IRAQ: U.S. Military Resorting To Collective Punishment

[leftchick]

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27077

BAGHDAD, Jan 18 (IPS) - The U.S. military is resorting to collective punishment tactics in Iraq similar to those used by Israeli troops in the occupied territories of Palestine, residents say.

Military bulldozers have mown down palm groves in the rural al-Dora farming area on the outskirts of Baghdad, residents say. Electricity has been cut, the local fuel station destroyed and the access road blocked.

The U.S. action comes after resistance fighters attacked soldiers from this area several weeks back.

”The Americans were attacked from this field, then they returned and started cutting down all the trees,” says Kareem, a local mechanic, pointing to a pile of burnt date palms in a bulldozed field. ”None of us knows any fighters, we all know they are coming here from other areas to attack the Americans, but we are the people who suffer from this.”

The military action follows a similar round of attacks and retaliation earlier this month.

U.S. Army Brigadier-General Mark Kimmit told reporters then that the military had launched 'Operation Iron Grip' in the area to send ”a very clear message to anybody who thinks that they can run around Baghdad without worrying about the consequences of firing RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), firing mortars.”

Gen. Kimmit said ”there is a capability in the air that can quickly respond against anybody who would want to harm Iraqi citizens or coalition forces.” Then as now, local people denied any knowledge of harbouring resistance fighters.

[StClone]

1. Is this what Israel uses on Palestinians

Just asking -- seems there are parallels.

[leftchick]

3. yes indeed they do....

it is sickening and I call these actions terrorism!

[nickine9]

12. i think israel has "boasted" of training US soldiers in ..

such tactics. whilst it may discourage people from openly supporting resistance fighters, destroying homes and livelihoods is not a good way of winning hearts and minds.

[jukes]

24. it was also a primary tactic

of nazi german forces in their occupied zones to discourage resistance fighters.

didn't work then, either.

we've become our own worst enemy...

[leftchick]

2. This is just awful....

I feel so bad for these people...

:(


~snip~

Other residents say soldiers beat them up during random home raids. ”I was beaten by the Americans,” said Ihsan, a 17 year-old secondary school student. ”They asked me who attacked them, but I do not know. My home was raided, our furniture destroyed, and one of my uncles was arrested.”

People in Abu Hishma village in the area spoke of similar experiences earlier. After U.S.. soldiers were attacked, the entire village was encircled with razor wire. Residents were forced to acquire military identity badges and enter through a military controlled checkpoint.

The main farm road was blocked by four large concrete slabs after attacks several weeks ago. Residents used tractors to remove the blocks, but last week they say the military installed four larger blocks.

”They humiliate us when we talk to them,” said Hamoud Abid, a 50-year-old farmer. ”They would not tell us when they will remove these blocks, so we are all walking now.”

A military spokesperson in Baghdad declined to comment on the statements by the people in al-Dora, and declined a request for his name. But he said there were ongoing security operations in al-Dora.

[Just Me]

39. This has been happening for quite some time,...

,...doncha' know,...

A "few bad apples" and the whole lot of them are punished,...unlike,...well,...you know where I'm goin',...

[CoffeeCat]

50. It's official...

...we're just like the Nazis.

Just who in the hell do we think we are?

We are demoralizing and powering up on people who we have traumatized with our bombs, killings and human pyramids.

We are revolting scum. We are fascist pieces of trash.

How am I supposed to live in a country that does this?

I really hope that people from other countries read the DU boards, so they can better understand that many in America find Bush's actions utterly sick and demented.

[Redstone]

4. This'll win their hearts

and fucking minds, won't it?

Hey, General, I got your "iron grip" right here.

Redstone

[saigon68]

37. Killer Kimmitt is a clueless witless mouth piece

For his Pentagon War Boss and the Bush Criminals

[arcane1]

5. I remember reading, a few months ago...

that the US military was actually purchasing modified bulldozers from Israel for this very purpose


anyone remember that?

[egoprofit]

7. are we still americans?

[arcane1]

11. yes we are, the question is...

what does that mean now? :shrug:

[KansDem]

26. Perhaps "America" should now be referred to as "Crawford America"

And Bush supporters as "Crawford Americans," just like "Vichy French" and "Free French" were used to distinguish the pro-Nazi French and the free French during WWII.

As members of the resistance, DUers and others would be known as "Free Americans."

