October 17, 2005
This blog has in the
past few days focused on the carnage unfolding in Ramadi since just
before polls opened in the rest of Iraq.
UN and US media called Saturday October 15 a calm day.
It was hardly that. It was the day that witnessed a new US war crime unfold.
As reported earlier, a vehicle carrying five US soldiers was hit by a roadside bomb in Ramadi on Saturday.
Here is what transpired next, according to an AP article on Yahoo.
On
referendum day, a roadside bomb killed five U.S. soldiers in a vehicle
in the Al-Bu Ubaid village on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi.
On
Sunday, a group of around two dozen Iraqis gathered around the wreckage
of the U.S. vehicle and were hit by the airstrikes by U.S. warplanes,
both the military and witnesses said.
The military said in a
statement that the crowd was setting another roadside bomb in the
location of the blast when F-15 warplanes hit them with a
precision-guided bomb, killing around 20 people, described by the
statement as "terrorists."
But several witnesses and one local
leader said the people were civilians who had gathered to gawk at or
take pieces of the wreckage, as often occurs after an American vehicle
is hit. Notice the words AP chose to write: "...as often occurs after an American vehicle is hit."
We
have all seen these images on our television sets; they have become
part and parcel of the destruction visited on Iraq by a ruthless
invading army.
If AP knew enough to write that phrase, then would the US military have not also known the same?
This reminds me of that helicopter strike on dozens of men, women, and children last year.
It
also reminds me of the savage bombing of Falluja in summer 2004. US
military press releases would start "X number of insurgents have been
killed in a safe house..."
Then Arab TV, including Aljazeera,
Alarabiya, Dubai TV, and others would show clips of children being dug
up from the rubble. These clips would not be shown on the wholesome US
networks - why bother you while you are eating. Here is a healthy dose
of the Day in the Life of American Icon Britney Spears.
Seriously,
for the whole sumer of 2004, the US would claim insurgents were killed
and Arab TV would show women and children and grieving fathers.
"Secondary
explosions were seen," the US military statement would say. Surely an
indication that weapons and ammunition were stored there, right?
Wrong.
Almost all Iraqi houses rely on gas cannisters for cooking, heating and
water boilers. Many Iraqi houses, including my own, would store an
extra gas cannister or two in the house just in case one fizzled in the
middle of the night.
Secondary explosions? Now you know.
But Arab TV continued to show these pictures of wailing fathers and distraught neighbors.
And
then the US did what every democratic government in the world would do
- it shut down the Arab networks. Eventually, the Iraqi rabble in the
interim government began to say the security of the country was
compromised by the press.
When the second Falluja offensive came
around, the rabble government issued a memorandum "asking" all media
outlets to stick to the government version of events.
Of course,
that's keeping in line with the understanding that a growing democracy
needs to suppress the freedom of the press. Right?
Wrong. Which
is why any government that is installed must be fair and equitable and
take into consideration the plight of its people. Notice the word
'installed'.
After the Falluja bombings, in which several
thousand civilians were killed, the military intelligence of the
military might of the people of the US told the world that now the
insurgency would falter.
A few days later, Mosul fell.
And then Ramadi, and the resistance quickly flared and spread.
See,
it's cultural ignorance. The father who buries his 2-year-old daughter
killed by an air strike is not going to rest until he has squeezed the
life out of a US soldier, or died in the process. He can be a Shia
father. A Sunni father or a Christian, a Turkmen or anything.
He can be a day laborer, or a former Baathist, or a street cleaner or a taxi driver.
And
this is why the resistance grows. By resistance, I do not mean the
foreign filth and the idea of the Zarqawi. I will use a preposition
from now on to identify the Zarqawi because it is an ideology, not a
physical figure.
The Zarqawi is an ideology born and bred in the annals of the intelligence units of foreign powers.
So,
in Ramadi, Iraqi resistance "voted" against the occupier and killed
five US soldiers. The response was the butchering of civilians.
Iraqis
always knew it would be this way. For every US soldier killed dozens of
civilians, insurgents, and anything standing in front of us would have
to die.
Cold, blood-thirsty revenge.
Revenge is an
endless cycle. But according to Uri Avnery (see previous post) for
every killed resistance righter, ten pop up. Yes, his uncles, brothers,
friends, cousins...
Iraq is still very much tribal...
Propaganda Lesson Number One
I
have decided to start unmasking some of the lies incorporated by an
unobjective media in the initiation and propagation of this invalid and
illegal war.
Today we will learn how the media use the word stronghold. If you are of a capacity to read newspapers, you will find many uses of the word stronghold, particularly in stories that deal with Iraq.
In the AP report above, you will see the phrase "Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is a stronghold for Sunni insurgents..." Now, look up the word stronghold:
A strongly fortified defensive structure; An area dominated or occupied
by a special group or distinguished by a special quality
Does
the above statement reflect any notion that women, children, and other
innocent civilians inhabit the "stronghold" of Ramadi? No.
Does the above statement indicate that only armed groups inhabit Ramadi? Yes.
See where this word manipulation is going?
The town of Ramadi has been stripped of any semblance of civil life and replaced with a description akin to a military fortress.
(Kind of like how Falluja was described)
When
US bombs tear people to shreds, the average American reader will
automatically revert to the well-placed "stronghold" idea and defend
the military action. In his/her mind, there can't be any civilians in a "stronghold".
When Arab TV show pictures of wounded children in hospitals and civilians filling morgues, the average US citizen will decry the images as lies; once again, because the word stronghold has become fortified (excuse the pun) in his/her cognitive processes.
And that, ladies and gentleman, concludes today's lesson. More lessons in the future, inshallah.
Before I go, I want to clear up one point. The UN accusation that the US was starving civilians can be found here:
Now,
about the comments section. Latest tally has 13 votes for deleting
Jeffrey and 3 for keeping him. To the person who says we can't trust
you because we can't see your email - nice try - go tell that to the
Supreme Court.
The vote ends in another five hours. I will decide what to do then.
In
the meantime, I have exercised my judgment to delete comments from some
people because I deemed their language to be inappropriate. Someone
asked why should their be rules? Ever heard of social responsibility?
No? Yes, it figures what with Katrina and Toledo.
This is not a block party. This is not beadsville in New Orleans, and this is most certainly not a high school.
So,
once again, refrain from using profanities (correctly or incorrectly
spelled). Second, refrain from ridiculing each other to the point where
it becomes trite.
You will notice that there are those critics
of this blog who I have not commented on in regards to their conduct.
Do I disagree with what they have to say? Yes, most of the time. Do I
appreciate the way they 'deliver' what they have to say? Yes.
This includes LT, M99 and Virginian.
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