Civilians Bear Brunt as Samarra 'Pacified'

[Q]

Published on Monday, October 4, 2004 by the lndependent/UK

Civilians Bear Brunt as Samarra 'Pacified'

by Kim Sengupta in Baghdad

Iraqi government and US forces declared yesterday that they had "pacified" the rebel stronghold of Samarra, and stated that other "no-go" enclaves such as Fallujah would be recaptured before national elections due in January. U.S.-led forces tightened their grip on the rebel-held city Samarra on Sunday in the first step of a campaign to take back all of Iraq but ignited complaints about the cost in lives and suffering.

The Americans insisted that the estimated 125 people killed in the storming of the city were all insurgents. Doctors and local people reported women, children and the elderly among the dead, and that bodies were still being brought into hospitals.

There also appeared to have been discord over the military action between members of the US-sponsored Iraqi interim government. The Interior Minister, Falah Naqib, echoed the American line that no civilians had been killed and only "bad guys and terrorists" had suffered. It was, he said, a "great day for Samarra". But the Human Rights Ministry, in a letter to the Iraqi Red Crescent, described what happened in the city as a "tragedy" and called for urgent emergency assistance.

Local people in Samarra claimed that many of the 1,000 insurgents the Americans were targeting had escaped before the attack, and civilians had borne the brunt of the casualties. Of 70 bodies brought into Samarra General Hospital, 23 were children and 18 women, said Abdul-Nasser Hamed Yassin, a hospital administrator. There were also 23 women among the 160 wounded.

Families trying to bury the dead found the road to the cemetery had been blocked by American soldiers. One man, Abu Qa'qa, claimed he had seen dogs picking at corpses in the street. Abdel Latif Hadi, 45, said: "The people who were hurt most are normal people who have nothing to do with anything." Another resident, Mohammed Ali Amin, said: "There were American snipers on rooftops who were shooting people trying to get to their homes. Even at the hospital the Americans arrested injured boys of 15 saying they were insurgents."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1004-02.htm

[Q]

1. Just a reminder to the Bushies...

...that these are WAR CRIMES.

[Dark]

2. Na, they's terrarists.

They's gonna get us! They's a bad group o' folks a comin', and only Bushie can stop them!

[Q]

3. Bush* killed those women, children and old men...

...as sure as if he pulled the trigger himself. They're rounding up teenagers...any Iraqi who might be 'suspect' or look like a 'terrorist'.

- No trials. No lawyers. No due process. Death is swift for those who resist the occupiers. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is punishable by having a bomb dropped on your head.

[Dark]

4. Frightening, isn't it?

And remind me again how they are free?