*Ø* Blogmanac | UK: Who will speak out?
US troops have carried out a massacre in Falluja, but MPs are silent
Ronan Bennett, April 17, The Guardian
"What does it take to get a New Labour politician to speak out on Iraq? I'm not talking about the likes of Blair, Hoon and Straw -- key players so deeply implicated in the cruel tragedy of conquest and occupation that they have no option but to stay the course, even as it spirals into slaughter and chaos. But there are ministers and backbenchers with a history of commitment to human rights. What does it take to shock them out of their baffling silence?
"Not the 600 or 700 Iraqis killed over the last fortnight in Falluja, it seems. Perhaps they believe, like the prime minister, that those attacking coalition troops are Saddam loyalists, al-Qaida fighters or religious fanatics, and deserve everything they get. Perhaps they have been reassured by General John Abizaid, head of the US Army's central command, who spoke of the coalition's 'judicious use of force'. Maybe they accept the reassurance of the commander of the US marines besieging the city that his men are 'trained to be precise in their firepower', and that '95% of those killed were legitimate targets'.
"Let's accept for the moment that the commander is right and accept that the AC-130 gunships and F16 fighter-bombers unleashed against the people of Falluja are precise, that the 500lb bombs falling on the city come under the definition of judicious. Let's look at just a handful of the 5% of civilian casualties the Americans concede they have inflicted.
"These include the mother of six-year-old Haider Abdel-Wahab, shot and killed while hanging out laundry; his father, shot in the head; Haider himself, and his brothers, crushed but dug out alive after a US missile struck their house. They include children who died of head wounds. They include an old woman with a bullet wound -- still clutching a white flag when aid workers found her. They include an elderly man lying face down at the gate to his house -- while inside terrified girls screamed 'Baba! Baba!' They include ambulance crews fired on by US troops ... "
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US troops have carried out a massacre in Falluja, but MPs are silent
Ronan Bennett, April 17, The Guardian
"What does it take to get a New Labour politician to speak out on Iraq? I'm not talking about the likes of Blair, Hoon and Straw -- key players so deeply implicated in the cruel tragedy of conquest and occupation that they have no option but to stay the course, even as it spirals into slaughter and chaos. But there are ministers and backbenchers with a history of commitment to human rights. What does it take to shock them out of their baffling silence?
"Not the 600 or 700 Iraqis killed over the last fortnight in Falluja, it seems. Perhaps they believe, like the prime minister, that those attacking coalition troops are Saddam loyalists, al-Qaida fighters or religious fanatics, and deserve everything they get. Perhaps they have been reassured by General John Abizaid, head of the US Army's central command, who spoke of the coalition's 'judicious use of force'. Maybe they accept the reassurance of the commander of the US marines besieging the city that his men are 'trained to be precise in their firepower', and that '95% of those killed were legitimate targets'.
"Let's accept for the moment that the commander is right and accept that the AC-130 gunships and F16 fighter-bombers unleashed against the people of Falluja are precise, that the 500lb bombs falling on the city come under the definition of judicious. Let's look at just a handful of the 5% of civilian casualties the Americans concede they have inflicted.
"These include the mother of six-year-old Haider Abdel-Wahab, shot and killed while hanging out laundry; his father, shot in the head; Haider himself, and his brothers, crushed but dug out alive after a US missile struck their house. They include children who died of head wounds. They include an old woman with a bullet wound -- still clutching a white flag when aid workers found her. They include an elderly man lying face down at the gate to his house -- while inside terrified girls screamed 'Baba! Baba!' They include ambulance crews fired on by US troops ... "
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