Sunday 8 April 2007

Human Rights in Iraq?! Give me a break!


The promise of freedom welfare and hope, brought by the Americans in their "just" war, evaporated with the first soldier stepping on the Iraqi lands. Fear, violence, use of banned chemical weapons, mass murder, and rape are the American explanation of a brighter future for the Iraqis. Serious concerns about human rights in Iraq rise and fade out with the endless number of daily violations. News about trials and court martial sessions are propagated but no further coverage is available for many of the incidents that remain 'under investigation'.

More than 10,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in the first year as a direct result of the American occupation of Iraq. According to Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, over 12,000 Iraqis were killed from January 2005 - June 2006.

The major scandal of Abu-Ghraib in 2004, in which inhuman acts of torture, murder, and rape of Iraqis of all ages and genders were committed, drew the attention of the international community to what is actually happening in Iraq. The horrifying photos that were released in addition to the testimonies of the prisoners proved the occurrence of unbelievably cold-blooded crimes like:
- Attack dogs snarling at cowering prisoners
- Naked prisoners forced to have sex with each other
- American soldiers sodomizing Iraqi boys
- Pouring phosphoric acid on detainees
- Urinating on detainees
- Torture that leads to death
- Shooting prisoners
- Raping female detainees

However, Abu-Ghraib was not the start or the end of the series of abuses taking place every day in Iraq. Here are some examples of the true side of the American face seen in Iraq:

Fallujah
It has been reported that there was a repetitive use of white phosphorus in April 2004, November 2004, and three times in November 2005 in Fallujah, resulting in mass murder of civilians including women and children. The use of White Phosphorus results in fatal burns and the acidic gas can attack the eyes and mucous membranes. Such use is internationally banned against civilians.

Mukaradeeb
The village of Mukaradeeb was attacked by American helicopters on May 19, 2004, killing 42 men, women and children. The casualties, 11 of whom were women and 14 were children, were confirmed by Hamdi Noor al-Alusi, the manager of the nearest hospital.

Abeer and Asma
In 12 March 2006, six US soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment gang-raped and murdered Abeer a 14-year old girl after killing her family and burning the lower part of her body. The crime remains under investigation.

In May 2003, Asma, a young engineer, was abducted in Baghdad. Asma was kidnapped in a car and driven to a farmhouse outside Baghdad, where she was said to have been repeatedly raped. The following day, she was thrown out of a car near her house. No news of investigation was announced.

Haditha Massacre
In 19 November 2005, 24 Iraqi civilians including women and children were killed in the Haditha Massacre when the American marines bombed their neighborhood when searching for a suspect. The massacre investigation remains open.

The "unlikely" Incident of Ishaqi!
InMarch 2006, the US troops were accused of deliberately shooting 11 people, including five children and four women, in Ishaqi, and blowing up their houses. Despite the availability of compelling evidences, the American government refused to continue investigating the crime, commenting on it as "unlikely to be true".

The doomed wedding
In19 May 2004, following a local wedding in the small village of Mukaradeeb, the American forces bombed the village killing 42 civilians. American military claimed that traditional celebratory gunfire was misinterpreted as an attack on American helicopters. The bombing took place twenty four hours after the alleged celebratory gunfire, at 3 AM. The crime remains under invertigation

Respecting the Freedom of Religion!
Al Askari Mosque bombing occurred on Feb 22 2006. Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the bombing resulted in violence over the following days. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on February 23, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed.Most if not all of these crimes are said to be under investigation; an investigation that seems to have no end.

These crimes take place everyday in every part of Iraq, not by the 'Iraqi insurgents' but by the American heroic troops in a severe smothering of the simplest of human rights.