18 GIs killed in 72 Hours
Anti-Prison Demonstrations in Baghdad
From Wednesday to Friday, guerrillas in Iraq killed 18 US troops. The most tragic single incident came on Friday, when guerrillas used old Baath rocket parts to make an enormous bomb that killed 10 Marines near Fallujah and wounded 11. CNN points out that Marine convoys tend to spread out to limit such casualties, so the death of 10 GIs in one incident suggests just a horrific explosion. There were said to be 600,000 tons of munitions stored in Iraq, one of the more militarized societies in the world, and over 200,000 tons are probably still unaccounted for.
On Wednesday, four GIs had been killed in separate incidents.
Think Progress points out that Bush knew about the bad news of 10 Marines killed near Fallujah before his remarks on the economy, and did not even mention it.
On Friday, as well, over a thousand Shiites and Sunnis held joint Friday prayers services and then mounted demonstrations downtown. The prayers were held at the mosque of Abu Hanifah in Adhamiyah. They demonstrated against the continued US military sweeps [of places like Ramadi].
Al-Zaman says that they were demanding the trial of the official in charge of the Jadiriyah Prison where 150 largely Sunni detainees had been tortured and starved. They said that Abu Karim Alwandi, the head of intelligence for the Badr Corps paramilitary, who presided over Jadiriyah, had to be held to the rule of law. Some placards angrily charged that Iraqis had been tortured on Iranian orders. This allegation comes about because the prison was in the charge of the Ministry of Interior, controlled by Bayan Jabr Sulagh, a prominent member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which had been based in Iran 1982-2003. Some placards accused the minister of being an American puppet. The crowds also demanded the release of detainees held by the US in Iraq.
The Shiites involved were likely followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, who have a rivalry with SCIRI and who have sometimes engaged in a politics of pan-Islam, hooking up with Sunni fundamentalists for anti-imperial purposes.
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/03/2005 12:30:00 AM
Click to join Infoco
5 Comments:
Concerning the secrete Jadiriyah Prison where 150 Sunnis were totured and starved (btw,any idea why the number have been diminishing from 170 to 150 ?), I'm just reading here that the US military "plans unannounced inspections of suspected Iraqi jails to make sure prisoners are not being abused in secret Interior Ministry facilities". Well, it's not the job of the US military to visit prisonners. If they were really serious about it, they would hand the list of secrete jails to the ICRC (the International Red Cross Commitee). The ICRC delegates are especially trained for that. Further, you don't necessarily need unannounced visits, but it is absolutely imperative that you can talk directly with the prisonners without any other jail personal around. The ICRC method is to work in the background, so I'm pretty sure that they have already been in contact with the Iraqi actual government asking for a list of all the secrete jails and requesting the right to visit these prisons, second humanitarian law. Here, if the Iraqi officials resist, a a pressure of the US military/government could be crucial. But this all can be achieved in the background and doesn't need to be publicized. So why is the US trying to bypass an international humanitarian institution once more ? IMO, the answer is : PRoperation and psyop..
>>The most tragic single incident came on Friday, when guerrillas used old Baath rocket parts to make an enormous bomb that killed 10 Marines near Fallujah and wounded 11.
This strikes as a typical American-centric view of the world that makes so many reasonable people hate America. No, this isn't the worst tragic single incident. It is the worst tragic incident for Americans. I am sure (correct me if I am wrong) there have been incidents many times worse that resulted in dead Iraqis.
I am not too concerned that Bush does not mention the ten killed. I believe we all know that we are in an ugly and continuing war. Events should be noted, but I think a true critic of the war should be aimed at forcing acknowledgement of the events below the headlines. Shiite influence, militias, crime, corruption, the possibility of a developing health crisis, a possible slowing of the economy.
I feel that the right has almost guaranted failure by refusing to see any concerns or criticisms, not of the Jane Fonda type. They have ignored General, Zinn, General Odom, a host of others including advocates of the war who for years have called for reforms. By shutting out reality none were made.
I think the bulk of war critics have added to the problem by focusing on the headlines and especially deaths of US troops. What we need on our front pages is deep reporting such as the LAT recent stories on death squads, summaries of the reports of the IMF and World Bank and WHO.
Reports that do things that outline the reasons for the British crackdown on Basra police and chart the success or failures or unintended consequences.
I fault Bush primarily for ignoring the underlying realities, not just publicly, but evidently in making policy and plans. One is grateful that he admitted the insurgency is primarily Iraqi, this is a big step, but he needs to make a number of equally big admissions on the "structural" issues.
I think this would be the best way to regain public confidence. I do not think critics help by saying "how about the 10 US dead," this is the kind of emotional games the right have played, we need to ask," How about the militias, how about the crime, what about corruption, how about the fleeing of professionals, what are we doing, do we even have measures?"
I think most people feel we have responsibilities to Iraq and we are willing to pay something for some success, but we need leaders who face the problems.
Talking about US dead just brings the game to a place the right feels comfortable with, it doesn't force them to think. It's the same old debate.
We mourn these people, but to make their sacrifices worth while we need to slam the larger strategic realities into the debate, the good bad and the ugly. Is withdrawal the only choice, do we stay the course and if so how?
This is in fact what you basically try to do. Right now the majit making noise on both sides concentrate on emotional plays.
Christiane:
You are taking the position of Mr, Rumsfed in contrast to that of General Pace. The general said that it *is* the responsibility of US troops to intervene. If other organizations are involved so much the better.
But many of us felt some pride that the chairman of the joint chiefs contradicted the Sec Def publicly. We do believe that there can be honor in the military and that they can be *one* force in putting things together.
Related to my previous post, when critics attack anything and everything we do they are attacking the possibility of the hundreds of partial reforms that might sigificantly help things.
And also you might want to understand how dark the realities are. Some of these militia and death squads are filled with thugs, you can't simply ask them to stop, if necesary you must be prepared to force. The US military is the only entity there with some respect for human values with the capacity to shoot down these people if they refuse to take the electric drill out of someone's eyes.
And yes it is our responsibility. We have the responsibilities of an occupier.
Juan,
It was a pretty horrific explosion that killed the ten Marines. Video was taken and released to al-Jazeera, and video stills of the attack have been released by Reuters.
See this link for the video.
Post a Comment
<< Home