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<font size=3><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>June 2,
2006<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>Haditha is Not
an Aberration<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
More, Lots</i>
More</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>By MIKE
FERNER<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">W</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>ould somebody please tell me that the
corporate news media is talking about U.S. war crimes in Iraq besides
just the civilians killed in Haditha?!<br><br>
I can only hope that my fellow citizens are not being told that this
latest outrage tumbling out of Iraq is some isolated incident; that Herr
Rumsfeld will diligently investigate it, and dispense timely justice to
all guilty parties (below the rank of Lieutenant, of course).<br><br>
JUST in case your Uncle Bob or Aunt Sophie has been asking you
"Exactly what the hell is going on in Iraq?" and you're looking
for hard facts to help them get off the fence, here you are.<br><br>
Keep in mind these are just a few instances compiled by one citizen
sitting in Toledo with an old computer connected to the internet an
indication that there just might be even more going on.<br><br>
Keep in mind also, that the following acts are criminal violations of the
law not just because they are really horrid inhumanities, but because
Congress, the U.S. Constitution, and international law (yes, there
<i>are</i> international laws binding on the U.S.) explicitly prohibit
the very kinds of atrocities now rotting at the feet of George W. Bush.
Each section below begins with the relevant law or treaty violated in
Iraq or Afghanistan. Every one of them, and more, are documented at the
<a href="http://www.veteransforpeace.org/impeachment/violations_documented.pdf">
Veterans For Peace website</a><br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Nuremberg Tribunal
Charter<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Principle VI: "The crimes
hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international
law:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>(b) War crimes</b>: murder, ill-treatmentof civilian population of or
in occupied territory; murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of warplunder
of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or
villages<br><br>
</dl>Two Afghan prisoners who died in American custody in Afghanistan in
December 2002 were chained to the ceiling, kicked and beaten by American
soldiers in sustained assaults that caused their deaths, according to
Army criminal investigative reports.<br><br>
At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and
Afghanistan since 2002 in what Army and Navy investigators have concluded
or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, according to military
officials<br><br>
In Fallujah, 40% of the buildings were completely destroyed, 20% had
major damage, and 40% had significant damage. That is 100% of the
buildings in that city.<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>(c) Crimes against humanity</b>: Murder, exterminationand other
inhuman acts done against any civilian populationwhen such acts are
donein execution of or in connection with any crime against peace or any
war crime."<br><br>
</dl>"We were tied up and beaten despite being unarmed and having
only our medical instruments," Asma Khamis al-Muhannadi, a doctor
who was present during the U.S. and Iraqi National Guard raid on Fallujah
General Hospital told reporters later. She said troops dragged patients
from their<br>
beds and pushed them against the wall. "I was with a woman in
labour, the umbilical cord had not yet been cut," she said. "At
that time, a U.S. soldier shouted at one of the (Iraqi) national guards
to arrest me and tie my hands while I was helping the mother to
deliver."<br><br>
Abu Hammad said he saw people attempt to swim across the Euphrates to
escape the siege. "The Americans shot them with rifles from the
shore," he said. "Even if some of them were holding white flag
or white clothes over their heads to show they are not fighters, they
were all shot."<br><br>
Hammad said he had seen elderly women carrying white flags shot by U.S.
soldiers. "Even the wounded people were killed. The Americans made
announcements for people to come to one mosque if they wanted to leave
Fallujah, and even the people who went there carrying white flags were
killed."<br><br>
<font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">The Geneva
Conventions<br><br>
</font>Protocol I, Article 75:<br><br>
</b>
<dl>
<dd>"(1)persons who are in the power of a Party to the conflictshall
be treated humanely in all circumstances(2) The following acts are and
shall remain prohibitedwhether committed by civilian or by military
agents: (a) violence to the life, health, or physical or mental
well-being of persons(b) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular
humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form
of indecent assaultand threats to commit any of the foregoing
acts."<br><br>
</dl>The investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade by Maj. Gen.
