WWB: the silence of children

WHAT WAR BRINGS: the silence of children

Below is a re-post from March 25, 2007. It is all still true, as far as I know. This silencing of children is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, due to US occupation or bombing.

Here is an older post on the drone bombings of civilians in Pakistan. Of course, the number of dead has increased since then. Some of the dead were surely children.

And just today in Afghanistan, this sad event happened:

A truck filled with explosives that police believe may have been
destined for Kabul blew up on a highway Thursday, killing 25 people — more than half of them children walking to school.

(and) …..Three children were missing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++ Here is a repeat of my prior post:

In this post, I am at least going to acknowledge that the voices and songs of the Iraqi children are disappearing in the tsunami of violence that our invasion and occupation has unleashed upon them – the truly innocent among us.

This is a link to a short video of some of the appalling conditions some children in Baghdad are facing now. It starts by showing a young boy with beautiful hazel eyes singing a song that has this line in it: "I slipped from your hands as I said farewell". He explains that he was walking with his parents when he saw them explode. He is one of many children in this orphanage, and all of them know about death and loss, probably better than most readers of this post.

Some of them have also suffered horrible wounds from violent attacks. There is only one man running the orphanage now – the other man running the orphanage was killed by a death squad. Also, the orphanage is running out of funds and may soon close.

Another scene in this video is a young mother bringing her son to the doctor. She claims the boy has not acted normally since the car bomb. Both she and the doctor seem to think it is due to PTSD, although the child has obvious scars on his head. The video then discusses the threat of kidnapping that the children face. The final scene is a young girl crying as she listens to a singer sing of a better tomorrow. She is an orphan too.

The problems start before the child arrives in the world. This article tells of the problems of getting the expectant mother to the hospital under conditions of occupation, and it is called "Birth Amid the Bloodshed". Driving at night is not allowed under curfew, and driving anyway could get you killed. And it is possible to get killed by several different actors in Iraq – criminals, militias, Iraqi army, Iraqi police or US military. No matter which group you might encounter after curfew, you could easily end up dead before you are even born. It sounds like the parents are most afraid of US troops. And the expectant parents cannot just drive to the closest hospital – it may be run by another sect. And that can get you killed also.

Ammar's fears were the same as Ahmad's: that his wife would go nto labour during the curfew and be trapped at home or that they would be forced to risk driving through the dark streets dodging jumpy US patrols. "My real dread was that my wife, Alaa, would go into labour at night. Her family comes from Mosul so we decided it was better to go there to have the baby."

What does being a child under occupation look like? This is one view. This is an accurate photo of what occupation is like. It is living behind barbed wire, at the will of the occupying army or military - or, in this case, oftentimes the US –mercenaries- security contracters like Blackwater.

The children often see foreign troops from the front of their home, carrying guns that are almost as big as the children are.

Here’s another child with the US military.

All children aged four (now make that six – for 2009) and under were born under occupation. Having foreign troops in their country, with the attendant violence and chaos, is all they know. There were also several pictures of young boys and teenage boys in the news lately, who are talking to and interacting with, US troops. They are fascinated by the guns I believe.

These children often live under horrible conditions. This is an example of what often happens to internally displaced refugees, who have fled from the overwhelming violence:

Photo: Iraqi kids play at ruins of a former Iraqi Army air defense headquarters, where they live in their makeshift homes, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 18, 2007, ahead of Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the U.S. led invasion on Iraq. This army complex was destroyed in the initial bombing campaign in 2003. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban)

And when they say that hundreds were sickened by chlorine bombs, you can be sure that some of the victims are tiny indeed, as this photo shows.

Sometimes a child will get to see the only home they ever knew destroyed right of their eyes:

A boy watches Iraqi Army soldiers tear down his family's shop with a bulldozer on Feb. 15, in the mixed ethnic neighborhood of Gazaliyah in Baghdad. When asked if he was Sunni or Shiite the boy responded only with, "I am a Muslim." (Chris Hondros / Getty Images)

And the children get to experience house searches, often times in the middle of the night. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to them to have foreign troops who don’t speak your language, in your bedroom.

And these children get badly, badly hurt.

And, just like adults, they die when they get too close to US troops while riding in a car. Of course, the children have no say in this matter at all. Earlier this month, two girls were killed with their father, and their brother was wounded, by US troops in Baghdad. The US military claims that the driver ignored or missed signals for him to stop. The instant death penalty often ensues when an Iraqi driver makes that mistake..... or just fails to see the US troops in time. A statement from the surviving spouse from this incident:

"They just opened fire randomly on us," said Akhlas Abduljabbar, a Sunni housewife from Zafaraniyah, south of Baghdad, whose family was travelling through the war-torn city. "They killed my husband and two daughters and my three-year-old boy was wounded in the head. The Americans' translator told me 'Flee, don't stay, they're going to kill you'," she added.

Another article discusses the ongoing crisis with hunger and malnutrition in Iraqi children.

Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq say that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later. Caritas says that rising hunger has been caused by high levels of insecurity, collapsed healthcare and other infrastructure, increased polarisation between different sects and tribes, and rising poverty. Over 11 percent of newborn babies are born underweight in Iraq today, compared with a figure of 4 percent in 2003. Before March 2003, Iraq already had significant infant mortality due to malnutrition because of the international sanctions regime. Caritas Iraq has been running a series of Well Baby Clinics throughout the country. Currently it provides supplementary food for 8000 children up to 8 years and new mothers. The Caritas clinics help the most vulnerable, and the health crisis they face is much worse than the national average.

