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[casi] "Calling On All World Citizens" (Fwd)




This is about a Water Treatment Plant being hit
by a missile in Baghdad.

"Howard, Bush and Blair are acting like dictators. They are
not listening to the people, they are taking their
marching orders from the big oil companies. The only thing
that will stop this war will be civil disobedience.
Friends and comrades, we are doing our bit here, please do
your bit and stop this war before it's too bloody late!"


<Start Fwd>
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0303/S00353.htm

Calling On All World Citizens
Monday, 24 March 2003, 3:13 pm
Article: Human Shields


Calling On All World Citizens

For this and more information on Human Shields Truth
Justice Peace Org, [18] click here
http://www.humanshields.org/

Last night [March 21] the United States bombarded Iraq
with 1000 missiles. Three hundred and twenty of them hit
Baghdad. One of them landed near the April 7 Water
Treatment Plant where I am living. The missile struck at
about 10pm. There was a deafening explosion, shaking the
building where we sleep. One of the other human shields,
Donna Mulhearn, also from Australia, was nearly blown off
her feet from the impact of the blast.

The missile explosion set off a major fire, which sent a
great cloud of smoke spreading across the sky above us, in
much the same way billowing clouds of smoke spread across
the sky during the recent Canberra bushfires. The fire
spread. It took hours before the fire was brought under
control. We could still smell the acrid smell of something
burning as the night turned into dawn.

The missile had landed little more than a kilometer away
from where we were standing. Just a small difference in
the trajectory would have had the missile heading straight
for us. There are thirteen Human Shields living at the
site, three Australians, one American, two from Britain,
three from Japan, one Norwegian, one Belgian, one Italian,
and one Dane. If the US tries again, misses again and hits
us instead, we will be just become an unrecognizable mass
of bits of concrete, human flesh and broken furniture. Not
only would the missile kill all of us, it would also
destroy the water treatment plant, which processes water
for three million people. To hit the site would also
destroy the special unit run by the International
Committee of the Red Cross which processes water for use
in the hospitals of Baghdad.

The United States, by firing the missile that landed so
close to us last night, close to a Red Cross installation,
has committed an act of criminal recklessness. These
missiles are themselves clearly weapons of mass
destruction, part of a huge arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction ready to be hurled at Iraq, its people, and
us.

Howard is not listening to us. Blair is not listening to
the people of Britain. Bush is not listening to the
American people. They are living in a fantasy world of
make believe that the war will be a quick act of
penetration and Iraq will surrender. That is nonsense. How
many people will die before they realize that, no matter
how many weapons of mass destruction they throw at Iraq,
the people will continue to resist the invasion?

Howard, Bush and Blair are acting like dictators. They are
not listening to the people, they are taking their
marching orders from the big oil companies. The only thing
that will stop this war will be civil disobedience.
Friends and comrades, we are doing our bit here, please do
your bit and stop this war before it's too bloody late!

Rosemarie Gillespie (Waratah)


CNN and Rumsfeld Strike Again

There they go again telling everyone that we've been
deployed by the Iraqis and that we've been deployed to
military targets. Once again you can go to our locations
page to find out where we have voluntarily deployed
ourselves. And once again you can read our earlier
response to misreporting. Great to hear they've seen the
"Human Shields" signs we painted too. Transcript:

BLITZER: We're getting reports now from some of our
embedded journalists on the front lines suggesting that
the Iraqis are placing so-called human shields at various
military and other strategic targets as U.S. and coalition
forces move up towards Baghdad. If that's the case, will
that deter you from going after those targets?

RUMSFELD: I do not have information to that effect,
although we've seen photographs indicating that the Iraqis
have written on the tops of some buildings that there are
human shields there. That also is a violation of
international law. The Iraqis have a practice of violating
international law and ignoring international conventions
and treaties.

In 1996, Madeleine Albright, then the US secretary of
state, was asked on national television what she felt
about the fact that 500,000 Iraqi children had died as a
result of US economic sanctions.

She replied that it was a very hard choice, but that, all
things considered, we think the price is worth it.

Sunday 23rd March, 2003

Isn't Donald Rumsfeld such a nice guy, looking out for his
troops that have been taken prisoner and all. Appearing on
CBS television last night, Rumsfeld was shown footage of
US soldiers that had been taken prisoner by the Iraqi
army.

"That's a violation of the Geneva Convention, those
pictures you showed," he said of the international law on
treatment of prisoners of war, which he said prohibits the
photographing or interrogation by media of those captured
in battle.

To tell you the truth we are in shock and awe that anyone
in the Bush administration has even read the Geneva
Convention.

Apart from the fact that Rumsfeld & Co. aren't exactly
great followers of international law it seems to have
slipped Rummy's mind that pictures of Iraqi prisoners of
war have been featured prominently on US television and in
newspapers over the past few days. Maybe Rummy isn't
looking out for his troops after all. Maybe he just
doesn't want the realities of war to be shown on TV. Oh
well, looks like he's the same deluded hypocritical war
criminal he always was.
<End Fwd>






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