yallknowdatg
11-02-2003, 10:30 PM
Iraq's occupiers suspected of losing touch with
reality
A culture of secrecy has descended upon the Anglo-American occupation
authorities in Iraq.
by Robert Fisk
September 21, 2003
They will give no tally
of the Iraqi civilian lives lost each day.
They will not comment on the killing by an
American soldier of one of their own Iraqi interpreters on Thursday – he was shot dead in front
of the Italian diplomat who was official adviser to the new Iraqi ministry of culture – and they
cannot explain how General Sultan Hashim Ahmed, the former Iraqi minister of defence and a
potential war criminal, should now be described by one of the most senior US officers in Iraq as
"a man of honour and integrity."
On Thursday, in a three-stage ambush that destroyed
an American military truck and a Humvee jeep almost a hundred miles west of Baghdad, a
minimum of three US soldiers were reported dead and three wounded – local Iraqis claimed the
fatalities numbered eight – yet within hours, the occupation authorities were saying that exactly
the same number were killed and wounded in a sophisticated ambush on Americans in Tikrit.
Only two soldiers were wounded in the earlier attack, they said.
And for the
second day running yesterday, the mobile telephone system operated by MCI for the
occupation forces collapsed, effectively isolating the 'Coalition Provisional Authority' from its
ministries and from US forces.
An increasing number of journalists in Baghdad now
suspect that US proconsul Paul Bremmer and his hundreds of assistants ensconced in the
heavily guarded former presidential palace of Saddam Hussein in the capital, have simply lost
touch with reality.
Although an enquiry was promised yesterday into the shooting of the
Iraqi interpreter, details of the incident suggest that US troops now have carte blanche to open
fire at Iraqi civilian cars on the mere suspicion that their occupants may be hostile.
Pietro Cordone, the Italian diplomat whom Bremmer appointed special adviser to the
Iraqi ministry of culture, was travelling to Mosul with his wife Mirella when their car approached
an American convoy.
According to Mr Cordone, a soldier manning a machine gun in
the rear vehicle of the convoy appeared to signal to Mr Cordone's driver that he should not
attempt to overtake.
The driver did not do so but the soldier then fired a single shot at
the car, which penetrated the windscreen and hit the interpreter who was sitting in the front
passenger seat.
A few minutes later, the man died in Mr Cordone's arms.
The
Italian diplomat later returned to Baghdad.
Yet the incident was only reported because
Mr Cordone happened to be in the car.
Every day, Iraqi civilians are wounded or shot
dead by US troops in Iraq.
Just five days ago, a woman and her child were killed in
Baghdad by an American soldier after US forces opened fire at a wedding party that was
shooting into the air.
A 14-year old boy was reported killed in a similar incident two days
ago.
Then on Thursday afternoon, several Iraqi civilians were wounded by US troops
after the Americans were ambushed outside the town of Khaldiya. At least two American
vehicles were destroyed and eyewitnesses described seeing body parts on the road after the
ambush.
Yet 12 hours later, the authorities said that the Americans had suffered just
two wounded – even though at least three Americans were first reported to have died and
witnesses said the death toll was as high as eight.
Then came the ambush at Tikrit –
almost identical if the authorities are to be believed -- in which exactly the same casualty toll
was produced: three dead and two wounded
On this occasion, the incident was partly
captured on videofilm.
During an arms raid around Saddam's home town, guerrillas
attacked not only the American raiders but two of their bases along the Tigress river. It was, an
American spokesman said, a "coordinated" attack on soldiers of the US 4th Infantry Division.
Up to 40 men of "military age" were then arrested.
In what must be one of the more
extraordinary episodes of the day, General Sultan Ahmad, the former Iraqi ministry of defence,
handed himself over to Major General David Petraeus – in charge of the north of Iraq – after the
American commander had sent him a letter describing him as "a man of honour and integrity."
In return for his surrender – or so says the Kurdish intermediary who arranged his handover to
US forces – the Americans had promised to remove his name form the list of 55 most-wanted
Iraqis around Saddam.
I last saw the portly General Ahmed in April, brandishing a
gold-painted Kalashnikov in the Baghdad ministry of information and vowing eternal war
against his country's American invaders.
It was Ahmed who persuaded now retired
General Norman Schwarzkopf to allow the defeated Iraqi forces to use military helicopters on
"official business" after the 1991 US-Iraqi ceasefire agreed at Safwan.
These
helicopters were then used in the brutal repression of the Shia Muslim and Kurdish rebellions
against Saddam which had been encouraged by President George Bush's father.
Afterwards, there was much talk of indicting General Ahmed as a war criminal, but US
General Petraeus seems to have thrown that idea in to the waste-bin.
His quite
extraordinary letter to Ahmed – which preceded the Iraqi general's surrender and was revealed
by the Associated Press news agency – described the potential war criminal as "the most
respected senior military leader currently residing in Mosul" and promised that he would be
treated with "the utmost dignity and respect."
In the same letter – which may be studied
by war crimes investigators with a mixture of awe and disbelief -- the US officer said that
"although we find ourselves on different sides of this war, we do share common traits.
"As military men, we follow the orders of our superiors. We may not necessarily agree
with the politics and bureaucracy, but we understand unity of command and supporting our
leaders in a common and just cause."
Thus far have the Americans now gone in
appeasing the men who may have influence over the Iraqi guerrillas now killing US soldiers in
Iraq.
What is presumably supposed to be seen as a gesture of compromise is much
more likely to be understood as a sign of military weakness – which it clearly is – and history will
have to decide what would have happened if similar letters had been sent to Nazi military
leaders before the German surrender in 1945.
Historians will also have to ruminate
upon the implications of the meaning of "supporting our leaders in a common and just cause."