How many children are we talking about? This article claims that there are 4.8 million children under age five in Iraq. There are an estimated 13.8 million children total in Iraq. This article claims that one in five children (under age five) are chronically malnourished, and one in ten are underweight.

And, all of this is impacting on their education also. A lot.

According to a report released last year by NGO Save the Children, 818,000 primary school-aged children, representing 22 percent of Iraq's student population, were not attending school. A joint study by the Iraqi Ministry of Education and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that of those who do not attend school, 74 percent are female. Aid agencies estimate that thousands of Iraqi parents do not send their daughters to school for cultural reasons and because of the general insecurity in the country. Mohammed Abdul-Aziz, a statistician at the Ministry of Education, told IRIN last week that at least 110 children had been killed and 95 injured since 2005 in attacks on schools. These numbers do not include children killed or injured on their way to or from school.

And all this violence is giving them nightmares:

Iraqi children are haunted by dreams of bad guys wielding knives or kidnapping relatives. For some, like 13-year-old Zaman, the nightmares become reality. She was abducted, beaten and threatened with rape. "Zaman suffers from shaking, nervousness, a stutter and sleep disorder," said Haider Abdul-Muhsin, a psychiatrist at Baghdad’s Ibn Rushd hospital who treats children suffering the consequences of war, four years after the U.S. invasion.

And read this and weep. And imagine trying to calm your own child in a situation like this one.

"My kids are always afraid," said Nora’s mother, who has four children, aged between four and 11. "Even when a door slams they start trembling and shouting 'A bomb, a bomb.' My children used to play outside when things were better two years ago but now they’re stuck to the TV, if we’re lucky enough to have electricity," she said. As she spoke, a pair of U.S. helicopters flew low overhead, the thud of the rotors shaking the house in what has become so common that most Baghdad residents barely flinch. Her 4-year-old son Murtadha burst into tears and put his hands up to his ears to block out the noise. "Mama, afraid, afraid," he managed to say, his voice faltering with tears.

And what will become of these children? One thing for certain, they will likely not get any mental health care, and perhaps no medical care either. Here is one Iraqi child’s statement on the murder of his loved ones by militas:

"They killed my father and uncle in front of my eyes," he says. He then breaks down sobbing. He can no longer speak. The anguish is unbearable. Such stories are not uncommon in Iraq four years after the U.S.-led invasion. Health officials say the daily hardships -- bomb blasts, gunfire, killings of family members and sectarian violence -- are taking an increasing toll on Iraq's children. Hundreds of thousands of children no longer attend school. Others have been forced from their homes to camps, while others have fled the nation with family.

(snip)

It is nearly impossible to quantify exactly how much the war and violence has impacted these children or just how many are affected. The humanitarian organization Save the Children, in a report last year about children in conflict zones, estimated that 818,000 Iraqi children, ranging in age from 6 to 11, were not in school. That's roughly one in every five children in that age group.

And what do the parents of these children want? Exactly what US parents want for their children:

If I could take Hussein and my other child abroad, away from the violence, I would not hesitate. But only those with money can afford to leave. All I want for my son is a stable life when he grows up. For now, life is tasting really bitter."

"Save the Children UK" used to be located in Iraq, but they felt they had to flee for their own safety.

"Save the Children UK" closed its offices in Erbil, northern Iraq. The charity said in a statement the ongoing insurgency had made its work increasingly difficult and the decision to leave was taken "with great regret." It will continue to support Iraqi groups that help the country's children, eight percent of whom are believed to suffer from acute malnutrition. Save the Children said "The decision is linked to the deteriorating security situation in significant areas of the country including the capital Baghdad, which makes it increasingly difficult for our work to make a significant impact on the lives of children." "Save the Children UK made the decision to withdraw from Iraq after much deliberation and with great regret."

How to Help

It is really sad that "Save the Children" is gone from Iraq. (I am not certain this is still true in 2009 – dancewater.) I can find no example of any group trying to help Iraqi children except this one.

Very few organizations are working on getting aid to Iraqi refugees, and of those that are, many are too small or too beleaguered to accept individual donations; the Iraqi Red Crescent, for example, has suffered bombings and mass kidnappings, yet its volunteers continue to deliver aid to displaced families inside Iraq. One of the larger relief organizations working with the refugees is the Catholic group Caritas, whose caseworkers I shadowed while in Amman. Bucking the image of the Land Rover-driving aid worker, they made their rounds in an aging gray Honda, its roof eaten through by rust. They visited Iraqi doctors, engineers, and executives desperate for food, heat, or blankets to fend off the desert winter; one family told the crew they had just sold their stove to buy food. Caritas helps a few thousand families a year, but "the demand far outstrips the money available to us," says Magy Mahrous, who oversees the project. You can make a contribution at: International Catholic Migration Commission, Citibank USA, 153 East 53rd Street, 16th floor, New York, NY 10043. To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.

I cannot vouch for the above aid organization, but they look legitimate. I wanted to include it in this post, in case you want to do something to help the Iraqi children.

This a song was written by Labi Siffre, in response to oppression to those who are gay or lesbian. I think some of the words fit what is happening to Iraqi children, or maybe they just fit my wishes for Iraqi children – that somewhere inside them will be a will and strength to survive this vicious assault on their childhood. The "walls of Jericho" can be compared to the walls around the green zone.

