[Centraal] Irak na de oorlog - deel 38

quote:

'Britse troepen binnen jaar uit Irak'

ANP

LONDEN - Britse militaire bevelhebbers ontwerpen plannen voor de terugtrekking van Britse troepen uit Irak. De verkozen Britse premier Gordon Brown krijgt bij zijn aantreden aan het eind van de maand het advies de troepen binnen een jaar uit Irak terug te trekken. Dat meldde de Britse krant The Sunday Telegraph.


De hoge functionarissen van Defensie zullen Brown adviseren ‘in snel tempo’ uit Irak terug te trekken en de Britse troepenmacht te concentreren in Afghanistan, waar ze al vechten tegen de radicaalislamitische Taliban.

‘Groot-Brittannië is niet in staat om zowel in Irak als Afghanistan oorlog te voeren. De vraag is welke we zullen opgeven. De regering en de bevelhebbers hebben besloten dat we Irak moeten opgeven’, zei een hoge militair tegen de krant.

quote:

Op zaterdag 2 juni 2007 11:53 schreef Slayage het volgende:
Turkish army warns Iraqi Kurds after soldiers 'harassed'

Fri Jun 1, 6:41 PM ET

ANKARA (AFP) - The Turkish army on Friday warned Kurds in control of neighbouring northern
Iraq that Ankara would respond "at the highest level" if its soldiers in the autonomous region are treated badly or harmed.

The warning came in a general staff statement, carried by the Anatolia news agency, which said that Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq had earlier Friday harassed Turkish soldiers at a checkpoint in the city of Sulaymaniyah.

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U.S., Iraqi troops control only a third of Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led soldiers control only about a third of Baghdad, the military said on Monday, almost four months into a security crackdown during which troops are dying at rates not seen for more than two years.

More than 18,000 extra U.S. troops have been deployed around Baghdad as part of the campaign, which began in mid-February and is seen as a last-ditch attempt to drag Iraq back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.

The last of five brigades to be deployed in the crackdown will be in place soon, military spokesman Lieutenant-Christopher Garver said, adding it would not be possible to judge the success of the crackdown until all units were in place.


"Obviously we're constantly doing an assessment of the plan, but that plan doesn't kick in until everyone's here," he said.

But with violence spiking across Iraq as Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and insurgents try to derail the crackdown, U.S. President George W. Bush and military leaders have warned that a bloody summer lies ahead.

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Op maandag 4 juni 2007 01:58 schreef Paltalk het volgende:

[..]

ik kan niet wachten tot de Turken Noord-Irak binnenvallen en op hun lazer krijgen
De V.S gaat zich er mee bemoeien en zeker niet in 't voordeel van de Turken

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Op maandag 4 juni 2007 01:58 schreef Paltalk het volgende:

[..]

ik kan niet wachten tot de Turken Noord-Irak binnenvallen en op hun lazer krijgen

quote:

124 Teletekst za 09 jun
***************************************
Protest Irak tegen Turkse aanvallen

***************************************
` Irak heeft bij Turkije geprotesteerd
tegen bombardementen in het Koerdische
noorden van Irak.Het Iraakse ministerie
van Buitenlandse Zaken heeft in een
brief aan de Turkse gezant in Bagdad
geëist dat de aanvallen stoppen.

Bij de bombardementen op woensdag en
donderdag is volgens Irak veel schade
aangericht,maar details zijn verder
niet bekendgemaakt.

De Koerdische afscheidingsbeweging PKK
heeft kampen in Noord-Irak.De regering
in Ankara zegt dat de PKK achter enkele
recente aanslagen in Turkije zit.Turkse
media sluiten niet uit dat het Turkse
leger binnenkort Noord-Irak binnenvalt.

quote:

BBC NEWS

US pits Iraqi Sunnis against al-Qaeda
By Jim Muir
BBC News, Baghdad

There are growing signs that the US is increasingly turning to a new tactic in facing the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq.

On Sunday, US military commanders and Iraqi provincial officials held a meeting with 130 Sunni tribal sheikhs in Saddam Hussein's old hometown of Tikrit.

According to the US, the tribal leaders reached a "historic agreement" to play a more active role in defending their troubled province, Salahuddin, against al-Qaeda and other radical insurgent groups.

It is the latest move in what is clearly becoming one of the main thrusts of the US exit strategy here - to empower and arm Sunni Arab tribes and factions, provided they pledge to resist outside militants like al-Qaeda.

'Insurgent hotbed'

One of the top US military commanders, Maj-Gen Rick Lynch, confirmed the US was moving in the direction of training and arming Sunni groups to secure their own areas, often under the mantle of the Iraqi police force.

