Hearts and Minds
On 1/10/08, B1 bombers and F-16 jets attacked a cluster of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad and dropped at least 40,000 pounds of explosives on the villages and plantations within a span of 10 minutes.
Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy said: “The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq. U.S. military and political tactics failed in this area, and that is why this massacre. This kind of bombing is usually used for much bigger targets than small villages full of civilians. This was savagery.”
The attack on neighbouring villages begun a week earlier with heavy artillery and tank bombardment. The attack followed strong resistance from members of the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Juboor tribe against groups that residents described as sectarian death squads.
This cluster of Sunni villages was bombed just weeks after the U.S. military encouraged families to return to their village after heavy bombing earlier in which scores of people were killed. Many residents had fled fearing sectarian death squads, which they say were backed by the U.S.
Ahmad Alwan reported: “On Jan. 10, huge aircraft started bombing the villages. We took our families and fled. We have never seen such bombardment since the 2003 American invasion. They were bombing everything and everybody.”
Akram Naji, a lawyer in Baghdad who has relatives in the village insisted: “The al-Qaeda name is used once more to destroy another Sunni area. Americans are still supporting Iranian influence in Iraq by cleansing Baghdad and surroundings of Sunnis.”
A former army officer in Baghdad believes that: “We have no alternative but to fight this occupation and its allies. We can see clearly now that Americans came with the idea that we, Sunni Arabs, are the enemies they have in mind no matter what we do to please them. We will fight for our existence, and this massacre will not go unpunished.”
Omar Hussein, who fled for Dora in Baghdad from the bombarded area said: “It was a miracle that I could evacuate my family at the last minute. My house and farm are on the outskirts of the village. I took my family out the minute I saw the aircraft in the sky. Apache helicopters later fired at the trucks that were carrying the families out of the area, and killed so many civilians. They took some wounded people to their military base. I am sure hundreds of people would have been killed. It is just like the Fallujah crime.”
Taha Muslih al-Joboory, his wife and three sons were among those reported killed in the bombing. Juboory was an Iraqi journalist who lived all his life in the area. Many families were reported buried under the rubble of their houses.
Nada a 35-year-old woman, who had relatives in the village asserted: “We know they will get away with their crime now, but we will teach our children that America and the whole West are our enemies, so that they take revenge for these crimes.”
Making us safer by winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis is not the mission and never has been.
Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy said: “The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq. U.S. military and political tactics failed in this area, and that is why this massacre. This kind of bombing is usually used for much bigger targets than small villages full of civilians. This was savagery.”
The attack on neighbouring villages begun a week earlier with heavy artillery and tank bombardment. The attack followed strong resistance from members of the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Juboor tribe against groups that residents described as sectarian death squads.
This cluster of Sunni villages was bombed just weeks after the U.S. military encouraged families to return to their village after heavy bombing earlier in which scores of people were killed. Many residents had fled fearing sectarian death squads, which they say were backed by the U.S.
Ahmad Alwan reported: “On Jan. 10, huge aircraft started bombing the villages. We took our families and fled. We have never seen such bombardment since the 2003 American invasion. They were bombing everything and everybody.”
Akram Naji, a lawyer in Baghdad who has relatives in the village insisted: “The al-Qaeda name is used once more to destroy another Sunni area. Americans are still supporting Iranian influence in Iraq by cleansing Baghdad and surroundings of Sunnis.”
A former army officer in Baghdad believes that: “We have no alternative but to fight this occupation and its allies. We can see clearly now that Americans came with the idea that we, Sunni Arabs, are the enemies they have in mind no matter what we do to please them. We will fight for our existence, and this massacre will not go unpunished.”
Omar Hussein, who fled for Dora in Baghdad from the bombarded area said: “It was a miracle that I could evacuate my family at the last minute. My house and farm are on the outskirts of the village. I took my family out the minute I saw the aircraft in the sky. Apache helicopters later fired at the trucks that were carrying the families out of the area, and killed so many civilians. They took some wounded people to their military base. I am sure hundreds of people would have been killed. It is just like the Fallujah crime.”
Taha Muslih al-Joboory, his wife and three sons were among those reported killed in the bombing. Juboory was an Iraqi journalist who lived all his life in the area. Many families were reported buried under the rubble of their houses.
Nada a 35-year-old woman, who had relatives in the village asserted: “We know they will get away with their crime now, but we will teach our children that America and the whole West are our enemies, so that they take revenge for these crimes.”
Making us safer by winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis is not the mission and never has been.
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:05 AM
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