
> left after uranium has been used to generate power. The nuclear industry,
> rather than putting this still radioactive and potentially lethal material
> out of harm's way, however, sells it on to the arms industry and it is used
> to make armour-piercing or anti-tank shells. It has been doing this for
> decades, as a way of decreasing the financial losses associated with what I
> regard as an unnecessary and dangerous way of generating electricity.
>
> "Such shells produce 3000oC fireballs and the resultant black uranium oxide
> particles get everywhere; they are blown hundreds of miles and are inhaled
> and ingested. There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that the
> cavalier use of depleted-uranium weaponry in Iraq and Afghanistan has caused
> a massive increase in cancers (particularly amongst children) and horrific
> birth defects, both in civilians living there and in service personnel and
> their families. What's more, it has a half-life of almost 4.5 billion years!
>
> "The US and UK Governments have been warned of all this, but appear to have
> ignored such warnings and have done practically nothing to clear up the mess
> they have left, not even fencing off highly radioactive destroyed tanks to
> stop children playing on them. It doesn't take a genius to understand the
> issues at stake here and the potential for legal action.
>
> "As part of my ongoing campaign for justice and to prevent further massive
> human rights abuses, I am seeking clarity on what the UK Government has
> historically known about the health effects of depleted uranium.
> A refusal to answer my Freedom-of-Information request will tell its own
> story."
>
> The Decommissioning Authority, he comments: "should come clean on dirty
> fuel." Indeed: "In the wake of America's "shock and awe" bombing campaign to
> take Baghdad, radiation detectors as far away as the United Kingdom noted a
> fourfold spike in radioactivity in the atmosphere." (6) The pregnant women,
> for whom it to too dangerous to undergo an X-ray for fear of of damaging the
> unborn baby, receives ongoing doses, courtesy the weapons industry, from
> Fallujah to Florida, from Baghdad to Belfast.
>
> Two letters might be of use to Dr Wilson, written, respectively, immediately
> after and shortly after, the 1991 attack on Iraq. They are self explanatory.
> The late Leonard Dietz, to whom the second letter is addressed, was an
> eminent nuclear physicist and expert on the dangers of inhaled or ingested
> DU particles. They are typed exactly as written in the originals:
>
>
>
>
> Los Alamos
>
> Los Alamos National Laboratory
> Los Alamos New Mexico 87545 memorandum
>
> To: Studies and Analysis Branch (wr 13) (or may be 10, slightly eroded)
> Attn: Maj Larson I Mar 1991
>
> From: Lt Col M.V. Ziehman
> STOP/Telephone: F668/(505) 665 19??
>
> Symbol: MCLn0
>
> Subject: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DEPLETED URANIUM PENETRATORS
>
> There is a relatively small amount of lethality data for uranium
> penetrators, either the tank fired long version or the GAU-8 round fired
> from the A10 close air support aircraft. The recent was has likely
> multiplied the number of du rounds fired at targets by orders of magnitude.
> It is believed that du penetrators were very effective against Iraqi armor;
> (sic) how-ever, assessments of such will have to be made.
>
> There has been and continues to be a concern regarding the impact of du on
> the environment. Therefore, if no one makes a case for the effectiveness of
> du on the battlefield, du rounds may become politically unacceptable and
> thus,be deleted from the military arsenal.
>
> If du penetrators proved their worth during our recent combat activities,
> then we should assure their future existence (until something better is
> developed) through
> Service/DOD proponency. If proponency is not garnered, it is possible that
> we stand to lose a valuable combat capability.
>
> I believe we should keep this sensitive issue at (sic) mind when after
> action reports are written.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> (signed) Lt Col Z
>
> Department of Defense, United States of America (seal.)
>
> Office of the Director of
> Defense Research and Engineering
> Washington, DC 20301 - 3030
>
> 15th August 1991
>
> Mr. Leonard A. Dietz
> 1124 Mohegan Road
> Schenectady, NY 12309
>
> Dear Mr Dietz:
>
> Your letter of 30th July 1991 concerning depleted uranium was brought to my
> attention by Dr. Osterman.
>
> In this letter you posed the question of the "probability that lung cancer
> could develop: after inhalation of depleted uranium. As you are no doubt
> well aware, since this material is a source of ionizing radiation, the
> potential for carcinogenicity
> is real. The same holds true for nephro-toxicity which, in most of the
> literature available to me, seems to be the greater limiting health endpoint
> of concern, protection from which requires a much lower ambient
> concentration in drinking water or foodstuffs.
>
> The potential risk to human health from exposure to depleted uranium is, of
> course, dose and time related, both of which must be measured, approximated,
> or assumed.
>
> Let me assure you that we feel that your concern, which parallels our own,
> is real and we thank you for sharing that with us.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> (Signed)
>
> John W. Kolmer, MD.,
> Military Ass't for Medical
> and Life Sciences.
>
> Keen as Colonel Ziehman might have been to water down the dangers, so as not
> to "lose a valuable combat capability", regardless of the health of allied
> troops or invaded citizens, the U.S., Army's own manuals are more
> forthcoming. As has been written in these columns before:
>
> "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to generate significant medical
> consequences. The risks associated with DU are both chemical and
> radiological. Personnel in or near vehicles struck by DU penetrators could
> receive significant internal exposures." (7) Or indeed those near bombed
> homes, streets, schools, mosques ... Further: "Short term effects of high
> doses can result in death, while long term effects of low doses have been
> implicated in cancer." (8) This warning was sounded by the giant, US
> government contracted, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
> in July 1990, six months before Desert Storm.
>
> Further, shortly after Desert Storm, the UK Atomic Energy Authority "self
> initiated a Report", warning of half a million extra cancer deaths in by
> 2000, if just fifty tonnes of residual DU dust had been left "in the
> region."
>
> For either government to claim they were unaware of the apocalyptic
> consequences of further use, would be, as UK Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert
> Armstrong admitted, in another cover up a couple of decades ago, to be
> "economical with the truth."
>
> *Notes
> *
> 1. http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2828
> 2.
> http://www.scribd.com/doc/38397725/Testimonies-of-Crimes-Against-Humanity-in-Fallujah
> 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Helvenston
> 4. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21212
> http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21370
> 5.http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21131
> 6.
> http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/07/study-health-effects-felt-fallujah-widespread-nuking-hiroshima-nagasaki/
> 7. (US) Army Environmental Policy Institute: "Health and Environmental
> Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use in the US Army", 1995.
> 8. SAIC : "Kinetic Energy Penetrator Long Term Strategy Study", Danesi, July
> 1990.
>
> http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21545
>
------------------------------------
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