"The more you refuse to hear my voice
The louder I will sing
You hide behind walls of Jericho
Your lies will come tumbling.

Deny my place in time
You squander wealth that's mine [yet]
My light will shine so brightly
It will blind you..........
Cos there's...... Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Tho' you're doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, something inside so strong
Oh.........something inside so strong"

"whole lot of signing never gonna be heard, disappearing every day without so much as a word" - Patty Griffin, sung by the Dixie Chicks in "Top of the World".

If you support the continued occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan, or the bombing of Pakistan, then you support WHAT WAR BRINGS: the silence of children.

WWB: Civilian casualties from crossfire

Photo: Many of the wounded in Tuesday's attack were children [Reuters]

He's not wounded. He's dead.

WHAT WAR BRINGS: civilian casualties from crossfire

This topic, just covering Iraq and Afghanistan since the US invasions, could fill an encyclopedia. I am going to list a few incidents I know about – this is NOT an exhaustive search at all. It is just a few articles I ran across while reading the news.

In Iraq, there are still daily occurrences of attacks on civilians by unknown gunmen (not US troops). This kills a lot of civilians also, probably more than the number who died from crossfire – from being unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Here are a few recent examples:

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, May 27 2009

BAGHDAD - A car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol killed four civilians and wounded 12 others in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district, on the western outskirts of the capital, police said.

MOSUL - A woman was killed in crossfire between the Iraqi army and gunmen in Mosul on Tuesday, police said.

3 Americans and 3 Civilian Die in Afghanistan Attack

A suicide car bomber plowed into a NATO convoy on a main road north of Kabul on Tuesday morning, killing three American soldiers and three Afghan civilians, according to Afghan and American military officials.

Hand grenade kills child in Mosul

One child on Monday was killed and 15 civilians were wounded in a hand grenade attack in downtown Mosul city, according to a local police source.

“Unknown men threw a hand grenade at a U.S. patrol vehicle in Bab al-Toub area, downtown Mosul, killing a child and injuring 15 civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Grenade Blast Kills Afghan Child

An explosion near a US military convoy in northeastern Afghanistan has killed one child and wounded at least 49 other civilians, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast on Tuesday in Asadabad, the provinical capital of Kunar province, but several witnesses said a US soldier had thrown a grenade into a crowd of people.

..... "I was on my way to school. Their tyre burst, and then a soldier hurled a hand grenade from the convoy," Abdul Wahab, a 12-year-old boy, told the Reuters news agency as he lay in a hospital bed with shrapnel wounds in his legs. Other victims at the Asadabad hospital gave similar accounts.

However, Sayed Fazelullah Wahidi, the provincial governor, said that US troops showed him fragments of a Russian-made grenade, an implication that someone in the crowd caused the blast.

Suicide car bomb targets Italian troops in W Afghanistan

A man driving explosive-laden car blew himself up next to Italian military convoy in west Afghanistan on Friday, provincial police chief Hekmatullah Alizai said. "The suicide bomber exploded his car very close to a convoy of Italian forces in Shindand district at 3 p.m. local time (GMT1030), killing himself and damaged an armored personnel carrier," Alizai told Xinhua. However, he did not say if there were any casualties on Italian forces but said two civilians died in the accident.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, July 1 2009

KUNAR - Three members of a family, including two children, were killed and four wounded when a rocket hit a house in eastern Kunar province, a provincial official said. It was not clear who fired the rocket.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Pakistan, June 30 2009

PESHAWAR - A mortar bomb fired by security forces aimed at a militant hideout struck a house in the Khyber tribal region overnight, killing seven civilians, senior government official Azam Khan Khalil said.

Bomb attacks kill 5 civilians in Afghanistan

In central Ghazni province, officials say a suicide car bomber rammed into a convoy of international troops on a highway. Two civilians were killed in the blast but there's no word yet on any casualties among the international troops.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, June 22 2009

KHOST - NATO troops shot dead an Afghan civilian in a car in Khost province in the southeast after the car failed to stop following a warning, the alliance said.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, June 20 2009

RAMADI - Two mortar rounds killed a man and wounded eight other people, including two police officers, when they landed on a house and a police station in southern Ramadi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Woman killed, cop wounded in Mosul incidents

“On Wednesday, a woman was killed during clashes between gunmen and police forces in al-Saa area, downtown Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The woman, who happened to be at the scene of the clashes, died in hospital from her wounds,” the source noted.

Like I said, this could go on forever. This is by no means an exhaustive list in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. And most of the civilian deaths from crossfire do not even make the news. There have been reports from Iraqi bloggers of children being shot by US troops in the early days of the war, and the troops did not even notice that a child was shot.

If you support the continued occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan, or the bombing of Pakistan, then you support WHAT WAR BRINGS: civilian casualties from crossfire.

FREE GAZA video

WWB: Sectarian strife

WHAT WAR BRINGS: sectarian strife

When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, there was no recent history of violence or aggression between Sunnis and Shia’s of Iraq. Instead, there was multiple intermarriages, several tribes being mixed with both sects, and a government that was composed of both sects.

The original ‘deck of cards’ that the occupying forces issued was reportedly 40% Shia’s, even though the narrative turned (rather quickly) to the belief that it was only the Sunnis who were in power under Saddam, and only the Sunnis who benefited under him.

That, of course, is hogwash.