"There are tribal sheikhs out there who say: 'Hey, just allow me to be the local security force. I don't care what you call me. You can call me whatever you want. Just give me the right training and equipment and I'll secure my area.' And that's the direction we're moving out there," Gen Lynch said.

[Al-Qaeda in Iraq's] uncompromising brand of extreme fundamentalist Islam has apparently begun to alienate the more nationalist Iraqi strands of the insurgency

US commanders on the ground have been authorised and encouraged to enter into truces and agreements with local Sunni factions wherever possible, even if they are suspected of using arms against US forces in the past.

It is a tactic that is deemed to have worked successfully in the western province of al-Anbar, where Sunni tribes have increasingly clashed with al-Qaeda and its allies.

Al-Anbar was until recently a synonym for "insurgent hotbed", but US commanders have reported a marked drop in violence since many of the province's Sunni tribes signed up with the government and encouraged their followers to join the local police.

Some police recruiting posts in al-Anbar were also attacked by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, further fuelling local resentment against them.

The insurgency has always been made up of multiple strands.

The US and Iraqi governments have always regarded the groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq as being irreconcilable and beyond the pale, and they still do.

Variously known as jihadis or salafis, many of the groups' fighters and suicide bombers are believed to be Islamist radicals from outside the country.

Their uncompromising brand of extreme fundamentalist Islam has apparently begun to alienate the more nationalist Iraqi strands of the insurgency, some of them former Baathists, others just Sunnis with a grudge against the US-led coalition and a government they feel ill represents their interests.

Tacit admission

However, a recent statement from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq sought to cast doubt on the extent to which the tribes had turned against it.

It thanked tribal leaders for "assisting and supporting the mujahideen in their confrontation with the Crusaders and rejecting some who sold their religion and people at a very cheap price".

The group said "dozens of pledges from the chiefs and noblemen of the tribes have been received by us".

It said that tribes "even after four years of fighting and killing, continue to offer their children [and] provide shelter for the mujahideen".

However, there has been conflict between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Islamic Army of Iraq, a more local nationalist Sunni faction, for control of the Amariya district in south-west Baghdad.

The two sides, former allies against the US presence, agreed to a truce, though the underlying tensions remain.

The US decision to turn increasingly to local security is a tacit admission that, in at least some areas, the policy of relying on the Iraqi armed forces and police simply has not worked.

Those institutions are riddled with problems.

It has proven hard to find seasoned officers to take the lead. Sectarianism and penetration by militias are rampant, especially in the police.

US military officials admit the current Baghdad troop "surge" is suffering from the fact that the Iraqi police have not proven to be up to the task of holding areas secured by the push.

Empowering Sunni tribes and groups to look after their own security may prove to be part of the solution - though it will not solve all the country's problems by any means.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6740683.stm

Published: 2007/06/11 12:41:35 GMT

© BBC MMVII

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Tribal Coalition in Anbar Said to Be Crumbling
U.S.-Backed Group Has Fought Al-Qaeda in Iraq

By Joshua Partlow and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page A11

BAGHDAD, June 10 -- A tribal coalition formed to oppose the extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq, a development that U.S. officials say has reduced violence in Iraq's troubled Anbar province, is beginning to splinter, according to an Anbar tribal leader and a U.S. military official familiar with tribal politics.

In an interview in his Baghdad office, Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, 35, a leader of the Dulaim confederation, the largest tribal organization in Anbar, said that the Anbar Salvation Council would be dissolved because of growing internal dissatisfaction over its cooperation with U.S. soldiers and the behavior of the council's most prominent member, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha. Suleiman called Abu Risha a "traitor" who "sells his beliefs, his religion and his people for money."

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The IAI Steps Up (and Backs Down) in its War With Al-Qaida

June 11, 2007
The IAI Steps Up (and Backs Down) in its War With Al-Qaida
By Evan Kohlmann

Those who closely follow the internal workings of the insurgency in Iraq may already be aware of the unexpected truce offer tendered last week by the dominant Sunni insurgent group known as the Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI) to Al-Qaida's so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" after weeks of bitter wrangling and internecine bloodshed. Yet, it is far more difficult to reach definitive answers as to precisely why the IAI abruptly backed off in its armed confrontation with Al-Qaida, seeking instead a mediated settlement. Indeed, the drastic change in tone hardly seems consonant with an audio recording released only two days earlier by IAI spokesman Dr. Ali al-Nuaimi, which all but declared open war on Al-Qaida. In his speech, al-Nuaimi accused Al-Qaida of killing at least 40 members of the IAI in recent weeks, including unarmed individuals hiding inside Sunni mosques in Baghdad. He further charged Al-Qaida with responsibility in various other criminal actions, including kidnappings, robberies, and the enforcement of arbitrary rules on other insurgent groups. Al-Nuaimi offered unprecedented and striking detail regarding the recent reported battles between Al-Qaida and the IAI in various Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad:

