A contingent of US soldiers went on a killing spree back in November murdering 14 Iraqi civilians in cold blood including seven women and three children, the youngest aged two. Were these soldiers by any chance motivated with the zeal of establishing democracy, freedom and peace in the region, something the US government and its supporters repeatedly claim. Rather, I think they were probably just venting their frustration and revenge on innocent people.
What took place in Haditha is not rare, neither has it been the first ever massacre of innocent people by American soldiers and nor will it be the last. A few days ago American soldiers committed a similar massacre in the Ishaqi neighborhood in north Baghdad.
One is likely to lose count of the number of civilians injured and killed in US airstrikes and land operations that have taken place in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and that’s not even including the deaths caused by sanctions on both countries before 9/11. Even joyous occasions like weddings are not immune as thousands of houses and buildings are demolished in a flash. According to statements issued by the US government, all the victims, including children, women and old men, were dangerous terrorists threatening world safety. This is in spite of the fact that coroners at hospitals, where bodies have been examined, have repeatedly said these people were no more than harmless civilians.
Using false reports and explanations, the US field command has and is undertaking systematic and diligent cover-ups of the gross violations that are being carried out against humanity. Worse still is the enthusiasm shown by high ranking officials in Washington to conceal facts and protect soldiers that rampage killing and abusing civilians. Under mounting international criticism of the savage behavior of occupation troops, the US government has previously charged some soldiers. Trials have taken place, which finally turn out to be a mockery of the legal system as barbaric criminals are allowed to virtually go free with arguably the lightest of punishments.
The United Nations last December turned the other way when organizations concerned with violations of human rights in Iraq reported the Haditha massacre. Nevertheless the Time magazine covered the incident and brought international attention to the inhuman way by which Iraqis were being liberated.
The US government is also rather keen to keep precise records of each and every soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. State funerals are organized when coffins arrive home and generous sums of compensation are given to the relatives of dead American soldiers.
On the other hand don’t ever ask about a dead Iraqi and Afghan. There are no statistics available and nobody has any idea about the numbers actually killed, wounded and disabled.
Even worse is the fact that the health department and hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan have been prohibited from compiling numbers of people killed in US attacks. This is primarily because the huge numbers would be traumatic for any civilized mind to even comprehend. The silence of the UN in relation to such acts of gross violations is most disturbing.
The losses that result from organized crime and Mafia activities in the US, Europe, and other advanced countries are estimated to run into billions of dollars. Imagine the amount of devastation that must be taking place in both Iraq and Afghanistan when a global superpower embarks on criminal acts that dwarf and mitigate the activities of the Mafioso and organized criminals all together.
President Bush has assured us that upon completion of ongoing investigations into the Haditha massacre culprits will be punished. Naturally it is obvious that no one will likely take Bush’s statement seriously especially in light of the fact that the international community has seen the ridiculous unfair trials of soldiers who have committed some of the most disgusting of crimes in modern history in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. While real villains in the upper chains of command are allowed to go free, the mock verdicts symbolically punish soldiers of low rank with token punishments. Bush himself has brushed aside mounting demands even from within his own country that hold high ranking officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, responsible for war crimes.
Further disheartening is President Bush’s statement a few days ago while addressing the first Passing out Parade of graduates at a military academy after the 9/11 attacks on the US. The president said that the US is striving to grant the people of the Middle East a freedom that they have been deprived of and that the present two wars are only the very beginning. This is a clear message to Middle Eastern leaders from Damascus to Tehran that the future of the region is intimately interlinked with peace and freedom.
Bush’s words also signify that according to him peace will never come without granting freedom and justice to all people. Does anyone, particularly those living in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East, believe him? The answer to this question is the very topic of this article.