The last time there was significant sectarian strife in Iraq was under the British occupation, back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. And as soon as the Iraqi people fled to Jordan or Syria during the American occupation, all sectarian strife vanished.

As this opinion piece in the Toronto Star points out, it was occupation itself that brought on sectarian strife:

America plunged Iraq into chaos, shattered the infrastructure and destroyed the society, reducing human beings to their basest instincts. They turned on each other and found safety only in family, tribe, clan and sect. Shiites and Sunnis, who had lived together for ages, ethnically cleansed each other's neighbourhoods, which to this day remain separated by barricades, walls and checkpoints.

Having unleashed the forces that put Iraq's three main communities at war with each other, the U.S. toyed with the idea of dividing the country into the Kurdish north, a Sunni centre and a Shiite south, much like the British had divided India in two in 1947.

Having created the chaos, violence and jihadism, the U.S. said, in colonial fashion, it had to stay to curb the chaos, violence and jihadism. Having crippled the state, it had no choice but to prolong the occupation until the natives were ready to govern themselves.

Iraq exhausted America more than the 1917-32 British invasion and occupation sapped the British. It also created killing fields on a vast scale.

From what I have read on Iraq since 2003 – and it has been extensive – the Iraqi people do feel that the presence of occupation troops in their country has been the root cause of the sectarian strife. And recently, the Iraqi parliament ruled out any “help” from Americans in reconciliation between the various sects and their warring fractions.

Iraq declines offer of US help with reconciliation

Iraq on Saturday ruled out foreign involvement in its efforts to reconcile rival factions, just after visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Iraqis to do more to bury grievances and stave off renewed conflict.

Biden, on a three-day visit, offered U.S. help in what he said was a long road ahead in uniting a country deeply split by years of sectarian war and riven by violence.

But Iraq has been forcefully asserting a newfound sovereignty in the week U.S. combat troops pulled out of city centres, a milestone that was feted by flowers and dancing.

"We made it clear that national reconciliation is an Iraqi issue and involvement of a non-Iraqi party won't make it more successful," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

Boy, he got that right. Any “help” from Biden is a clear path to further instability and possible disintegration of the country. Biden once proposed that Iraq should be split up into three sections. Look what this idiot said recently, in the same Reuters article:

During his meetings with Maliki on Friday, Biden warned resurgent sectarian or ethnic violence in Iraq was "not something that would make it likely that we'd stay engaged," a U.S. official told reporters.

He added in Washington, there is no longer "any appetite to put Humpty Dumpty back together again", should Iraq fall apart.

There never was any ‘appetite’ to help Iraq. There was only an appetite to destroy and dominate, with one of the main tactics being DIVIDE AND CONQUER. And the US getting DISENGAGED would be the best thing for Iraq right now, and is exactly what the majority of Iraqis want.

I hope to god that the US does not stay ‘engaged’ in Iraq – those poor people need to RECOVER from the occupation’s destructiveness and from our politician’s enormous stupidity.

A friend from Iraq recently visited me, and she says that most Iraqis felt the US was behind the bombing of the shrine in Samarra in 2006. It was that incident that plunged Iraq into a hell of sectarian violence. Today, entire neighborhoods have been ethnically cleansed, and the US put up concrete walls to separate the various neighborhoods.

If you support the continued occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan, or the bombing of Pakistan, then you support WHAT WAR BRINGS: sectarian strife, which results in violence, chaos and death.

Lessons learned from Vietnam?

None.

WWB: Civilian casualties from landmines

WHAT WAR BRINGS: Civilian casualties from landmines

A report last month in McClatchy told of the casualties from landmines in the Basra area, and also told how Iraq is no longer clearing out the landmines from the wars that have plagued Iraq since the 1980’s.

Iraq halts clearing landmines even as huge toll keeps rising

Sadiqa Foroon has lost two brothers, her right foot and 32 sheep to landmines and other explosive remnants of the three wars that have raged through her village since 1980.

Burns from the mine she stepped on contort the right side of her face. "And my horse is missing a hoof," she said with a weary laugh. "So is my donkey."

Still, every morning she trudges back into the sun-scorched scrubland behind her house — one of the most densely contaminated minefields on the planet, according to international aid organizations — to collect firewood in order to cook for 12 children, and to harvest whatever scrap metal she thinks she can sell.

The article claims that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense stopped the mine-clearing operations because they feared that locals were selling the explosives to insurgents. Iraqi’s Environmental Ministry was opposed to this decision.

It is estimated that one Iraqi loses a limb or his/her life EVERY DAY in Iraq. Most casualties go unreported. This happens in Kurdistan and in Basra area.

The McClatchy article goes on to state:

The U.N. estimates that during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, American planes dropped 54 million "cluster bombs," small, grenade-like explosives scattered from a single shell. Most fell in southern and central Iraq.

Deputy Environment Minister Kamal Latif said that an estimated 16 percent of those cluster bombs — more than 8 million — failed to explode and now litter the ground. They rest on top of 25 million landmines that the late dictator Saddam Hussein planted during Iraq's war with Iran in the 1980s and before the Gulf War and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

One village badly affected is Said Jabar, near Basra. It is claimed that more than 400 of the 2,500 residents have lost limbs or been killed by mines.

Here’s another story about landmines in Iraq. This is just one news article from Voices of Iraq website. I’m am sure there are many, many more such stories – including many that never make any news source at all.

Civilian wounded by landmine in Basra

A civilian man was wounded west of Basra on Sunday after stepping on a landmine left from previous wars, the city’s police information office said.