"...[There was an] attack on the IAI in the al-Ameliyah and Hay al-Jamiyah areas... [that] lasted for several days. During these attacks, brothers from the Al-Qaida network attacked brothers from our organization [the IAI] and kidnapped three of our brothers in al-Ameriyah as retaliation for an incident where an Al-Qaida network operative was killed while erasing slogans scrawled on one of the walls of the neighborhood. Nevermind the fact that we had no connection whatsoever with those scrawled slogans. Later, they attacked the Al-Maluki mosque with heavy fire and used the mosque’s loudspeakers to spread their false propaganda against our organization [the IAI] and against the Sunni people. They also spread lies about several Imams serving that area and against several others whose names they associated with the IAI. In that mosque [Al-Maluki], they shot to death brother Abu Teeba from the IAI—neither the sanctity of Muslim blood, nor the brotherhood of jihad, nor the sanctity of that place were enough to stop them from killing Abu Teeba. Then [the Al-Qaida network] attacked places in Al-Ameriyah where IAI brothers gather and the IAI brothers fought back. Then, the Americans suddenly appeared but the brothers from Al-Qaida did not fight them. Instead, they remained in their vehicles with their massive guns attached on the back, driving in front of the Americans... this attack was directed against the Sunnis and their mosques, during which they [Al-Qaida] killed two innocent unarmed men praying in the Al-Tikriti mosque. During that attack, Al-Qaida used their snipers, RPGs, and mid-range weapons to attack the mosque. Later on, when the Americans implemented their curfew in the Al-Ameriyah neighborhood, the Al-Qaida network decided to launch an attack on the IAI in the Hay al-Jamiyah neighborhood and their attacks are still continuing now even as we speak."


And so, we return to the question, why would the IAI so suddenly decide to change approaches in their troubled relationship with Al-Qaida? Perhaps the decision was a reaction to recent moves within the past two weeks by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army to formally join Al-Qaida's Islamic State. The IAI had bargained that, faced with political pressure, Ansar al-Sunnah would instead join the IAI's own insurgent umbrella organization, the Reform and Jihad Front--especially after Al-Qaida fighters were accused of killing Ansar al-Sunnah members in the same fashion they had attacked the IAI. Consequently, the IAI's leadership may have misread the long-term aspirations of Ansar al-Sunnah and was shocked to witness native Iraqi Sunnis who had themselves been targeted by Al-Qaida nonetheless siding with Al-Qaida.

Of course, another possible contributing factor is the outpouring of anger and resentment in jihadist circles against the IAI for its ideological assault on Al-Qaida, a phenomenon which continues on despite the IAI pledging to keep its disputes in private in the future. Many Islamic extremists have accused the IAI of treachery and siding with America and the "apostates" against Muslims everywhere. This is quite troubling for a group whose basic ideological platform is itself based upon an extreme interpretation of Islam. Still, even so, it seems hard to conceive what would have changed for the IAI between June 4 and June 6 that would have forced them to so suddenly back down from a face-off with Al-Qaida.

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Groot VS-offensief in Irak tegen al-Qaida
Het Amerikaanse leger is in Irak begonnen met een groot offensief in Irak tegen al-Qaida. Ongeveer tienduizend Amerikanen en Irakezen zijn ingezet in de operatie met de naam Arrowhead Ripper. Volgens de Amerikanen is het één van de grootste militaire operaties sinds de invasie van 2003.

Tot dusver zouden al meer dan twintig doden zijn gevallen aan de kant van al-Qaida. De gevechten spelen zich af in en rond de stad Baquba in de provincie Diyala.

In Diyala wordt al maanden gevochten. In de provincie wonen zowel soennieten als sji'ieten. Infiltranten van al-Qaidda proberen hun conflict aan te wakkeren.

De inzet van gevechtshelikopters en grondtroepen is bedoeld om al-Qaida in Irak te elimineren. De operatie begon kort nadat de door president Bush toegezegde uitbreiding van de troepen was afgerond

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26 Iraqi soldiers killed, three civilians wounded in Kirkuk attack

IRBIL, June 19 (KUNA) — Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 19 others were wounded on Tuesday in an armed attack on their convoy south of Kirkuk, the Iraqi police said.
The police said that three other Iraqi civilians were also killed in a booby-trapped car blast in the city of Mosul.
Police Chief of Al-Aqthia in Kirkuk Brigadier Sarhed Qader told KUNA that unidentified gunmen attacked a convoy of Iraqi soldiers south of Kirkuk leaving seven soldiers killed and 19 civilians wounded.

quote:

Heavy mortar bomb attack on Baghdad Green Zone
Tue 19 Jun 2007 16:57:24 BST
BAGHDAD, June 19 (Reuters) - Militants fired a spate of mortar bombs at Baghdad's Green Zone on Tuesday in one of the heaviest attacks in weeks on the heavily fortified compound that houses the U.S. embassy and Iraqi government offices.
It was unclear if there were any casualties from the barrage of around 10 mortar bombs. Reuters reporters could see several plumes of smoke rising from the compound on the west side of the Tigris River.

