[News] Operation Bury Them Alive

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Fri Apr 22 12:03:04 EDT 2005



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http://www.malcomlagauche.com/id1.html

Wednesday/Thursday, April 20-21, 2005

OPERATION BURY 'EM ALIVE


When we look back to the beginning of the 15-year U.S.-Iraq war, we recall 
incidents that have been forgotten,  or were not given public attention at 
the time. These occurrences are important because they kept escalating the 
severity  of the violence thrust against Iraq from 1991 until today. Once 
one method was accepted, another came forth with even more dire consequences.

On the first two days of the ground war during Desert Storm (February 24 
and 25, 1991), U.S. troops, using  tanks and earthmovers that had been 
specially fitted with plows, buried thousands of Iraqi soldiers alive.

Three brigades of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division (the Big Red One) 
used the tactic to destroy  trenches and bunkers that were being defended 
by about 10,000 Iraqi soldiers. These combatants were draftees, not the 
seasoned  troops such as the Republican Guard.

The assault had been carefully planned and rehearsed. According to U.S. 
participants, about 2,000 Iraqis surrendered  and were not buried. Most of 
the rest, about 8,000, were buried beneath tons of sand - many trying to 
surrender. Captain  Bennie Williams was rewarded for his part in the 
burying with a Silver Star. He said, "Once we went through there, other 
than  the ones who surrendered, there wasn't anybody left."

According to a senior Army official who was questioned, under anonymity by 
Spotlight News, about the  tactics, the use of earthmovers is standard 
procedure in breaching obstacles and minefields. The heavy equipment 
precedes  armored and infantry units to level barriers, then the vehicles 
can move quickly through enemy defenses. The official stated  that any 
Iraqi troops who remained in their bunkers would have been buried and 
killed. He added, "This is war. This isn't  a pickup basketball game."

Colonel Anthony Moreno, commander of the 2nd Brigade, said, "For all I 
know, we could've  killed thousands." A thinner line of trenches on 
Moreno's left flank was attacked by the 1st Brigade commanded  by Colonel 
Lon Maggart. He estimated that his troops buried about 650 Iraqis alive.

Long after Desert Storm, in an interview with New York Newsday, Maggart and 
Moreno gave some of the  first public testimony about the burying alive of 
Iraqis. Prior to their statements, then Secretary of Defense, Dick 
Cheney,  never mentioned the atrocities, even when he submitted a report to 
Congress just prior to the interviews. The only time Cheney  mentioned the 
burying of Iraqi troops occurred when he acknowledged that 457 dead enemy 
soldiers were buried by U.S. forces  at 56 sites during the ground war. By 
using the figure of 457, Cheney admitted the United States did not live up 
to international  agreements concerning burying war dead because more than 
100,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed in Desert Storm. Technically,  he may 
have been correct about not including those buried by U.S. tanks because 
they were not dead whey they were buried.

The technique in burying the soldiers involved a pair of M1-A1 tanks with 
plows shaped like giant teeth along  each section of the trench line. The 
tanks took up positions on either side of the trenches. Bradley Fighting 
Vehicles and  Vulcan armored personnel carriers straddled the trench line 
and fired into the Iraqi soldiers as the tanks covered them with  piles of 
sand.

According to Moreno, "I came through right after the lead company. What you 
saw was a bunch of buried trenches  with peoples' arms and things sticking 
out of them." Maggart added, "I know burying people alive like that sounds 
pretty  nasty, but it would be even nastier if we had to put our troops in 
the trenches and clean them out."

The attack contradicted U.S. Army doctrine, which calls for troops to leave 
their armored vehicle to clean  out trenches or to bypass and isolate 
fortified positions. Moreno admitted that the assault was not according to 
policy as  he said, "This was not doctrine. My concept is to defeat the 
enemy with your power and equipment. We're going to have  to bludgeon them 
with every piece of equipment we've got. I'm not going to sacrifice the 
lives of my soldiers  - it's not cost-effective."

The most disturbing aspect of the incident was the secrecy involved. When 
Newsday broke the story,  everyone was taken by surprise. According to 
members of the House and Senate Armed Forces Committee, the Pentagon had 
withheld  details of the assault from the committees. Senate Chairman, Sam 
Nunn, was unaware of the assault and after he was notified,  he stated, "It 
sounds like another example of the horrors of war." Quickly, the incident 
was forgotten.

Today, we see the same strategy. Take the Abu Ghraib torturing and murders. 
Everybody was aghast. Committees  held meetings and spoke of the "fog of 
war." Then, everybody went home and forgot about it.

The current resistance consists of members who had friends and family 
incarcerated at Abu Ghraib. Some have  stated the Abu Ghraib torture as 
their reason to join the resistance.

If we knew the truth, I am sure that some current resistance members 
fighting against the U.S. occupiers had  an uncle, or a father, or brother, 
who never returned home after Desert Storm and was never notified of their 
deaths because  the soldiers are still buried somewhere in the desert, 
never to have their bodies found. The resisters did not hear Sam 
Nunn's  message.
The Nunn legacy of burying his own head in the sand and not admitting to an 
atrocity carries on today. Abu  Ghraib; Fallujah; Ramadi; killing of 
reporters; bombing hospitals; etc. Same script, different names.


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