…….. There are a large number of landmine fields to the west and east of Basra left from previous wars in Iraq. The victims are mostly civilians, particularly women and children who shepherd in these areas and also search among the scraps for copper and aluminum to sell in order to eke out a living.

And this happens in Afghanistan too.

Three children among 34 killed in Afghanistan

Three Afghan children were killed Friday by a mortar left over from a battle between police and Taliban, as bomb attacks and clashes left 31 more people dead…… The children, aged four to 10, were killed Friday when they touched a mortar shell left over from an exchange of fire the previous day between Taliban and police in the central province of Ghazni, police said. Another child was wounded, said provincial police chief Khial Baz Sherbaz.

How bad is it?

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) published this recently:

Iraq is estimated to have 20 million landmines and 2.66 million cluster bombs spread out over more than 1,700 square kilometres. Only 20 square kilometres have been cleared by demining organisations since Iraq signed up to the UN’s Mine Ban Treaty in February 2008.

The UN estimated that more than 1.6 million people are affected by the landmines. UNICEF reported that one million children are at risk.

And here is a clip on how they are trying to cope with the situation:

The Centre for Artificial Limbs in Basra was established in 1995 to provide aid to landmine victims. It is the only centre of its kind in southern Iraq and has about 600 people on its waiting list. Dr Kamal Yacoub, the centre’s director, says it is not equipped to cope with the demand.

“The centre produces 50 to 60 artificial limbs a month on average and can serve the same number of handicapped people, about 70 per cent of whom are landmine victims,” he said.

On July 5, 2009, we had news that 16 UN workers on de-mining between Logar and Paktia, went missing. The only thing found was their abandoned ambulance.

This article gives some more information on mines in Afghanistan:

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and the increase in violence amid a thriving Taliban insurgency has slowed clearance work. Some 50 people are killed and maimed by mines every month.

I hope they are safe. I fear they are not.

If you support the continued occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan, or the bombing of Pakistan, then you support WHAT WAR BRINGS: civilian casualties from left over ordinance and landmines.

WHAT WAR BRINGS: Civilian deaths by air

This May 5, 2009, file photo, shows an injured Afghan child from the Bala Baluk, district of Afghanistan, on a bed at the hospital in Farah province of Afghanistan. Abdul Basir Khan, a member of Farah's provincial council, said villagers brought some 30 bodies, including women and children, to Farah city to show the province's governor, that they had been killed reportedly by coalition airstrikes. (AP Photo/Abdul Malek, file)

WHAT WAR BRINGS: Civilian deaths by air

This post is about US bombings of civilians. I cannot begin to cover all the air bombings of Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan (drone attacks), but I will cover a few examples.

God only knows how many civilians were killed or injured by US bombings, but I do remember “shock and awe” in March 2003 that was supposed to be surgical strikes to take out Iraqi leadership. Instead, those bombs only killed civilians. One particularly gruesome story was off an eight months pregnant woman whose baby was ejected from her womb and body with the top of his little head cut off. He died, of course. Instantly. The mother died shortly thereafter too – she bled to death. That happened in Basra.

And I am sure a lot of readers remember the story of Ali, whose picture appeared in the pages of TIME magazine. He lost both his arms, had severe burns on his body, and his entire family was killed. He was about 8 years old, if I recall correctly. He said he wanted his arms and his parents back.

A more recent, and horrendous example occurred in May 2009 in Afghanistan. This article is from the LA Times, and starts by casting doubt on who exactly is responsible for the bombings that killed about 140 people. I can tell who is to blame – as long as US troops are in the country, then the US IS TO BLAME since they are the ones responsible for security. And in this case, they are the ones who did the killing.

(Some people were reported as ‘missing’ since the bombing actually reduced them to miniature body parts and could not be identified. For example, a finger maybe found in a nearby bush or tree…. But how can you say who it belongs to? That is one of the problems with trying to find out how many were killed in a US bombing, but it is a minor problem compared to the fact that the US government does not give a shit who they kill or injure.)

Afghan civilian deaths: Who is to blame?

Commanders and villagers give conflicting accounts of the attack that Afghan officials say killed 140 civilians, a toll disputed by the U.S. But injured girls make clear the costs for two families.

…..Afghan officials say at least 140 civilians died, two-thirds of them children and teenagers.

Here is their report on the injured children:

Piercing wails rose into the antiseptic-scented air where four blistered and bandaged little girls lay in side-by-side hospital beds. One of them, 5-year-old Ferishteh, writhed and cried almost continuously, unable to find a position that did not cause her pain from the burns that covered her arms, legs and torso.

…..Nine-year-old Nazbibi, whose large brown eyes were half hidden by swollen eyelids with eyelashes burned away, remembered falling asleep with her mother and 10-year-old sister by her side.

"I heard a big boom, and I was buried except for my head," she said. "Everything collapsed -- the roof was on me, and there were flames. I was so frightened."

Her sister, Gulbuddin, was killed. Her mother, Sanam, suffered burns but survived, although the night's events so unhinged her that she apparently suffered a mental collapse.

The article says this about the people who were bombed:

There is no cellphone service in most of Bala Baluk at night, so villagers were unable to summon help, and they were too frightened to make the drive to Farah City. The wounded who weren't lucky enough to be unconscious shrieked themselves hoarse until morning finally came.