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Op dinsdag 19 juni 2007 20:47 schreef zakjapannertje het volgende:

[..]

voor foto's zie: http://www.vrtnieuws.net/(...)070619_Irak_kinderen

quote:

Kijk computer en zie hoe grof oorlog is
Britse website plaatst filmpjes die de strijdende partijen zelf maken
Met helmcamera’s en gsm’s filmen soldaten het geweld in Irak en Afghanistan. Pijnlijk om op internet te zien, die filmpjes. Toch grijpt het Amerikaanse leger niet in.

Rotterdam, 9 juli. Vergeet de verslaggeving van embedded en unembedded journalisten. De rauwe werkelijkheid van de slagvelden van de Oorlog tegen de Terreur komt van de vechtende partijen zélf. Van Amerikaanse en Britse soldaten én van de opstandelingen in Irak en de Afghaanse Talibaan.

Allemaal hebben ze de afgelopen jaren vele duizenden videofilmpjes geschoten met helmcamera’s, handycams en gsm’s. Van vuurgevechten in de Afghaanse woestijn en van bermbomaanslagen in de buitenwijken van Bagdad (Bekijk video: (1 ) en (2 ). Gefilmd vanuit beider perspectief. En ze staan allemaal op www.liveleak.com. Dat is boeiend voor de geïnteresseerde, maar al die onversneden beelden bezorgen de militaire censor hoofdpijn.
[..]
Enkele video’s die, letterlijk, zijn geschoten door de sluipschutter ‘Juba’ maken hoe dan ook diepe indruk. Juba heeft op zijn Russische Dragoenov-sluipschuttergeweer een handycam gemonteerd. De videocamera is op maximale zoom ingesteld.

Een compilatie van tientallen videofragmenten verloopt volgens hetzelfde stramien: door het vizier van de handycam zie je in de verte, honderden meters verderop, Amerikaanse soldaten patrouilleren, in de mitrailleurkoepel van een Hummer zitten, een sigaret roken op een wachttoren van een kampement.

Dan zie je de camera een lichte schok maken: ‘Juba’ heeft geschoten. En een fractie van een seconde later zie je een soldaat ineen zijgen of een gehelmd hoofd naar achter klappen. En altijd breekt paniek uit bij zijn maten.

Paniek moet ook zijn uitgebroken bij het thuisfront. Bij een kwartiertje ‘Juba’ zijn zó dertig dode Amerikaanse soldaten te turven. Hoeveel ‘Juba’s’ zijn er wel niet? En is het écht zo eenvoudig om onze arme jongens als weerloze konijnen af te knallen? (Bekijk twee video's van Juba: ( 1) en ( 2).)

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***************************************
Bush verwerpt kritiek Irak-beleid

***************************************
` De Amerikaanse president Bush legt
kritiek van vooraanstaande leden van de
Republikeinse partij op zijn beleid
naast zich neer.Hij is niet van plan op
korte termijn de militaire strategie in
Irak aan te passen.

Dat zei Bush in een toespraak in Ohio.
Hij reageerde op uitlatingen van onder
anderen de Republikeinse senator Lugar,
die vindt dat de Amerikaanse troepen
uit Irak moeten worden teruggehaald.

Bush zei dat de 28.000 extra militairen
die onlangs naar Irak zijn gestuurd de
tijd moeten krijgen om de rust in het
land te herstellen."Eigenlijk zijn we
nog maar net begonnen",zei hij.
***************************************

quote:

Crushing Iraq's human mosaic
By Patrick Jackson
BBC News

Iraq's minorities are suffering a persecution at times verging on genocide, a campaigning Iraqi MP has told the BBC News website.

Caught in a triangle of religious, ethnic and criminal violence, communities which once made up as much as 14% of the country's population get little state protection, said Hunain Qaddo, chairman of the Iraqi Minorities Council, a Baghdad-based non-governmental organisation.

The marketplace bomb attack on a Shia Turkmen village near Kirkuk on 7 July marked a new spiral of horror, according to Dr Qaddo, who believes 210 civilians, mostly women and children, died and about 400 were injured. Police reported 130 deaths at the time.

