Auszug aus: Nicolas J. S. Davies: "Blood on Our Hands. The American
Invasion and
Destruction of Iraq", pp. 201 ff.:
"U.S. forces ordered unembedded journalists to leave Fallujah.
Reporters Without Borders had protested "the totally unacceptable
imposition of an information blackout" in Najaf in August, pointing
out that "the presence of journalists on the spot is indispensable,
as the worst atrocities are always committed in the absence of
witnesses."
The U.S. bombardment of Fallujah continued for three weeks after the
beginning of Ramadan. Civilians streamed out of the city, but males
between the ages of 15 and 55 were not allowed to leave. They were
either detained at check-points or turned back to remain trapped in
the killing zone of the besieged and bombarded city. "We assume
they'll go home and just wait out the storm or find a place that's
safe," an American officer told the Associated Press. Colonel Michael
Formica, the commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry,
instructed his soldiers to tell the men, "Stay in your houses, stay
away from windows and stay off the roof and you'll live through
Fallujah." U.S. officials did not offer any explanation for this
policy. The apparent purpose of sending men and boys back into
Fallujah was to kill them.
[...]
The city had been bombed intermittently since April. In September, an
epidemiological survey team found large numbers of deaths from
otherwise unreported air strikes in August. This suggested that the
media's focus on Najaf was exploited to escalate the bombing of
Fallujah while it was out of the spotlight. By the end of November's
assault on Fallujah, only about 40% of its homes were inhabitable.
John Pike must have been relieved that it did not "look bad on TV,"
but this was the result of censorship, not of restraint in the use of
air strikes and artillery. Five years later, many of the peace-loving
people of Fallujah still don't have a home to live in.
[...]
However, journalists and other witnesses to the first "Battle of
Fallujah" had already provided a more realistic view of what the
residents of Fallujah could expect at the hands of U.S. Marine
snipers. Journalist Dahr Jamail and human rights activist Jo Wilding
accompanied a medical relief mission into Fallujah during that
attack. They stayed at the Nazzal emergency clinic, one of the only
two functioning medical facilities in the city. They witnessed a
heartbreaking stream of wounded and dying people arriving at the
clinic. Most of them told very similar stories of being shot by
American snipers when they left the safety of their homes to seek
food, water, or other necessities.
The clinic had run out of anesthetics. While Jamail and Wilding were
there, the generator ran out of fuel, leaving the doctors to perform
operations without anaesthetics and lit by flashlights and cigarette
lighters. Without electricity or many needed medicines, many of the
victims were beyond the help of the small medical team. A brother and
sister, aged ten and eighteen, were brought in with internal injuries
and a head-wound from shots fired by an American sniper. They were
dispatched in an ambulance to a hospital in Baghdad, but they both
died on the way. A grandmother and her grandson were both shot by a
sniper as she tried to escort a group of children to safety. She lay
in a bed in the clinic, still clutching the white flag she had been
carrying."
Und so weiter. Scharfschützen, die Jagd auf alte Frauen und Mütter
mit Säuglingen machten, obwohl ein Waffenstillstand versprochen
worden war, Bombardierng von Krankenwagen und die Zerbombung der
Nazzal-Notfallklinik bis auf die Grundmauern, Patienten inklusive.
Das war die Taktik der SS in Warschau, Leningrad und Stalingrad.
Auf der anderen Seite des Flusses wurde das Stadtkrankenhaus von
Falluja auf amerikanischen Befehl hin durch Peshmergas "gesäubert".
Das Zentrale Gesundheitszentrum wurde von drei Bomben plattgemacht --
und dabei 35 Patienten ermordet, darunter fünf Kinder unter zehn
Jahren. Auch 24 Ärzte starben einen sinnlosen Tod durch US-SS-Hand.
Und dann kommst du und reißt das ungewaschene Propagandamaul auf, um
über Menschenrechte zu philosophieren. Du widerst mich an.
Invasion and
Destruction of Iraq", pp. 201 ff.:
"U.S. forces ordered unembedded journalists to leave Fallujah.
Reporters Without Borders had protested "the totally unacceptable
imposition of an information blackout" in Najaf in August, pointing
out that "the presence of journalists on the spot is indispensable,
as the worst atrocities are always committed in the absence of
witnesses."
The U.S. bombardment of Fallujah continued for three weeks after the
beginning of Ramadan. Civilians streamed out of the city, but males
between the ages of 15 and 55 were not allowed to leave. They were
either detained at check-points or turned back to remain trapped in
the killing zone of the besieged and bombarded city. "We assume
they'll go home and just wait out the storm or find a place that's
safe," an American officer told the Associated Press. Colonel Michael
Formica, the commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry,
instructed his soldiers to tell the men, "Stay in your houses, stay
away from windows and stay off the roof and you'll live through
Fallujah." U.S. officials did not offer any explanation for this
policy. The apparent purpose of sending men and boys back into
Fallujah was to kill them.
[...]
The city had been bombed intermittently since April. In September, an
epidemiological survey team found large numbers of deaths from
otherwise unreported air strikes in August. This suggested that the
media's focus on Najaf was exploited to escalate the bombing of
Fallujah while it was out of the spotlight. By the end of November's
assault on Fallujah, only about 40% of its homes were inhabitable.
John Pike must have been relieved that it did not "look bad on TV,"
but this was the result of censorship, not of restraint in the use of
air strikes and artillery. Five years later, many of the peace-loving
people of Fallujah still don't have a home to live in.
[...]
However, journalists and other witnesses to the first "Battle of
Fallujah" had already provided a more realistic view of what the
residents of Fallujah could expect at the hands of U.S. Marine
snipers. Journalist Dahr Jamail and human rights activist Jo Wilding
accompanied a medical relief mission into Fallujah during that
attack. They stayed at the Nazzal emergency clinic, one of the only
two functioning medical facilities in the city. They witnessed a
heartbreaking stream of wounded and dying people arriving at the
clinic. Most of them told very similar stories of being shot by
American snipers when they left the safety of their homes to seek
food, water, or other necessities.
The clinic had run out of anesthetics. While Jamail and Wilding were
there, the generator ran out of fuel, leaving the doctors to perform
operations without anaesthetics and lit by flashlights and cigarette
lighters. Without electricity or many needed medicines, many of the
victims were beyond the help of the small medical team. A brother and
sister, aged ten and eighteen, were brought in with internal injuries
and a head-wound from shots fired by an American sniper. They were
dispatched in an ambulance to a hospital in Baghdad, but they both
died on the way. A grandmother and her grandson were both shot by a
sniper as she tried to escort a group of children to safety. She lay
in a bed in the clinic, still clutching the white flag she had been
carrying."
Und so weiter. Scharfschützen, die Jagd auf alte Frauen und Mütter
mit Säuglingen machten, obwohl ein Waffenstillstand versprochen
worden war, Bombardierng von Krankenwagen und die Zerbombung der
Nazzal-Notfallklinik bis auf die Grundmauern, Patienten inklusive.
Das war die Taktik der SS in Warschau, Leningrad und Stalingrad.
Auf der anderen Seite des Flusses wurde das Stadtkrankenhaus von
Falluja auf amerikanischen Befehl hin durch Peshmergas "gesäubert".
Das Zentrale Gesundheitszentrum wurde von drei Bomben plattgemacht --
und dabei 35 Patienten ermordet, darunter fünf Kinder unter zehn
Jahren. Auch 24 Ärzte starben einen sinnlosen Tod durch US-SS-Hand.
Und dann kommst du und reißt das ungewaschene Propagandamaul auf, um
über Menschenrechte zu philosophieren. Du widerst mich an.