Lies of the state

Assume anything that is said by US military spokesmen, Ayad Allawi included, is false until independently proven true. Likelihood is it isn't.


Here are some of the civilians the Americans didn't see, but who were put out of their home in Fallujah nonetheless.


Shrapnel from an American grenade thrown into his home tore through this insurgent.


Do not look at the man behind the curtain! Instead see how commendable efforts by some of our soldiers mean "...all Americans can take heart in the proud traditions our military upholds every day, traditions that speak to the core of this nation's values: reaching out to people in need, regardless of where they call home." (Dennis McCafferty, "Above and Beyond", USA Weekend, November 26–28, 2004)

The media environment concerning the recent US-led attacks on Sunni cites and towns -- and even the whole situation in Iraq -- is outrageous and dishonest. Twenty years from now students will be studying this propaganda environment in an effort to figure out how so many good people remained so quiet during such an intense program of atrocities committed in our name.

This Kim Sengupta story from the Independent and posted on Counterpunch sums up actual reports from people who managed to flee the attacks:

Allegations of widespread abuse by US forces in Fallujah, including the killing of unarmed civilians and the targeting of a hospital in an attack, have been made by people who have escaped from the city.

They said, in interviews with The Independent, that as well as deaths from bombs and artillery shells, a large number of people including children were killed by American snipers. US forces refused repeated calls for medical aid for injured civilians, they said.

Contrast that to the media ear-pulling our military spokespeople are doing while the scribes from the steno pool busily copy every word:

GEN. SATTLER on Nov. 12: we have one group of 30 civilians who came out who were taken and moved to a humanitarian assistance area. And the only other civilians -- we had one civilian who was injured, a family of three who was picked up by Iraqi security forces and brought out, and then the approximately 300 that I mentioned earlier that are a combination, we feel, of civilians from Fallujah and possibly some fighters embedded with them. And that is the only families -- the only civilians we've come across.

GEN. SATTLER on Nov. 18: The only people who are out moving around -- we'll see them walk out with a white flag -- and I'm sure you've seen those -- who will come in to pick up water and food, and then we follow them back to where they're going to make sure they're not taking that water and food back to a number of insurgents who are destitute and running out of both luck and food and water. If they take it back to a family, then we ensure that we provide proper assistance to that family.

Contrast again to more reports from the ground:

DAHR JAMAIL on Nov. 23: Doctors in Fallujah are reporting there are patients in the hospital there who were forced out by the Americans," said Mehdi Abdulla, a 33 year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad, "Some doctors there told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the doctors away and left the patient to die." He looks at the ground, then away to the distance.

DAHR JAMAIL on Nov. 28:...most Fallujans have been unable to reach the main hospital due to ongoing fighting and most being too afraid of detainment by soldiers or Iraqi National Guardsmen to seek medical help. The ambulances returned to Baghdad.

The rest of Dahr's posts often are so sickening -- reports of use of poisonous gas, artillery against moving persons, soldiers dumping bodies in the river, and an utterly terrified population afraid to even light a candle at night -- sometimes I can barely read them.

Below are a few more references. If young American soldiers can be convinced they are battling "Satan", the dehumanization process is complete.

US denies need for Falluja aid convoy
The Guardian; Rory McCarthy, Baghdad; Monday, November 15, 2004
"US military chiefs said yesterday that they saw no need for the Iraqi Red Crescent to deliver aid inside Falluja because they did not think any Iraqi civilians were trapped there. 'There is no need to bring [Red Crescent] supplies in because we have supplies of our own for the people," said Colonel Mike Shupp of the marines...'"

Hunting 'Satan' in Falluja hell
BBC News; Paul Wood, Falluja; Tuesday, November 23, 2004
"Lt Malcolm was a good chess player. He looked like any other young marines officer: skinny, shaven-headed, although with a quite beaky nose. 'A lot of the marines that I've had wounded and killed over the past five months have been by a faceless enemy. But the enemy has got a face. 'He's called Satan. He's in Falluja. And we're going to destroy him'. But to his officers in the briefing he said: 'There's nothing out there that will defeat us'".

ICRC decries humanitarian situation
The following is an extraordinary release from the International Committee of the Red Cross. It displays balance, but the blatant violation of the 1st Geneva Convention -- prevention of treatment of sick and injured by US-led forces -- must not be escaping notice.

Iraq: Civilians must be spared and the sick and wounded treated
Geneva (ICRC)

The ICRC reminds all those involved in the armed confrontations in Iraq that international humanitarian law prohibits the killing or harming of civilians who are not directly taking part in the hostilities.

It calls upon all fighters to take every feasible precaution to spare civilians and civilian property and to respect the principles of distinction and proportionality in all military operations.

Deeply concerned about reports that the injured cannot receive adequate medical care, the ICRC urges the belligerents to ensure that all those in need of such care – whether friend or foe – be given access to medical facilities and that medical personnel and vehicles can function without hindrance at all times.

Thousands of Iraqi civilians, including women, children and elderly persons, have fled the fighting in Falluja and taken refuge in the surrounding areas. Many of these displaced people need assistance in the form of food, water, shelter and medical care. They should be allowed to return home safely as soon as possible.

The ICRC remains committed to pursuing its humanitarian work in Iraq and urges all parties to facilitate the passage of its aid convoys and the delivery of its neutral assistance to civilians affected by the conflict.

Time to pray.