He says that his own community, the Shabaks of the Nineveh Plains, face oblivion as a people, targeted physically by al-Qaeda militants because they are mainly Shia, and politically by Kurdish separatists with claims on their land.

Dr Qaddo is in London as part of a campaign by the UK-based advocacy group Minority Rights Group International to raise awareness of the crisis gripping Iraq's lesser-known peoples while the big three - the Shia and Sunni Arabs and the Kurds - pursue their own interests.

Iraq's minorities range from large communities like Turkmens and Christians to small groups of Armenians, many of them descended from refugees from the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago, and Palestinians given sanctuary by Saddam Hussein.

Between Arab and Kurd

The problems of the Shabaks, a community of up to 400,000 with their own language and cultural traditions, are rarely reported by foreign media, in contrast to those of Iraqi Christians, for example.


COMMUNITIES AT RISK

"They have no communities in Western countries," Dr Qaddo points out.

Some 1,000 Shabak civilians, he says, have been killed in the Mosul area since the 2003 invasion in terrifying attacks, including beheadings, by Sunni Arab militants.

A further 4,000 Shabaks have been driven out of their homes, adds the MP, whose own house was burnt down in the city.

And Shabaks, whom Saddam once attempted to "arabise", are also under pressure from Kurdish political parties seeking to "kurdify" them in a drive to assert wider control over the ethnically divided north.

"They are really facing a genocide," says Dr Qaddo.

It is hard to assess the scale of the problems facing the Shabaks and other ethnic minorities independently during the current conflict in Iraq, Charles Tripp of the London School of Oriental and African Studies points out.

Estimates for population size, he told the BBC News website, are often exaggerated in a country where parliamentary seats, resources and recognition are based on a community's percentage of the population.

Prize targets

Nonetheless, the number of minority group members among the 2m refugees from Iraq is believed to be disproportionately high.

Mandaeans who fled to Syria told the BBC earlier this year harrowing stories of forced conversion, rape and murder by Islamists.

A Minority Rights Group International report published in February notes that Mandaeans, who follow a religion which pre-dates both Islam and Christianity, are also targeted by criminals because they traditionally work as goldsmiths and jewellers.

They have often been kidnapped for ransom in Baghdad and the south of Iraq, says Hunain Qaddo.

Christians have found themselves in a similar dilemma: targeted by Sunni extremists because of their religion and by kidnappers - who are often Shia Arab militants or rogue members of the security forces - because of their wealth.

The common problem of most of Iraq's minorities, says Dr Qaddo, is that they lack any militias of their own to protect them.

Iraq's loss

Iraqi police are too weak or corrupt to help, he adds, while the US-led coalition, fighting insurgents and seeking good relations with the main communities, offers no special protection for minorities.

The chairman of the Iraqi Minorities Council accepts that minorities always suffer during a civil conflict and he is not advocating safe havens for minorities or calling on other countries to take in more refugees.

Instead, he wants Western states involved in Iraq to do more to help train up the new Iraqi army so that it can restore the rule of law across the country, put pressure on the Kurds to respect minority rights, and back the creation of a defence force recruited from the minorities in the north.

"That would be the best solution for all Iraqis including the refugees, many of whom are willing to return if security is established," he says.

"I feel very sad when I hear that Christians or other minorities are leaving Iraq because we are going to lose the value and the culture of these people who have enriched our society through their hard work and their skill."

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Op woensdag 11 juli 2007 16:42 schreef buachaille het volgende:
De laatste bisschop (als ik het woord Vicar tenminste goed vertaal) van de enige Anglicaanse kerk in Irak moet het land verlaten vanwege serieuze bedreigingen: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6291168.stm
In hoog tempo ruimt de aggressieve islam andersgelovige gemeenschappen op in het midden oosten. Het wordt tijd dat we dit onderkennen en de opmars van deze ziekmakende sekte in het westen tegengaan.

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_{zaterdag 14 juli 2007 15:47}
Dit is de oorlog in Irak

Een waarschuwing vooraf: de beelden van Guardianfotograaf en filmmaker Sean Smith van de oorlog in Irak vallen in de categorie 'heftig zo niet gruwelijk'.

Maar om te begrijpen waarom de Amerikaanse soldaten uitgeput en gedemoraliseerd zijn (en daar zo snel mogelijk weg moeten), is de film onontbeerlijk.

Sean Smith: Inside the surge

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Op zaterdag 14 juli 2007 17:58 schreef Invictus_ het volgende:

[..]

Via bieslog

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Op zaterdag 14 juli 2007 18:02 schreef Monidique het volgende:

[..]

Die huiszoeking maakt duidelijk dat ze nooit zullen winnen, de Amerikanen.

quote:

Op zaterdag 14 juli 2007 17:58 schreef Invictus_ het volgende:

[..]

