US Resorting to 'Collective Punishment' in Iraq...

[bridgit]

'RAMADI - U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment of civilians in several cities across the al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, residents and officials say.

Residents stand outside a damaged Sunni mosque after an attack by U.S. forces in Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, August 25, 2006. U.S. tanks shelled a mosque in the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi after coming under attack from gunmen inside the building, the U.S. military said. A doctor at Ramadi hospital said three people were killed and 22 wounded by U.S. fire. Picture taken August 25, 2006. REUTERS/Ali Mashhadani (IRAQ)

"Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar province, is still living with the daily terror of its people getting killed by snipers and its infrastructure being destroyed," Ahmad, a local doctor who withheld his last name for security purposes told IPS. "This city has been facing the worst of the American terror and destruction for more than two years now, and the world is silent." http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0918-02.htm

[shadowknows69]

1. I knew this would happen

when they declared Anbar province "lost". In the mind of the murdering chimp that means everyone there is "Al-Qaida". The orders are probably to kill without discrimination.

[LynnTheDem]

2. Bahhhh...the Geneva Conventions are just so QUAINT!

And when OUR soldiers are captured and "waterboarded" and "collectively punished" etc, we won't make a fuss or say a peep.

After all, if it's good enuf for America to do...!

[gratuitous]

6. And do most people in the US even realize

Do people even realize that the Geneva Conventions prohibit collective reprisals? That is, that what this story so casually describes isn't a "tactic," isn't a "program," isn't some other obscure bit of war-related operation that they know nothing about, but is, in fact, a war crime?

Sometimes I almost wish that the U.S. would be invaded so that our populace had a little greater appreciation for the horrible reality we visit on other nations almost at a whim.

[ThomCat]

3. Even though every rational person knows

that collective punishment never works. x(

All it does is piss off the innocent people, and the families and friends of the innocent people, who get caught up in that collective punishment. And then you have very determined people demanding justice and doing whatever they think they can do to get it.

Collective punishment is a damned good way to deliberately escallate any situation into a war. :nuke:

[Greyhound]

4. "...deliberately escallate any situation into a war"

and escalation always results in further escalation, exposing the real reason for the escalation, naked aggression and imposition of will.

There's lots of money to be made amidst chaos.

[ThomCat]

5. Agreed. There's a lot of money to be made

in the chaos this administration is creating, and I'm sure they have ways of getting their share of it.