Robert Fisk: On the shocking truth about the American occupation of Iraq

Robert Fisk: On the shocking truth about the American occupation of Iraq

Could Haditha be just the tip of the mass grave? The corpses we have glimpsed, the grainy footage of the cadavers and the dead children; could these be just a few of many? Does the handiwork of America's army of the slums go further?
Published: 03 June 2006

I remember clearly the first suspicions I had that murder most foul might be taking place in our name in Iraq. I was in the Baghdad mortuary, counting corpses, when one of the city's senior medical officials - an old friend - told me of his fears. "Everyone brings bodies here," he said. "But when the Americans bring bodies in, we are instructed that under no circumstances are we ever to do post-mortems. We were given to understand that this had already been done. Sometimes we'd get a piece of paper like this one with a body." And here the man handed me an American military document showing the hand-drawn outline of a man's body and the words "trauma wounds".

What kind of trauma? Indeed, what kind of trauma is now being experienced in Iraq? Who is doing the mass killing? Who is dumping so many bodies on garbage heaps? After Haditha, we are going to reshape our suspicions.

......................

For who can be held to account when we regard ourselves as the brightest, the most honorable of creatures, doing endless battle with the killers of Sept. 11 or July 7 because we love our country and our people -- but not other people -- so much. And so we dress ourselves up as Galahads, yes as Crusaders, and we tell those whose countries we invade that we are going to bring them democracy. I can't help wondering today how many of the innocents slaughtered in Haditha took the opportunity to vote in the Iraqi elections -- before their "liberators" murdered them.

Full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/272620_haditha04.html
via:http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/3/6552/90479

quagmire, America is only now starting to wake up to the truth that there is no "enemy" in Iraq except the Iraqi people, and that we are there not to "liberate" anybody, but to illegally occupy their country, steal their resources, and, when they fight back, kill everybody in sight.

Very insightful article. Thanks for posting.

that supports the murders. Most folks are certain there are more revelations to come.

People are coming foward, if only for the reason that folks seem to want to listen to them now.

sp

....ones responsible for this mass deaths that are being credited to the US Military. I didn't always believe that there were rouge "security forces" in Iraq but I do now and I think they and the US Military are equally responsible for this kind of thing. I think there are true "mercenaries" working in Iraq with the sole purpose of completely destroying that country so it can never rise to it's previous status.

Who is that in your sig pic? I've seen that same picture is used by many DUers and I for the life of me can't figure out who it is. My guess is Keith Olbermann.

and I don't like the implication that poor people (and really, "slum" today usually carries the implication of minority poor) are more likely to commit war crimes. I call bullshit. I'm glad he's raising questions about the war. But if he tries to make it sound like "barbaric" minorities did this against the will of middle class officers...

Hmmn, maybe I should read the full article first. I'll be back...

Fisk writes:
I suspect part of the problem is that we never really cared about Iraqis, which is why we refused to count their dead. Once the Iraqis turned upon the army of occupation with their roadside bombs and suicide cars, they became Arab "gooks," the evil sub-humans whom the Americans once identified in Vietnam. Get a president to tell us that we are fighting evil and one day we will wake to find that a child has horns, a baby has cloven feet.

But he never really explains why he's callling our troops the "army of the slums." It's just elitist bullshit. A "Havaad man could nevah kill an innocent. Must be those uneducated boys from the slums who're are killing the innocent." Bah.

to the fact that our military is composed of a greater proportion of those in the lower eschelons of our economic society than from the upper; those who had less opportunity for employment versus those who had no need of employment. Then again, that could be being too kind.

"Lice have Nits"

American wars have been against poor countries with little or no defense.

The poor are probably over represented in the military, but it is a distortion to say that the US recruits the poor people for the military. There are plenty of middle class recruits.

Thanks for looking into this, Bucky.

...of Baghdad.

The article was good, although he never explained his "army of the poor" tagline, but the meaning is still clear semantically. It's AMERICA'S army of the slums.

He might not have meant it that way, but that's what happens when you're not too careful using the epiphrastic possessive.

I don't know what the hell that is, but whatever you meant by that, I am forced to agree with you by sheer weight of the word "epiphrastic."

The U.S. military is CREATING the meat grinder in Iraq, and they're keeping it going. This is what happens when you release a combat force among a resentful civilian population.

There is no mission. Suppressing the insurgency? The U.S. forces are creating the insurgency. The insurgency is a reaction to their violence against Iraqis.

There is no mission. Only killing.

first commissioned officer to refuse to serve in Iraq.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1339631

Fisk still gets round some, I understand. And this isn't the first time he's made such observations.

Stability would definitely interfere with there plans for the ME. I will also be surprised if they ever catch Osama.

Wow, what a name,

I am not sure whether to love you or be very, very afraid!

people need to read this - thank you

investigation) finds some cause for concern

Kudos!

Long live the queen.

They write their own stories.

our source of independence?

Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it's, not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?
-- Former first lady, Barbara Pierce Bush, to Diane Sawyer in April 2003

Madness, blood-dripping evil! That's what we have in the White House, well schooled by the Ice Queen herself, Barbara Pierce Bush. To illustrate the offal spawn:

I'm the commander... see, I don't need to explain. I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."
-- GWB, in Bob Woodward's BUSH AT WAR

Support the troops: BRING THEM HOME!!!

I didn't usually get many responses.

:scared:

Don

"Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at "neutralizing"—through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture—the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam."

American statistics showed 19,534 members of alleged Viet Cong “neutralized” during 1969 — 6,187 murdered, 8,515 captured, and 4,832 defected to the South Vietnamese side. South Vietnamese government figures were much higher.

Consider also how much easier it would be to perpetrate a Phoenix-like program in Iraq than it was in Vietnam. There are multiple rival groups already warring with one another, so the first suspects may not be the United States. Those groups in turn are more likely to retaliate against each other than against the Americans, which serves the double purpose of killing still more potential enemies as well as redirecting their energies from the Americans.

If Phoenix has indeed risen again, however, the Haditha massacre is almost certainly not related to it, exactly as the My Lai massacre was unrelated to Phoenix in Vietnam. I'm pretty sure that Haditha was perpetrated by scared and angry kids in a very bad place. I'm not sure if that's any more or less reprehensible than premeditated assassination.

And * still has not answered Cindy Sheehan's or Helen Thomas' question.

Two women brave enough to be willing to ask him to his face, "Why?" have received no answer.

"because we love our country and our people -- but not other people -- so much... dress ourselves up as Galahads...."


....that's the trouble with nationalism and blind patriotism and cheering the military "no matter what", etc. The propaganda has to be resisted, IMO.


I don't know how people can seriously cheer on a military like ours that is so much more powerful than that of a countries like Iraq. And cheer on a military that drops white phosphorous, things like that. I think the people have to be blind to what is going on - in denial - or something. Pretend that it is only a few that are doing the bad things and that most of them are being greeted with flowers - even now ??