Via bieslog

quote:

'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'
Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 12 July 2007

It is an axiom of American political life that the actions of the US military are beyond criticism. Democrats and Republicans praise the men and women in uniform at every turn. Apart from the odd bad apple at Abu Ghraib, the US military in Iraq is deemed to be doing a heroic job under trying circumstances.

That perception will take a severe knock today with the publication in The Nation magazine of a series of in-depth interviews with 50 combat veterans of the Iraq war from across the US. In the interviews, veterans have described acts of violence in which US forces have abused or killed Iraqi men, women and children with impunity.

The report steers clear of widely reported atrocities, such as the massacre in Haditha in 2005, but instead unearths a pattern of human rights abuses. "It's not individual atrocity," Specialist Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper from the 263rd Armour Battalion, said. "It's the fact that the entire war is an atrocity."

A number of the troops have returned home bearing mental and physical scars from fighting a war in an environment in which the insurgents are supported by the population. Many of those interviewed have come to oppose the US military presence in Iraq, joining the groundswell of public opinion across the US that views the war as futile.

This view is echoed in Washington, where increasing numbers of Democrats and Republicans are openly calling for an early withdrawal from Iraq. And the Iraq quagmire has pushed President George Bush's poll ratings to an all-time low.

Journalists and human rights groups have published numerous reports drawing attention to the killing of Iraqi civilians by US forces. The Nation's investigation presents for the first time named military witnesses who back those assertions. Some participated themselves.

Through a combination of gung-ho recklessness and criminal behaviour born of panic, a narrative emerges of an army that frequently commits acts of cold-blooded violence. A number of interviewees revealed that the military will attempt to frame innocent bystanders as insurgents, often after panicked American troops have fired into groups of unarmed Iraqis. The veterans said the troops involved would round up any survivors and accuse them of being in the resistance while planting Kalashnikov AK47 rifles beside corpses to make it appear that they had died in combat.

quote:

"It would always be an AK because they have so many of these lying around," said Joe Hatcher, 26, a scout with the 4th Calvary Regiment. He revealed the army also planted 9mm handguns and shovels to make it look like the civilians were shot while digging a hole for a roadside bomb.

quote:

"Every good cop carries a throwaway," Hatcher said of weapons planted on innocent victims in incidents that occurred while he was stationed between Tikrit and Samarra, from February 2004 to March 2005. Any survivors were sent to jail for interrogation.

quote:

There were also deaths caused by the reckless behaviour of military convoys. Sgt Kelly Dougherty of the Colorado National Guard described a hit-and-run in which a military convoy ran over a 10-year-old boy and his three donkeys, killing them all. "Judging by the skid marks, they hardly even slowed down. But, I mean... your order is that you never stop."

The worst abuses seem to have been during raids on private homes when soldiers were hunting insurgents. Thousands of such raids have taken place, usually at dead of night. The veterans point out that most are futile and serve only to terrify the civilians, while generating sympathy for the resistance.

quote:

Sgt John Bruhns, 29, of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, described a typical raid. "You want to catch them off guard," he explained. "You want to catch them in their sleep ... You grab the man of the house. You rip him out of bed in front of his wife. You put him up against the wall... Then you go into a room and you tear the room to shreds. You'll ask 'Do you have any weapons? Do you have any anti-US propaganda?'

"Normally they'll say no, because that's normally the truth," Sgt Bruhns said. "So you'll take his sofa cushions and dump them. You'll open up his closet and you'll throw all the clothes on the floor and basically leave his house looking like a hurricane just hit it." And at the end, if the soldiers don't find anything, they depart with a "Sorry to disturb you. Have a nice evening".

quote:

Sgt Dougherty described her squad leader shooting an Iraqi civilian in the back in 2003. "The mentality of my squad leader was like, 'Oh, we have to kill them over here so I don't have to kill them back in Colorado'," she said. "He just seemed to view every Iraqi as a potential terrorist."

'It would always happen. We always got the wrong house...'

"People would make jokes about it, even before we'd go into a raid, like, 'Oh fuck, we're gonna get the wrong house'. Cause it would always happen. We always got the wrong house."

quote:

Sergeant Jesus Bocanegra, 25, of Weslaco, Texas 4th Infantry Division. In Tikrit on year-long tour that began in March 2003

"I had to go tell this woman that her husband was actually dead. We gave her money, we gave her, like, 10 crates of water, we gave the kids, I remember, maybe it was soccer balls and toys. We just didn't really know what else to do."

quote:

Lieutenant Jonathan Morgenstein, 35, of Arlington, Virginia, Marine Corps civil affairs unit. In Ramadi from August 2004 to March 2005

"We were approaching this one house... and we're approaching, and they had a family dog. And it was barking ferociously, cause it's doing its job. And my squad leader, just out of nowhere, just shoots it... So I see this dog - I'm a huge animal lover... this dog has, like, these eyes on it and he's running around spraying blood all over the place. And like, you know, what the hell is going on? The family is sitting right there, with three little children and a mom and a dad, horrified. And I'm at a loss for words."

