No subject

analysts covering the US-Iraq conflict of 2003:

 When a young Iraqi boy stooped to pick up a rocket propelled grenade off
the body of a dead paramilitary, US Army Private Nick Boggs made his
decision. He unloaded machinegun fire and the boy, whom he puts at about 10
years old, fell dead on a garbage-strewn stretch of waste land at
Karbala.Boggs, a softly spoken 21-year-old former hunting guide from Alaska,
says he knew when he joined the army 18 months ago he might someday have to
make a decision like that. "I did what I had to do. I don't have a big
problem with it but anyone who shoots a little kid has to feel something,"
he said after fierce weekend fighting in this Shi'ite Muslim holy city that
left dozens of Iraqis and one American soldier dead.
*****************

9 April. - In a phone interview from the centre of Baghdad, Red Cross
representatives said that the situation is very hostile and that the
American forces are "shooting at anything that moves", including one of
their own convoys. At the time of this filing, the IRC have been unable to
evacuate one of their seriously injured colleagues which may prove fatal.

The streets are scattered with casualties and US soldiers are firing at
anyone that tries to evacuate them. The IRC says they are shooting at their
clearly marked vehicles and preventing treatment of the wounded is not only
against the Geneva Convention but "unacceptable".
*****************

On television, it looks so clean. On Sunday evening, the BBC showed burning
civilian cars, its reporter - "embedded" with US forces - saying that he saw
some of their passengers lying dead beside them.

That was all. No pictures of the charred corpses, no close-ups of the
shrivelled children. So perhaps I should warn those of what the BBC once
called a nervous disposition to go no further. But if they want to know what
America and Britain are doing to the innocent of Baghdad, they should read
on.

*******************

Abdel-Wudud Mustafa ran along the halls, looking for his mother, Sabria
Hussein. She had entered with his cousin, Abdel-Karim Youssef. Her bloody
hands had smeared the white walls, as doctors struggled to put an IV into
her arm. She writhed in pain as doctors looked at the burns along her arms.
When they finished, she gazed, uncomprehending, at the ceiling.

The family was driving with an uncle, who escaped serious injury, to their
home in Yamama, a ravaged southern suburb . At about 11 a.m., as they neared
the city's southern entrances with charred bodies in the road, Mustafa said
his uncle saw tanks and armored personnel carriers along the bridge. When
their car approached, he said, it was fired upon.

"They were firing at any car, any person," he said. "It was like a public
execution in the street."
******************

No we cannot pride ourselves on this, for we are all guilty, we will all
suffer in lives to come, whether we protested or not, whether we marched or
not, whether we made fortunes out of the stock market or not. Yes there were
soldiers killed and they are still dying but in what proportion to the
civilians, 100 to 1?  Who knows. It took ten years for the truth to come out
about Desert Storm, about the 200,000 Iraqui civilians who died needlessly,
about the half million 'allied' soldiers still dying today from depleted
uranium exposures. What will the future reveal about this war, this
aggression, this thing that was going to be over in three days with minimum
casualties to any side, then a week, then two weeks, then longer?

Only that we have not changed from those who took part in the Rape of
Mesopotamia 4,000 years ago, or the Destruction of Baghdad 600 years ago, or
Desert Storm 12 years ago.

God help us, for we cannot help ourselves.

Roger







----- Original Message -----
From: <alf at io.com>
To: <thebanyantree-remsset.com at lists.remsset.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 11:40 PM
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf . . .


> > This rebel won my heart. I will miss him.
>
> That said, Ain't them American soldiers sumpin!
> I am SO proud!
> I am also relieved that it went so well.
> "Well" - hell it was AWESOME!
>
> Now - for the hard part.
> Laying the stepping stones for a better tomorrow.
> A tricky dance indeed.
> My hopes are high. I wish them well.