The really lucky ones are the ones who died instantly. Go and read the whole article, and see if you don’t agree.

And then about a month or two later, the US finally admits to some “mistakes”. (Well, sometimes they do. Most of the time they just ignore it after blaming it on someone else.)

Here is a report from the New York Times where the US military admits “mistakes”:

A military investigation has concluded that American personnel made significant errors in carrying out some of the airstrikes in western Afghanistan on May 4 that killed dozens of Afghan civilians, according to a senior American military official. The official said the civilian death toll would probably have been reduced if American air crews and forces on the ground had followed strict rules devised to prevent civilian casualties. Had the rules been followed, at least some of the strikes by American warplanes against half a dozen targets over seven hours would have been aborted.

Of course, that does not bring any dead people back. Nor does it help the wounded. And it surely does not stop the US from doing it AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. I would bet we will hear about another bombing that kills civilians before the month is over. Not that many Americans would care. I guess they are too busy worrying about other people’s sexuality and the possible abortion of a fetus to worry about the death of living and breathing innocent people who happen to be under US occupation.

But it has gotten to the point that we can predict what the US military’s “story” about civilian casualties from air bombings will take, and how our corporate media will report it:

A sizable clump of peasants with unpronounceable names from an equally unpronounceable village on the other side of the globe are slaughtered by a drone, air strike, or troops on the ground. The initial story appears complete with quotes from locals, local officials, and aid workers- many if not all going on the record and giving their names- on or near the scene that lay out the basic facts of the story- that the US killed a bunch of civilians. And within hours of this come the denials from the US military. And not just any denials but creative ones. If not denying outright that anyone was killed at all (which is sometimes their first reaction) the US military will then offer up their own story in which the evil "Taliban" or "Al Qaeda in Iraq" killed the civilians in question. The sources for the military's side of the story are almost never named, were no where near the incident, and have no first hand knowledge of the event in question at all.

This doesn't stop our "liberal" media from giving the stories from anonymous military sources far removed from the atrocity equal if not more weight than the named local sources on the ground.

And here is another report that followed a few weeks later:

U.S. admits Afghan airstrike may have killed 86 civilians

An internal military investigation into an U.S. airstrike in western Afghanistan acknowledged that U.S. forces may have killed as many as 86 civilians and said the military needs to re-examine its rules to reduce future civilian casualties.

I agree that they need to re-examine their ‘rules’…. They need to STOP DOING IT COMPLETELY. Keep in mind that the locals said that 140 were killed, not 86. It is hard to identify bodies, however, once they have been blown to teeny, tiny bits of blood and flesh.

And of course, the local politicians are none too happy about the air bombings of their fellow civilians, and the air bombing of the politicians themselves.

Here is another incident, this time on May 24, 2009. It comes from a Reuters article:

An Afghan civilian died of wounds from a U.S.-led airstrike, which was supporting NATO-led forces in Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the alliance said in a statement. The civilian was suspected of planting an explosive device but an investigation later determined he was not an insurgent, the statement added.

Just a blip on one day’s write up of security incidents. The killing of this man was not even noticed here in the USA. You can bet your last dollar it WAS noticed by his family. And this likely happens in Iraq and Afghanistan on a regular basis. In the blog Iraq Today, there is a listing of all security incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan, and links to US air power summaries. But most of the bombings over the last eight years we know nothing about.

And here’s another incident, this one from June 2009:

Dispute Over Afghan Deaths in Strike

The airstrike in Ghor Province in western Afghanistan on Tuesday was aimed at a local Taliban militant, Mullah Mustafa, but instead killed 10 civilians and 12 insurgents, according to Sayed Iqbal Munib, the governor of Sar-i-Pul, a neighboring province.

Oh, yes, there is always a “dispute” and generally, the locals end up being proven correct in their claims, long after everyone in the USA has forgotten about it.

And, no one is disciplined for making a “mistake” either.

Oh, and it has been going on for quite awhile. This story is from 2007.

Civilian death toll rises in the bloody battle of Helmand

Last week I saw the damage being done in the battle for hearts and minds. In the British headquarters a girl was brought in by her family. She lay on the table, blood leaking from her tiny frame. Occasionally her body would convulse, her screams reverberating around the base. On either side, three of her siblings whimpered. They, too, had been lacerated by masonry after a US bomber strafed their home last Sunday morning while the Taliban were firing from the same compound.

An hour earlier, soldiers at the base in Sangin had recognised the thud of a nearby explosive. By the time its disbelieving victims appeared at the British outpost, they had already buried two children. Others lay entombed beneath the rubble. Bombed by their would-be liberators, their parents had passed the bloodied bundles of their remaining children to the British army to save them.

Air bombings are happening quite often in Pakistan too. Here is a post on the drone strikes in Pakistan, and their impacts on civilians.

If you support the continued occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan, or the bombing of Pakistan, then you support WHAT WAR BRINGS: civilian deaths by US air bombings.

What War Brings: the series

I decided to write up a story a day (for however long I can) on what war brings to people who are unfortunate enough to get caught up in it. I choose to start on July 4^th, the fortieth anniversary of the song “Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Video posted below on this blog.

I have seen, time and again, attention paid to what war does to those who choose to participate – that is, the combatants.

I have seen memorials with the names of dead combatants on them, but I have yet to a memorial with the names of dead civilians on them. I see statutes to combatants in every conflict under the sun. Even the losers erect statutes and memorials to those who died as combatants. I never see statutes to the UNKNOWN CIVILIAN who fallen…. And I think only once have a seen a grave maker for the unknown civilian.