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Specialist Philip Chrystal, 23, of Reno, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade. In Kirkuk and Hawija on 11-month tour beginning November 2004

"I'll tell you the point where I really turned... [there was] this little, you know, pudgy little two-year-old child with the cute little pudgy legs and she has a bullet through her leg... An IED [improvised explosive device] went off, the gun-happy soldiers just started shooting anywhere and the baby got hit. And this baby looked at me... like asking me why. You know, 'Why do I have a bullet in my leg?'... I was just like, 'This is, this is it. This is ridiculous'."

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Specialist Michael Harmon, 24, of Brooklyn, 167th Armour Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. In Al-Rashidiya on 13-month tour beginning in April 2003

"I open a bag and I'm trying to get bandages out and the guys in the guard tower are yelling at me, 'Get that fuck haji out of here,'... our doctor rolls up in an ambulance and from 30 to 40 meters away looks out and says, shakes his head and says, 'You know, he looks fine, he's gonna be all right,' and walks back... kind of like, 'Get your ass over here and drive me back up to the clinic'. So I'm standing there, and the whole time both this doctor and the guards are yelling at me, you know, to get rid of this guy."

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Specialist Patrick Resta, 29, from Philadelphia, 252nd Armour, 1st Infantry Division. In Jalula for nine months beginning March 2004

'Every person opened fire on this kid, using the biggest weapons we could find...'

"Here's some guy, some 14-year-old kid with an AK47, decides he's going to start shooting at this convoy. It was the most obscene thing you've ever seen. Every person got out and opened fire on this kid. Using the biggest weapons we could find, we ripped him to shreds..."

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Sergeant Patrick Campbell, 29, of Camarillo, California, 256th Infantry Brigade. In Abu Gharth for 11 months beginning November 2004

"Cover your own butt was the first rule of engagement. Someone could look at me the wrong way and I could claim my safety was in threat."

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Lieutenant Brady Van Engelen, 26, of Washington DC, 1st Armoured Division. Eight-month tour of Baghdad beginning Sept 2003

"I guess while I was there, the general attitude was, 'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'... [Only when we got home] in... meeting other veterans, it seems like the guilt really takes place, takes root, then."

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Specialist Jeff Englehart, 26, of Grand Junction, Colorado, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry. In Baquba for a year beginning February 2004

"[The photo] was very graphic... They open the body bags of these prisoners that were shot in the head and [one soldier has] got a spoon. He's reaching in to scoop out some of his brain, looking at the camera and smiling."

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Specialist Aidan Delgado, 25, of Sarasota, Florida, 320th Military Police Company. Deployed to Talil air base for one year beginning April 2003

"The car was approaching what was in my opinion a very poorly marked checkpoint... and probably didn't even see the soldiers... The guys got spooked and decided it was a possible threat, so they shot up the car. And they [the bodies] literally sat in the car for the next three days while we drove by them.

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Sergeant Dustin Flatt, 33, of Denver, 18th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. One-year from February 2004

"The frustration that resulted from our inability to get back at those who were attacking us led to tactics that seemed designed simply to punish the local population..."

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Sergeant Camilo Mejía, 31, from Miami, National Guardsman, 1-124 Infantry Battalion, 53rd Infantry Brigade. Six-month tour beginning April 2003

"I just remember thinking, 'I just brought terror to someone under the American flag'."

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Sergeant Timothy John Westphal, 31, of Denver, 18th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. In Tikrit on year-long tour beginning February 2004

"A lot of guys really supported that whole concept that if they don't speak English and they have darker skin, they're not as human as us, so we can do what we want."

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Specialist Josh Middleton, 23, of New York City, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Four-month tour in Baghdad and Mosul beginning December 2004

"I felt like there was this enormous reduction in my compassion for people. The only thing that wound up mattering is myself and the guys that I was with, and everybody else be damned."

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Sergeant Ben Flanders, 28, National Guardsman from Concord, New Hampshire, 172nd Mountain Infantry. In Balad for 11 months beginning March 2004

The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness, by Chris Hedges and Laila al-Arian, appears in the 30 July issue of The Nation

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Op zaterdag 14 juli 2007 17:58 schreef Invictus_ het volgende:

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Via bieslog

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Op zondag 15 juli 2007 10:54 schreef buachaille het volgende:

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Zeer indrukwekkend. Diep respect voor de wat de Amerikaanse soldaten daar doen en hoe ze omgaan met de situatie.