Are Saddam and Mr Bush supposed to be these 'leaders'?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&sto
ryID=3524590&reportID=562588
reality
A culture of secrecy has descended upon the Anglo-American occupation
authorities in Iraq.
by Robert Fisk
September 21, 2003
They will give no tally
of the Iraqi civilian lives lost each day.
They will not comment on the killing by an
American soldier of one of their own Iraqi interpreters on Thursday – he was shot dead in front
of the Italian diplomat who was official adviser to the new Iraqi ministry of culture – and they
cannot explain how General Sultan Hashim Ahmed, the former Iraqi minister of defence and a
potential war criminal, should now be described by one of the most senior US officers in Iraq as
"a man of honour and integrity."
On Thursday, in a three-stage ambush that destroyed
an American military truck and a Humvee jeep almost a hundred miles west of Baghdad, a
minimum of three US soldiers were reported dead and three wounded – local Iraqis claimed the
fatalities numbered eight – yet within hours, the occupation authorities were saying that exactly
the same number were killed and wounded in a sophisticated ambush on Americans in Tikrit.
Only two soldiers were wounded in the earlier attack, they said.
And for the
second day running yesterday, the mobile telephone system operated by MCI for the
occupation forces collapsed, effectively isolating the 'Coalition Provisional Authority' from its
ministries and from US forces.
An increasing number of journalists in Baghdad now
suspect that US proconsul Paul Bremmer and his hundreds of assistants ensconced in the
heavily guarded former presidential palace of Saddam Hussein in the capital, have simply lost
touch with reality.
Although an enquiry was promised yesterday into the shooting of the
Iraqi interpreter, details of the incident suggest that US troops now have carte blanche to open
fire at Iraqi civilian cars on the mere suspicion that their occupants may be hostile.
Pietro Cordone, the Italian diplomat whom Bremmer appointed special adviser to the
Iraqi ministry of culture, was travelling to Mosul with his wife Mirella when their car approached
an American convoy.
According to Mr Cordone, a soldier manning a machine gun in
the rear vehicle of the convoy appeared to signal to Mr Cordone's driver that he should not
attempt to overtake.
The driver did not do so but the soldier then fired a single shot at
the car, which penetrated the windscreen and hit the interpreter who was sitting in the front
passenger seat.
A few minutes later, the man died in Mr Cordone's arms.
The
Italian diplomat later returned to Baghdad.
Yet the incident was only reported because
Mr Cordone happened to be in the car.
Every day, Iraqi civilians are wounded or shot
dead by US troops in Iraq.
Just five days ago, a woman and her child were killed in
Baghdad by an American soldier after US forces opened fire at a wedding party that was
shooting into the air.
A 14-year old boy was reported killed in a similar incident two days
ago.
Then on Thursday afternoon, several Iraqi civilians were wounded by US troops
after the Americans were ambushed outside the town of Khaldiya. At least two American
vehicles were destroyed and eyewitnesses described seeing body parts on the road after the
ambush.
Yet 12 hours later, the authorities said that the Americans had suffered just
two wounded – even though at least three Americans were first reported to have died and
witnesses said the death toll was as high as eight.
Then came the ambush at Tikrit –
almost identical if the authorities are to be believed -- in which exactly the same casualty toll
was produced: three dead and two wounded
On this occasion, the incident was partly
captured on videofilm.
During an arms raid around Saddam's home town, guerrillas
attacked not only the American raiders but two of their bases along the Tigress river. It was, an
American spokesman said, a "coordinated" attack on soldiers of the US 4th Infantry Division.
Up to 40 men of "military age" were then arrested.
In what must be one of the more
extraordinary episodes of the day, General Sultan Ahmad, the former Iraqi ministry of defence,
handed himself over to Major General David Petraeus – in charge of the north of Iraq – after the
American commander had sent him a letter describing him as "a man of honour and integrity."
In return for his surrender – or so says the Kurdish intermediary who arranged his handover to
US forces – the Americans had promised to remove his name form the list of 55 most-wanted
Iraqis around Saddam.
I last saw the portly General Ahmed in April, brandishing a
gold-painted Kalashnikov in the Baghdad ministry of information and vowing eternal war
against his country's American invaders.
It was Ahmed who persuaded now retired
General Norman Schwarzkopf to allow the defeated Iraqi forces to use military helicopters on
"official business" after the 1991 US-Iraqi ceasefire agreed at Safwan.
These
helicopters were then used in the brutal repression of the Shia Muslim and Kurdish rebellions
against Saddam which had been encouraged by President George Bush's father.
Afterwards, there was much talk of indicting General Ahmed as a war criminal, but US
General Petraeus seems to have thrown that idea in to the waste-bin.
His quite
extraordinary letter to Ahmed – which preceded the Iraqi general's surrender and was revealed
by the Associated Press news agency – described the potential war criminal as "the most
respected senior military leader currently residing in Mosul" and promised that he would be
treated with "the utmost dignity and respect."
In the same letter – which may be studied
by war crimes investigators with a mixture of awe and disbelief -- the US officer said that
"although we find ourselves on different sides of this war, we do share common traits.
"As military men, we follow the orders of our superiors. We may not necessarily agree
with the politics and bureaucracy, but we understand unity of command and supporting our
leaders in a common and just cause."
Thus far have the Americans now gone in
appeasing the men who may have influence over the Iraqi guerrillas now killing US soldiers in
Iraq.
What is presumably supposed to be seen as a gesture of compromise is much
more likely to be understood as a sign of military weakness – which it clearly is – and history will
have to decide what would have happened if similar letters had been sent to Nazi military
leaders before the German surrender in 1945.
Historians will also have to ruminate
upon the implications of the meaning of "supporting our leaders in a common and just cause."
Are Saddam and Mr Bush supposed to be these 'leaders'?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&sto
ryID=3524590&reportID=562588