[rodeodance]

8. yes, I recall, but they did this shortly after the invasion-it is not kne

[arcane1]

13. in other words...

they anticipated that they would need to do this


so much for the flower-throwing theory :grr:

[Blue_Tires]

28. and I'm sure that Israel lent some of their 'expertise'

in prisoner interrogation, too

[Stella_Artois]

6. Thats insane

Reprisals against the local civilain population were standard procedure for the Germans in WWII. It didn't prove to be effective, as for every person they had the desired effect on other people were turned against then.

If they put people out of business they are just going to be easy recruits for the resistance.

[leftchick]

40. perhaps that is the plan?

the US has no intention of leaving Iraq. Continued "insurgency" means a continued excuse for them to stay. The PNAC agenda in spades.

[MADem]

9. Where have we heard THIS before?

Shades of destroying the village in order to save it....

When will we ever learn?

[NNN0LHI]

10. Let freedom reign n/t

[htuttle]

14. More war crimes!

Collective punishment is clearly illegal according to the Geneva Convention. Look it up -- it's spelled right out in black and white.

How many have they committed at this point? I've lost count of the number of war crimes committed by my government in the last 3 years.

[TahitiNut]

18. Exactly! This is beyond reprehensible - it's global criminality.

This country has become an outlaw nation, a blatant violator of human rights.

[leftchick]

23. a Terrorist state!

as defined by **!

[Jacobin]

15. Oh, That'll really work

:eyes:

[mutus_frutex]

16. This is one of the things that pisses me off about the IP conflict.

It really pisses me off since it is so close, so similar to racism. You are deliberately damaging a group of people. And it makes both the US and Israel a pair of hypocrites.

[Fleshdancer]

17. I had no idea Isreal was liberating the Palestinians this entire time

what the f*ck are we doing??? When I think it can't get any worse, it does. quickly.

[Democrats_win]

19. "Red Dawn" again. We are the Soviets of our imagination.

[Judi Lynn]

20. You'd think this would create greater rage and panic

as the citizens realize they don't want the invaders to get even more power over their lives. They may truly see it as a total life/death struggle.

Can't believe that one year we can learn about and grieve distantly about the barbaric practise of bulldozing the homes and livelihoods of people somewhere and then learn our own _Bush administration has sanctioned that behavior for our own democracy-bestowing military.

[Menshevik]

21. is this what the necons meant

when they talked about winning hearts and minds?

[bvar22]

22. Freedom on the MARCH in Iraq!!!

Grateful Iraqi residents Marching for Freedom
are WELL PROTECTED by their LIBERATORS!




Election Monitors checking Voter Registration Cards
as cheerful Iraqis line up to cast their ballots!





Security Forces protecting Iraq citizens from
foreign insurgents who Hate their Freedoms

[yinkaafrica]

25. Your first photo looks horribly grim

Are those Jews being marched by nazis?

[happyslug]

32. Those pictures are from the Stoop Report (and those are Nazi SS)

The Stoop Report is the report issued on the subpression of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Issued by the Leader of the SS forces to SS Headquaters on how the Jewish quarter was eliminated. The people who survived the Revolt (the people in the photos) who were not shot in the ghetto itslef was sent straight to the Gas Chambers (and that includes the Children in the Pictures).

The Actual Report on line:
http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/stroop-report/htm/intro001.htm
(The pictures are at the end of the Report)

Some other site son the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto:
http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/exhibits/dignitydefiance/5.html

On Triblinka:
http://www.vho.org/tr/2004/1/Graf97-101.html

On the death camps in General:
http://www.arlindo-correia.com/040604.html


Comparing Gaza and the Warsaw Gheto:
http://www.middleeast.org/premium/read.cgi?category=Magazine&standalone=&num=177&month=4&year=2001&function=text
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=4175

[Nostradammit]

27. Post of the Year award!

Bravo! (in a sad and disgusted way, of course)

[jasop]

29. Why do so few people...

see the parallels Between Bushes Amerika and Nazi Germany? Its so blatantly obvious..

[TahitiNut]

30. There are very few people left alive who remember when ...

... a huge number of 'good Americans' thought Adolph Hitler was a model leader pursuing admirable policies. Charles Lindberg and Henry Ford are but two notables who proclaimed Hitler as a 'good guy' back in the 30's.

