Countless My Lai Massacres in Iraq

[Briar]

Countless My Lai Massacres in Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

The media feeding frenzy around what has been referred to as "Iraq's My Lai" has become frenetic. Focus on US Marines slaughtering at least 20 civilians in Haditha last November is reminiscent of the media spasm around the "scandal" of Abu Ghraib during April and May 2004.

Yet just like Abu Ghraib, while the media spotlight shines squarely on the Haditha massacre, countless atrocities continue daily, conveniently out of the awareness of the general public. Torture did not stop simply because the media finally decided, albeit in horribly belated fashion, to cover the story, and the daily slaughter of Iraqi civilians by US forces and US-backed Iraqi "security" forces had not stopped either.

Earlier this month, I received a news release from Iraq, which read, "On Saturday, May 13th, 2006, at 10:00 p.m., US Forces accompanied by the Iraqi National Guard attacked the houses of Iraqi people in the Al-Latifya district south of Baghdad by an intensive helicopter shelling. This led the families to flee to the Al-Mazar and water canals to protect themselves from the fierce shelling. Then seven helicopters landed to pursue the families who fled … and killed them. The number of victims amounted to more than 25 martyrs. US forces detained another six persons including two women named Israa Ahmed Hasan and Widad Ahmed Hasan, and a child named Huda Hitham Mohammed Hasan, whose father was killed during the shelling."

The report from the Iraqi NGO called The Monitoring Net of Human Rights in Iraq (MHRI) continued, "The forces didn't stop at this limit. They held an attack on May 15th, 2006, supported also by the Iraqi National Guards. They also attacked the families' houses, and arrested a number of them while others fled. US snipers then used the homes to target more Iraqis. The reason for this crime was due to the downing of a helicopter in an area close to where the forces held their attack."

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/053006Z.shtml

[Redstone]

1. I believe it.

And how many innocents, including children, died because of us dropping 2000-pound bombs into crowded cities at night?

That's no less unforgivable.

Redstone

[patrice]

3. Fallujah - where the murders were officially approved.

[patrice]

2. Damned War . . .

is screwing everyone and everything.

This feels horrible for the whole country.

What are the Marines supposed to do if they are attacked? Just let whoever blow them up? Why don't they Respond WHEN they're attacked not LATER when it becomes gratuitous violence.

[wtmusic]

4. What they're supposed to do

is have the same standard of proof for retribution that they might in the US. I'm not sure why Iraqi civilians are more guilty than American ones, but the military seems to think so.

[patrice]

5. Responsibility always begins with the individual.

But I'm a member of the group that put them in this situation, so I/we are responsible too, and when you make professional killers out of people, it affects them profoundly.

[wtmusic]

6. Well

count me out of the group that believes "all is fair in war." I believe it is possible to use good judgement and be conscientious about minimizing civilian casualties, and that we haven't done so. We're painting with a broad brush; "taking out" entire city blocks based on flimsy intel. It takes quite a bit more resources to do things the right way, and increases the risk to our military. That's a risk we morally must be willing to accept when we invade another country.

[patrice]

7. Ours IS a "volunteer" military, they choose the risks of enlistment.

I think that "good judgement and be(ing) conscientious . . ." is of secondary importance to some military leaders, secondary to demonstrating deterant power/violence and the willingness to use it, i.e. intimidate "them" into cooperating. Works a little, temporarily, but the power struggle that it leads to is always, eventually, absolutely a struggle to the death. Just the way we would react to foreign military on our soil.