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Re: [casi] Iraq: 100 Days Of 'Peace'




On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 04:17:27 -0400 rubytoo@xemaps.com writes:
>Iraq: 100 days of 'peace'

>Casualties
>
>    * 57 US troops, 11 British troops killed since 1 May
>    * 35 allied troops died in accidents,
>    * 3 possible suicides, 3 drowned
>    * 1,000 children injured by unexploded ordnance
>    * 15 to 25 civilians shot dead daily in Baghdad
>    * 1 UK journalist shot dead

I see this today:

=*=*=*=*=*=
Jamie Wilson, Baghdad
Saturday August 9, 2003
The Guardian =


US snipers shot dead two Iraqis and injured at least two others they
claimed were selling weapons at a street market in Saddam Hussein's home
town, Tikrit, yesterday.

It happened after senior officers said they were scaling down the
iron-fisted way their forces have been policing the country, which has
alienated even moderate Iraqis.

[...]

Snipers were placed around the market in Tikrit after the Americans heard
that weapons and ammunition were sold there every Friday, Lieutenant
Colonel Steve Russell of the 22nd Infantry Regiment said.

Witnesses said women ran screaming from the market after shots rang out
and a man unloading AK-47 assault rifles from the back of a red car fell
to the ground.

A second man was shot in the head and died at the scene. One of the
wounded men escaped and the other was taken for treatment at a nearby
hospital.

It seems that the men were not given a warning or a chance to surrender.

"We did not give them the chance to engage," Col Russell said, standing
next to a cache of weapons and ammunition laid out on a tarpaulin.

He showed identity cards which, he said, linked the men to old regime.

"When people pick up weapons and carry them freely they become combatants
and we will engage them," he added.

"I think we sent out a strong message today that you cannot walk around
the streets with weapons."

It was an unfortunate start to the new "softly softly" approach the US
commanders claim to be adopting.

[...]

=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Actually, the message this sends is that the rules imposed by the US in
Iraq is to shoot people down at will, and to hell with law (except the
"law of the jungle"). It also sends the message that one should carry
their weapons concealed, engage in resisting in secret, and never trust
what the enemy says. It send the message that the US intends to rule
through terror. It is also apparant that the new rules say that killing
the innocent or civilians is not to be considered as being a serious
problem.

This is the sort of "liberation" the Nazis brought. As such, all
Americans, British, or those working with or for them in Iraq are the
enemy and part of the evil empire, are now legitimate targets for the
Iraqi resistance. It had been said during the American revolution that
the price of liberty is the blood of patriots; it seems that is as true
for Iraqi patriots. What a shame!

86 43



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