I don’t think we pay enough attention to what happens to those civilians who are victims of US aggression. I think that would change significantly if the victims were American civilians, but fortunately for us, they are not. I don’t think we pay enough attention to other negative repercussions of our wars and occupations – for example, the impact on the environment.

I was thinking about this a lot over Memorial Day weekend, and I decided to write up a series of blogs that will be called “What War Brings” or WWB. It will cover various aspects of the results of war and occupation: civilian deaths, civilian injuries, civilian health problems, poverty, disease, stress, brain drain, corruption, lies, disappeared people, rape, torture, environment destruction, and a host of other problems.

The Veterans for Peace get it:

Veterans For Peace Asks "Who Dies In War?"

Few really think about it, but many more innocent civilians die in war than soldiers. That is the message that Veterans For Peace would like people to think about on Memorial day.

Veterans For Peace National President Mike Ferner comments, "We have been taught that the purpose of Memorial Day is to remember fallen service members. Veterans For Peace is here to tell the nation that the number of innocent civilians who die in war far outnumbers the combatants. It would be immoral to only remember those who fought and died in war and not pay respect to those who are victims. In the final analysis, the best way to remember both is to abolish this scourge of humanity."

You can bet those veterans also understand the true nature of our military, along with understanding how it has been abused.

Time and again.

Americans have a deep aversion on saying anything that might reflect poorly on our military – indeed, they seem to hold some idealized, and totally unrealized, vision of what our US military does. They don’t have a historically accurate idea of what our military has done over the centuries, both good and bad. And, as Noam Chomsky said about torture, this is dangerous:

“Historical amnesia is a dangerous phenomenon, not only because it undermines moral and intellectual integrity, but also because it lays the groundwork for crimes that still lie ahead.”

And some Americans actually promote and propose that the US military do more humanitarian projects, like build schools or hospitals or give toys or candy or soccer balls to the children of the lands we are brutally occupying. (That has got to be confusing to the kids – get a bomb dropped in your neighborhood one day and a soccer ball the following week.)

When the general American public hears about a bombing incident, they are quick to believe that the US either is not at fault or the other side – the ‘bad guys’ are the ones who actually did it. They never bother to look on the internet for the pictures of locals holding the shrapnel that clearly shows it was made in the USA. They seldom hear the follow up ‘investigation’ that often leaves the US military actions looking very destructive and deadly against unarmed civilians.

And our corporate media rarely bothers to show them. This insanity goes so far that in the early stages of the Iraq war, one CNN anchor asked whether an Iraqi boy (who was without arms from a US bombing, and who also had his entire family killed) appreciated what the US was doing for his country.

Americans in general fail to note public statements from our military men and women about the reality of the wars they are conducting. Here is some commentary by Rick Reyes, who severed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was speaking to our US Senators:

As an infantry rifleman in the Marines Corps, I saw so much of these wars through nightly patrols. We were trained to approach a point of interest on foot, coordinating with translators whose sole vested interest in supplying us intelligence was to earn money and aid. We would gather information that often proved faulty, and question locals to the point we felt comfortable conducting a raid. After receiving an order, we would ransack homes, destroying windows and doors, chairs and tables, families and lives--detaining and arresting anyone who seemed suspicious. The problem, of course, was that it was impossible to distinguish militant Taliban members or Al Qaeda from innocent civilians. Everyone became a suspect.

In one instance, my squad leader gave me orders to pursue possible terrorists leaving the scene in which we had established a perimeter. My four-man fire team and I followed these suspects undetected for about 100 yards along an exposed ravine. When we were four feet from them, I drew my M-16 and pointed it directly at their faces, yelling, "Get down on the ground!" We beat them in search of nonexistent weapons, breaking limbs in the process. Later that day, I learned these men were innocent. Another time, my squad and I detained, beat and nearly killed a man, only to realize he was merely trying to deliver milk to his children. These raids compelled me to tell Congress we have been chasing ghosts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The end result of America’s idealized fantasy vision of our military leads to a purposeful lack of knowledge about the fundamental immorality of what we are doing in Asian countries today.

The fact is - OUR MILITARY’S PURPOSE IS TO KILL OUR ENEMIES AND DESTROY THEIR ABILITY TO HURT US.

To think or suggest that they do something else will lead to massive evil. To send them where we do not have enemies will also lead to massive evil. And that is what we have done, time and again, since World War 2. And we are still doing it today, in both Iraq and Afghanistan and in Pakistan.

In an article published in May 2009 by CNN, they claim that we are only now beginning to realize what has happened in Iraq. I would say that is mostly true for nearly all Americans. This is what they said:

“Now that there is a semblance of so-called stability, we can start to put a face and name to the victims and begin to try and understand and impart the horrors of what millions of Iraqis lived through and tens of thousands died from. It is only now that we can begin to comprehend the magnitude of what Iraqis went through.”

“But it is not over. For Iraqis it's far from over. In many ways it is just beginning.”

Of course, they got it all wrong about the ‘tens of thousands’ who have died. It is at least ‘hundreds of thousands’. It certainly would be something if they tried to name the victims. That would clearly establish that there are hundreds of thousands now dead, possibly over a million.

If you were one of the ones blogging on Iraq, or just reading blogs like Iraq Today (and it’s predecessor, Today in Iraq), then you probably do have some idea what has happened. If you have not done this, then I invite you to follow this series of WHAT WAR BRINGS so that you will have some idea of what your government is doing with your tax dollars.