Tevens 'gevaarlijk' filmmateriaal in de handen van een demagoog zoals de Bie. Gelukkig houdt hij het fatsoen dit keer. Eigenlijk zou dit filmpje op de FP moeten staan.

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Op zondag 15 juli 2007 23:45 schreef Aasgier het volgende:

Maar dit laat wel weer goed zien dat het echt ''poken in het vuur'' is.
Bedoel, die bradly gaat de lucht in, ze vallen een huis binnen en wijzen een aantal willekeurige verdachten aan (kleine kans dat hun het waren, heel klein).
Daarna een auto die niet stopt en huppa autorijder doorzeefd.
Zo krijg je alleen nog maar meer zooi.

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Op zondag 15 juli 2007 23:48 schreef gronk het volgende:

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Maar verder diep respect hoor, hoe de amerikanen omgaan met de situatie.

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Op maandag 16 juli 2007 00:42 schreef Mr_Memory het volgende:

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Dit vind ik dus zo goedkoop, om dit veilig achter je keyboard te zeggen.
Oorlog haalt nu eenmaal het slechte in de mens boven, wie weet hoe jij of ik zou reageren in zo'n situatie.

Amerikanen zijn ook mensen van vlees en bloed, en geloof me, het overgrote meerendeel van deze jongens willen deze shit ook niet, en gaan veel liever naar huis.

Deze oorlog is niet meer te winnen voor de USA, de vraag is, waneer ze dit inzien en hoe ze het dan gaan oplossen.

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Op maandag 16 juli 2007 00:51 schreef gronk het volgende:
Ik vond de kritiekloze verering door buachaille ook nogal goedkoop. Vandaar.

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Op maandag 16 juli 2007 00:52 schreef Hathor het volgende:

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Als olie de belangrijkste drijfveer is van het Pentagon, zullen ze er nog vele jaren blijven zitten, wees daar maar niet bang voor. Het verlies van een paar duizend gasten die anders toch alleen maar thuis voor overlast zouden zorgen weegt niet op tegen het finaciele gewin bij een langdurig verblijf in Irak. En dan kan die Mailiki op zijn kop gaan staan, daar ligt geen amerikaan wakker van.

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Op maandag 16 juli 2007 00:42 schreef Mr_Memory het volgende:

[..]

Dit vind ik dus zo goedkoop, om dit veilig achter je keyboard te zeggen.
Oorlog haalt nu eenmaal het slechte in de mens boven, wie weet hoe jij of ik zou reageren in zo'n situatie.

Amerikanen zijn ook mensen van vlees en bloed, en geloof me, het overgrote meerendeel van deze jongens willen deze shit ook niet, en gaan veel liever naar huis.

Deze oorlog is niet meer te winnen voor de USA, de vraag is, waneer ze dit inzien en hoe ze het dan gaan oplossen.

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Op maandag 16 juli 2007 01:35 schreef Aasgier het volgende:

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Ze lopen de hele tijd op hun tenen, maten van hun gaan dood.
Op een gegevenmoment zie je overal de vijand en schiet je met het geringste gevaar, vooral omdat je geen normale vijand hebt, maar vijanden die eruit zien als burgers en die dus ook tussen de burgers zit.

En dan kan je je afvragen of het nog wel zin heeft om daar te zijn.

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Nederlandse militairen gaan anders te werk, misschien weer iets te soft maar met hoe de amerikanen vechten krijg je volgens mij alleen maar meer zooi.
Opzich kan je het ze niet kwalijk nemen, zo zijn ze getraind en ze krijgen ook maar orders moet je maar denken.
Dus persoonlijk spreek ik hun er niet op aan maar meer op de leiding dus van het amerikaanse leger. Verder heb je ook nog veel van die ''private soldiers'', die zijn volgens mij nog erger.
Maar ja dat is wel weer handig, want als die dood gaan komen die niet op de lijst van ''gesneuvelde amerikaanse soldaten''.

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Op maandag 16 juli 2007 01:52 schreef Mr_Memory het volgende:

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Wat zijn "private soldiers" daar heb ik nog nooit van gehoord, soldaten die er voor de lol heengaan of zo

quote:

More than 180,000 civilians - American and foreign - are working in Iraq under US contracts, State and Defence Department figures show. Including the recent troop increase, 160,000 American soldiers and several thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq.

The number of private contractors, far higher than previously reported, shows how heavily the Bush Administration has relied on private companies to carry out the occupation of Iraq - a mission criticised as being inadequately manned.