Antonio M. Taguba found that "intentional abuse of detainees by
military police personnel" included the following:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked
feet<br><br>
<dd>Videotaping and photographing naked male and female
detainees<br><br>
<dd>Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions
for photographing<br><br>
<dd>Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for
several days at a time<br><br>
<dd>Forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear<br><br>
<dd>Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being
videotaped<br><br>
<dd>Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on
them<br><br>
<dd>Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his
head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate
electric torture<br><br>
<dd>Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and
having a female soldier pose for a picture<br><br>
<dd>A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee<br><br>
<dd>Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and
frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring
a detainee<br><br>
</dl><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Protocol I, Art. 70:<br><br>
</b>
<dl>
<dd>"The Parties to the conflictshall allow and facilitate rapid and
unimpeded passage of all relief consignments, equipment and personneleven
if such assistance is destined for the civilian population of the adverse
Party."<br><br>
</dl>Convoys sent by the Iraqi Red Crescent to aid the remaining
population (in Fallujah) have been turned back.<br><br>
Marked ambulances were repeatedly shot at by U.S. troops during the
April, 2004 siege of Fallujah and troops prevented the distribution of
medical supplies.<br><br>
In Saqlawiyah, Dr Abdulla Aziz told IPS that occupation forces had
blocked any medical supplies from entering or leaving the city.
"They won't let any of our ambulances go to help Fallujah," he
said. "We are out of supplies and they won't let anyone bring us
more."<br><br>
</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Protocol I, Art. 35:<br><br>
</b>
<dl>
<dd>"In any armed conflict, the right of the Partiesto choose
methods or means of warfare is not unlimitedIt is prohibited to employ
methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to
cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the
environment."<br><br>
</dl>On April 1, 2003 the residential al-Hilla outskirts of Babylon were
hit with an undetermined number of BLU-97 A/B cluster bombs. Each bomb
releases 202 bomblets which scatter over an area the size of two football
fields, with a dud rate of 5%-7%. Immediate reports stated that at least
33 civilians died and around 300 were injured in the attack. Amnesty
International condemned the attack, saying that "the use of cluster
bombs in an attack on a civilian area of al-Hilla constitutes an
indiscriminate attack and a grave violation of international humanitarian
law."<br><br>
On March 22, 2003, reporters from CNN and the Sydney Morning Herald -
Melbourne Age embedded with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines at Safwan Hill
near Basra reported air strikes dropping napalm.<br><br>
Convention III, Art. 5:<br><br>
</b>
<dl>
<dd>"Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed
a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy (are
prisoners of war under this Convention), such persons shall enjoy the
protection of the present Convention<br>
<dd>until such time as their status has been determined by a competent
tribunal."<br><br>
</dl>President Bush issued an order on February 7, 2002, specifying that
the U.S. would not apply the Third Convention to members of Al Qaeda.
That order set forth policies that led to the willful killing, torture,
or inhuman treatment; and great suffering or serious injury to body or
health, of prisoners in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo
Bay.<br><br>
Need more documentation? Try the 1996 War Crimes Act; the U.S.
Constitution's Supremacy Clause, Article VI (par. 2); or the
above-mentioned treaties such as the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg
Principles, U.N. General Assembly resolutions, and others.<br><br>
Just as the news media's fascination with Abu Ghraib was way after the
fact and limited in scope, so too, is its present fascination with the
Haditha killings. As they used to say during WWII, "There's a war
on, ya know!" Exactly what do Americans think</i> happens when their
nation goes to war?<br><br>
Dr. Jonathan Shay, a psychologist with years of experience treating
Vietnam vets with PTSD and author of the seminal
"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684813211/counterpunchmaga">
Achilles in Vietnam</a>," gave his prescription for preventing that
disease and preventing the breakdown of character that would likely
happen to any of us in combat. It wasn't better training, or better
diagnoses, or better drugs. He said "Abolish war." It's time we
took his advice seriously.<br><br>
Mike Ferner</b> served as a Navy Corpsman during Vietnam and is a member
of Veterans For Peace, whose slogan is "Abolish War!" He can be
reached at:
<a href="mailto:mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net">mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net</a>
<br><br>
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