SubscribeSpeaking from his base in southern Iraq, the officer said: "My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans' use of violence is not proportionate and is over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They don't see the Iraqi people the way we see them. They view them as untermenschen. They are not concerned about the Iraqi loss of life in the way the British are. Their attitude towards the Iraqis is tragic, it's awful.And that's from the Pro-Bush Telegraph.
"The US troops view things in very simplistic terms. It seems hard for them to reconcile subtleties between who supports what and who doesn't in Iraq. It's easier for their soldiers to group all Iraqis as the bad guys. As far as they are concerned Iraq is bandit country and everybody is out to kill them."
The phrase untermenschen - literally "under-people" - was brought to prominence by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf, published in 1925. He used the term to describe those he regarded as racially inferior: Jews, Slaves and gipsies.
Although no formal complaints have as yet been made to their American counterparts, the officer said the British Government was aware of its commanders' "concerns and fears".
The U.S. military says its operations are precise and it does not target civilians or women and children ... An assessment by five international non-governmental organisations on Friday said 470 people had been killed in Falluja. Of 1,200 injured, it said 243 were women and 200 children. The groups said their estimate may be conservative. "Dead bodies are lying in the streets. Ambulances are being shot at by snipers. Medical aid and supplies have been stopped by U.S. occupation forces," a statement from the NGOs said ... Residents say the Marines shoot without concern for their targets. One doctor pointed to an ambulance outside the clinic whose windscreen and side was riddled with bullet holes. "We went close to Abdulaziz mosque and evacuated some wounded, when a sniper fired at us," he said. "Our driver was killed and some of the wounded died."
Dear Mark,
Thanks for the link -- I noticed that it brought in over 1000 readers. Pretty remarkable.
I'm an antiwar activist and have been, in an active way, for the past six years. I don't try to hide it. I'm not going to lie because of it, but these days people (well, half the people in the US) seem to believe that anyone who says anything that reflects badly on Bush or America's role in the world is simply by virtue of saying that biased and therefore to be dismissed.
As for staging, that's really silly special pleading. What can I say? It's theoretically possible, although the ambulance my friends were in definitely came under fire, while they were in it, from U.S. snipers. But it's also, I suppose, theoretically possible that Bush planned 9/11. I think both claims are absurd and carry a much heavier burden of proof than the claim the other way around. Personally, I don't think the muj are that sophisticated at PR, judging from the video of the Japanese tourists they put out.
I ran out of memory on my card before we saw the ambulances. A friend has pictures and I'm going to try to get them. Dahr Jamail also witnessed what I did, as well as many other Westerners. We're all antiwar people. Not a lot of Bush supporters in Fallujah at the moment.
At the moment, apparently, even staying in Baghdad is a risk, and I'm not sure how much longer I will be here.
Best,
Rahul Mahajan
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A year ago, when the second Gulf War started, MER-C sent their first paramedic team to the conflict area in Iraq. Four MER-C volunteers travelled to Iraq via Jordan, bringing aid donated from the Indonesian community. The MER-C team operated in the heart of Baghdad, helping victims of the war. When the majority of the volunteer team left Iraq, they gave the ambulance to those members of the team who chose to stay on in Iraq.
One of the volunteers that had been given the task of operating the MER-C ambulance was Abu Ibrahim. Ever since the formation of MER-C's Middle Eastern team based in Palestine, Abu Ibrahim was active in MER-C's activities, especially those involving the conflict in Iraq. He was also active in Palestine, where MER-C had previously donated an ambulance to the Palestinian people.
Although the US has declared the end of the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein has been captured, in reality the conflict in Iraq continues to this day and continues to take the lives of both US and Iraqis. The US has increased its troop presence in several regions of Iraq, including that of Fallujah. As has been reported by the world's media, US troops are currently involved in combat near Fallujah.
MER-C based its volunteer, Abu Ibrahim, in Fallujah. On Friday, April 9th, Abu Ibrahim was driving the ambulance with 3 patients on board. The victims were on their way to Fallujah's main hospital to receive futher medical treatment, but their lives came to an end when their ambulance was hit by a US jet fighter.
Since the formation of MER-C, this is the first time that a volunteer has died while serving in the field. This is a risk that every individual who has volunteered for MER-C has to take and is aware of. However, this tragedy has not diminished MER-C's goal of sending a second team to Iraq in the near future.
MER-C accepts donation for the war victims in Iraq. Please send all donations to:
Bank Muamalat Indonesia -- Sudirman
Atas nama MER-C
No. Rek. 301.00522.15
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Not the content, per se, but your phrasing.
posted by Gyan at 2:07 PM on April 11, 2004