There are plenty of people (maybe 40%?) who, if provided quotations and descriptions of policies, would approve heartily of core elements of Hitler's Nazi agenda. For them, 'Hitler' is merely a name - a symbol of demonization - and are bereft of any comprehension of the seductions of fascism and why they're abhorrent. For them, if the Nazis hadn't murdered 11 million people, the political ideology is just fine. What they don't comprehend is the unbounded potential for atrocities they invariably promulgate.

[arcane1]

31. most people are historically ignorant

and think that nazi-ism is all about gas-chambers and ovens

[Redstone]

33. Dunno about Nazi Germany, but...

I see a country sliding quickly toward the way they used to do things in the Soviet Union.

Redstone

[happyslug]

38. Look at Germany 1933-1939 NOT 1939-1945

From 1939-1945 Germany was at war, and since it was at war you had increase censorship within Germany and greater Resistance to foreign news (With most foreign news being dismissed as "propaganda").

On the other hand Germany from 1933-1939 was technically at "peace". Thus the holocaust could not be done (but the Jews could also leave Germany something the was not possible after 1939). Once Germany was at War with England and France what Germany could do even greater restrictions on Civil Liberties (including killing its own Citizens the Jews) AND people had less chance to move away from the repression of the Nazis. It was these two items (both permitted by the War) that lead to the Death Camps.

We are NOT at the full-scale war Germany was in from 1939-1945. Thus the better comparison is to what was happening in Germany 1933-39. In those years you had increasing anti-jewish and anti-labor laws. Increasr censorship, increase anti-semitic activities etc. No one is comparing the US with Germany of 39-45, instead we have to look at the long twilight of 33-39 to see how the US today compares with Nazi-Germany (and the comparison is to frightening to ignore).

[louis-t]

34. Liberty, FREEDOM, liberty, Democracy

marching, FREEDOM, liberty, terra, freedom, blah, blah...

[olddad56]

35. The words of Martin Luthr King regarding war.(link)

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0117-25.htm

[tabasco]

36. BG Kimmit is stress-boy who passed out at microphone.

Seems like a real level-headed guy to be planning counter-insurgency operations. Passes out in middle of televised press conference. He can't even manage his own sleep schedule a a staff officer, but he's given responsibility for planning these brilliant operations. Our troops are the ones paying the price for his incompetence. Incompetence is rewarded under the Bush regime. The Bush cabal has purged the military of all officers with a scrap of moral courage. Now we have lap dog idiots like Kimmit in charge.

Rummy and Bush have done serious damage to our military.

[callous taoboy]

41. As a school teacher, I strongly advise against this:

A big rule of classroom management is never issue a group punishment for the misdeeds of a few.

[TahitiNut]

44. It's done in Basic Training all the time.

:eyes:

[callous taoboy]

45. Bet it garners a lot of respect:

When I was in military school there would be special blanket parties for individuals who screwed it up for the group.

[TahitiNut]

46. Been there. Done that.

USCGA '61-'63, USARV '68-'69 - I'm more than familiar with the military and authoritarian subcultures.

[Emillereid]

42. Boy, that ought to win the hearts and the minds of the people for sure!

What a concept -- why didn't anyone ever think of it before -- brutalize people into submission! This Kimmit fellow is such a classic twit! Who needs enemies when we have him!

[truth2power]

43. I wonder if Kimmit sees the irony.

"Gen. Kimmit said ”there is a capability in the air that can quickly respond against anybody who would want to harm Iraqi citizens..."

So, in order to prevent Iraqi citizens from being harmed,the American military is destroying their farms and beating them up.

My assessment, just based on the above statement, is that Kimmit doesn't have the brains to take out the garbage. He should be fired, forthwith!

[TheWraith]

47. This is old news.

I remember seeing this article a year ago. Google "Operation Iron Grip", and you'll see that it was launched in December 2003. Looks like IPS is cheating and recycling stories.

[maddezmom]

51. but is the "story" accurate?

[Canuckistanian]

48. Throwing the baby out with the bath water...

Sure, you may have inconvinienced a few insurgents, but you've made 20 new enemies in the meantime.
This is why the US is never going to have influence in this area in future generations. People have long memories.

[ernstbass]

49. This is sickening

what a way to grow the insurgency. Makes me ashamed to be an American.