Thursday, April 24, 2003

"I Saw Marines Kill Civilians" Le Monde war photographer recounts his experiences in Iraq here: The Marines were advancing and taking up position, hiding behind mounds of earth. They were still really tense. A small blue van was moving towards the convoy. Three not-very-accurate warning shots were fired. The shots were supposed to make the van stop. The van kept on driving, made a U-turn, took shelter and then returned slowly. The Marines opened fire. All hell broke loose. They were firing all over the place. You could hear 'Stop firing' being shouted. The silence that set in was overwhelming. Two men and a woman had just been riddled with bullets. So this was the enemy, the threat. A second vehicle drove up. The same scenario was repeated. Its passengers were killed on the spot. A grandfather was walking slowly with a cane on the sidewalk. They killed him too (SEE PHOTO IN LE MONDE). As with the old man, the Marines fired on a SUV driving along the river bank that was getting too close to them. Riddled with bullets, the vehicle rolled over. Two women and a child got out, miraculously still alive. They sought refuge in the wreckage. A few seconds later, it flew into bits as a tank lobbed a terse shot into it. Marines are conditioned to reach their target at any cost, by staying alive and facing any type of enemy. They abusively make use of disproportionate firepower. These hardened troops, followed by tons of equipment, supported by extraordinary artillery power, protected by fighter jets and cutting-edge helicopters, were shooting on local inhabitants who understood absolutely nothing of what was going on. With my own eyes I saw about fifteen civilians killed in two days. I've gone through enough wars to know that it's always dirty, that civilians are always the first victims. But the way it was happening here, it was insane. more. 3:53:10 PM    comment [] Virus is a Language... A number of months ago I stumbled upon dailyrotten.com. I usually don't go there just because they seem to pride themselves in highlighting the more sickening aspects of societal misbehavior -- gruesome murders, molestations, etc., but despite that there's always fascinating political stories in there that I often miss from other sources. This is just one of those that I found today. It's an ABCnews report from April 17th concerning the looting of Baghdad's Central Public Health Laboratory. Scientists say looters took refrigerators full of the deadly viruses last Friday, but they're not sure what's actually missing. "They are in containers, all of these things taken together, cholera, AIDS and black fever," chemist Rasa Al-Alaq said. "The viruses that are lost, we have no idea where they went." U.S. Marines were sent to guard the facility today after Iraqi scientists reported the dangerous material had been removed by looters. U.S. officials admit they have no idea what was in there, how much was taken or where it is now. U.S. sources are concerned that polio and hepatitis may have been stolen, in addition to other viruses that may not be reflected in the official records in Baghdad. The Iraqi scientists say they have no idea who took the material. They don't know whether it was swept up in the looting rampage or taken by someone who knew what they had. more. Since one of the main stated argument for going to war was the chance that chemical and biological agents could fall into the wrong hands, it would seem that we would want to protect something of this sort. Now, you can say it's not Sirin or VX or whatever, but the chance that these diseases could be let loose on a population whose sanitary conditions have been greatly upset and with infected lab animals running wild we would consider the potential ramifications. But to consider the ramifications we would have to have an imbued respect and empathy of the people built into our invasion planning. Somehow that seems higly unlikely. It can't surprise that the power vaccuum led to looting. After all, we did fiercely defend the ministries of the Interior and of Oil. But, why should such things as hospitals, history, and public concerns be protected? Individually the people matter little and chances are they'll just make more to replace those who are lost--no harm done to the balance. It's that old Neutron bomb thinking. Aside from these matters one part of the article stuck out for me as well: U.S. Marines were sent to guard the facility today after Iraqi scientists reported the dangerous material had been removed by looters. Lets guard the henhouse after all the hens have been stolen. 3:41:11 PM    comment []

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