Here are some recent updates on our ongoing wars and occupations:

U.S. Faces Resentment in Afghan Region

The mood of the Afghan people has tipped into a popular revolt in some parts of southern Afghanistan, presenting incoming American forces with an even harder job than expected in reversing military losses to the Taliban and winning over the population.

You betcha! Dropping those bombs on civilians does not lead to support from the local population.

Of course, in Iraq, we are withdrawing...... Or maybe not.

A Withdrawal in Name Only

…..the first step -- withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 -- is full of loopholes, and tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the cities after the "deadline" passes.

The failure to fully comply with the withdrawal agreement indicates the United States is looking to withdraw from Iraq in name only, as it appears that up to 50,000 military personnel will remain after the deadline.

The United States claims it's adhering to the agreement, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), even with so many troops being left in the cities. But the United States is changing semantics instead of policy. For example, there are no plans to transfer the 3,000 American troops stationed within Baghdad at Forward Operating Base Falcon, because commanders have determined that despite its location, it's not within the city.

Clever little trick there – redrawing city boundaries.

Most Iraqis do want the US troops gone, with nonviolent protests in Baghdad and Kirkuk just yesterday. And here is report from The Real News saying that most Iraqis want the US troops really, truly, totally, gone.

And here is a picture of Iraqis burning the US flag in Baghdad, in response to Biden’s visit.

So, what to do? Here are some answers for the regular American citizen to take in this article:

A Plan to End the Wars

There are a million and one things that people can do to try to end the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and to prevent new ones in Iran and elsewhere, as well as to close U.S. military bases in dozens of other nations around the world. Certain people are skilled at or interested in particular approaches, and nobody should be discouraged from contributing to the effort in their preferred ways. Far too often proposals to work for peace are needlessly framed as attacks on all strategies except one.

And, since nothing has worked so far, I recommend trying one or two or a dozen of the suggestions in that article!

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty and democracy?” ~ Mohandas Gandhi.

Of course, using “the holy name of liberty and democracy” is just another example of WHAT WAR BRINGS: lies.

Written forty years ago on this day... July 4th

Happy Birthday, USA!

Making friends and winning allies around the world!

Supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burn a banner representing the U.S. flag during a protest in Baghdad's Sadr City, northeastern Baghdad July 3, 2009. Supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr paraded through a Baghdad slum on Friday, burning American flags and shouting anti-U.S. slogans during a visit to Iraq by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ CONFLICT POLITICS)

Sunset from Rich Mountain June 2009

On the last night in June, I drove up to the top of Rich Mountain, climbed the fire tower, and took some photos of the sun setting. I then camped out up there, and slept like a log. It was quiet and dark, and no one was around. It was beautiful. What an amazing world we live in!

Logging on Rich Mountain in Madison County

I recently went camping up on Rich Mountain, and found out they are doing some logging up there. I asked the man in the photo what was up, and he said that he works for the government and that they want to clear out trees alongside the roads to get more sunlight on the road and to improve the view. I mentioned that the logging is really tearing up the dirt road, and he said the government will fix that after they are done.

I don’t see how what they are doing will improve the view, since the logging is being done at lower levels were there is no view to speak of. But it will increase sunlight on the road to get those big trees out of there.

Unfortunately, they are dumping the leftover scraps down the hillside besides some hair pin turns. This waste is all organic to the area, but it will also kill off the vegetation (small trees) that it covers… which means the dirt road itself might give way.

The view from the very top of Rich Mountain, as in my next post, is still fantastic!

Scheuer showing his true colors, yet again.

Michael Scheuer has repeatedly spoken out against the war on Iraq. Not because he has morals, but because he thought it was a waste and distraction from America's "true" enemies. Scheuer has publicly stated that he has no problem with Americans doing torture, because he thinks it will somehow "protect" Americans. I guess that holds true when it is Americans torturing other Americans too.

But he really showed his true colors when he came out with this statement:



Scheuer proposes that the US needs to "protect" us by using violence. I guess that holds true for him even if it is violence by Americans on Americans.

Scheuer is a former CIA analyst.

Years ago, Bill Moyer said (roughly) - if they will brag about taking down foreign leaders, what would they do that they will NOT brag about? He was talking about the CIA.

Letter to Rep. Shuler

I sent this to him via his web page:

I recently heard that Rep. Shuler voted against an amendment requiring that the students of the SOA be made public.

And I read in the news that the leader of the coup in Honduras was a graduate of the School of the Americas (now called WHINSEC).

I believe there is a direct connection between the SOA and human rights violations in Central and South America.

I believe in transparency and accountability. I believe that I have a right to know how my tax dollars are being spent. I believe that the tax dollars being spent on the SOA is illegal, immoral and just stupid, unless our goal is to have less democracy and human rights in the world.

I totally fail to see how anyone can call themselves a ‘Christian’ and support things like this. I therefore conclude that Rep. Shuler is not a Christian. That conclusion is supported by his votes to support immoral wars and occupations, and his failure to bring Americans who violate human rights to justice. He is a fake Christian in my eyes.

Perhaps he should consider publicly stating that he is opposed to the very principles of Jesus Christ, which is why he supports war, torture, occupations, and a total lack of transparency.

Perhaps he should consider becoming honest. I am sick of the fake Christians.