Violence on Haifa Street

Violence on Haifa Street
(incident happened on 9/12/04, Baghdad)

They had several excuses:
to retrieve injured comrades- except there were no such there.
to return ground fire- the film shows no arms, no fire.
to destroy sensitive equipment left behind- they hit civilians instead.

Blood on the camera lens.

Thirteen dead at the end of the day.
Scores injured. Their crimes: reporting, curiosity, celebration of knocked down Americans,
or just walking down the street.

All recorded on film this time-both moving and still-
all recorded by stories, straight from those on the scene.

Three more would die of injuries in the days to follow,
All unnamed, except for one-
a TV reporter, whose last report was "I'm dying! I'm dying!"

Broadcast live.
His final act as a journalist.
His final act as a human being.

Just sixteen more civilian casualties among the unreported tens of thousands.

The cameras know what happened.
The soldiers know what happened.
The people on Haifa Street know what happened.

Blood on the camera lens.
Blood on the street.

Earlier, US troops were injured there.
Anger and a thirst for revenge pulled the trigger.

But the real fault lies in the American government's policies.

Our troops are in a country where the people are not our enemy.

We are growing our own enemies.

We sow seeds of prejudice with our failures of intelligence.
We sow seeds of hatred with our failures of compassion.
We sow seeds of rage with our failures of decency.
We sow seeds of revenge with our failures of integrity.

Blood on the camera lens.
Blood on the street.
Blood on our hands.