US in Iraq copies Sharon in Palestine

From: Patricia Lay-Dorsey
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 16:03:26 -0400
Subject: US in Iraq copies Sharon in Palestine

Dear friends

I've been busy the last two weeks RAGING with the Raging Grannies to support the striking workers at Borders Book Store #1 in Ann Arbor (Borders has busted nine previous attempts to unionize in different cities over the years. Their starting pay is $6.50 an hour!!!), and at two events for the homeless, the most recent a Homeless Awareness Community Summit held yesterday here in downtown Detroit.

All this to say that it isn't as though I haven't been appalled by what the Bush administration is doing to the environment, endangered species, Clean Air & Water, marine mammals, our US veterans pay and medical benefits, and, of course, the Iraqi people and our troops in that US occupied/US created hell-hole. I just haven't had time to register my outrage by composing and sending out group emails.

And now the latest out of Iraq is that "In a tactic reminiscent of Israeli crackdowns in the West Bank and Gaza, the U.S. military has begun destroying the homes of suspected guerrilla fighters in Iraq's Sunni Triangle, evacuating women and children, then leveling their houses with heavy weaponry." The US military is calling this Operation Ivy Cyclone II.

Seems to me even the US government--that supports just about everything Ariel Sharon and his troops do to the Palestinian people--has consistently denounced their razing civilian's homes and olive groves.

I know I sent you a group email quite awhile ago that told of the razing of an olive grove in Iraq by American forces. So now they've upped their ante. The US forces are doing EXACTLY what Sharon's troops do, only better. Instead of US-made Caterpillar bulldozers, the US uses missiles with a 500 pound warhead, laser-guided artillery fire, tanks and Apache helicopters. But, as with Sharon's troops, they rush in armed and screaming, to tell the families they have five minutes to get out of their home before it is destroyed. As one Iraqi woman said, "There was only enough time to grab some blankets." In this case, the women and children survived, but the cow in the back yard wasn't so lucky.

I have just gotten off the phone after calling my Senators and Representative to urge them to stand up on the Senate and House floor and decry these atrocious human rights abuses. This is not war; this is a massacre. When I called, I asked to speak with the aide in charge of foreign policy. In every case, the foreign policy aide had heard of these actions, but had no details. I asked for their email addresses and sent them each a link to this Knight-Ridder article that tells it like it is. The URL is:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1118-02.htm

I encourage you to do the same.

We cannot remain silent and let this massacre continue. It will only escalate if they get away with it without a huge public outcry. I know we get tired of always having to contact our elected representatives in Washington, DC, especially since they so rarely seem to listen. But we can't stop trying. If we do, the blood of these Iraqi innocents will be on our hands.

I'm copy/pasting the article to the end of this email. Please take the time to read it. Believe me, if you do, you will HAVE to act!

in pursuit of peace
Patricia Lay-Dorsey
http://www/.windchimewalker.com
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Published on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 by the Knight-Ridder Newspapers
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1118-02.htm

In Tikrit, US Destroys Homes of Suspected Guerrillas

by Jeff Wilkinson

TIKRIT, Iraq - In a tactic reminiscent of Israeli crackdowns in the West Bank and Gaza, the U.S. military has begun destroying the homes of suspected guerrilla fighters in Iraq's Sunni Triangle, evacuating women and children, then leveling their houses with heavy weaponry.

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'THIS IS SOMETHING SHARON WOULD DO'
Iraqi women sit next to a pile of rubble which was one of three homes that US forces destroyed overnight. (Photo/David P. Gilkey, Detroit Free Press)
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At least 15 homes have been destroyed in Tikrit as part of what has been dubbed Operation Ivy Cyclone II, including four leveled on Sunday by tanks and Apache helicopters that allegedly belonged to suspects in the Nov. 7 downing of a Black Hawk helicopter that killed six Americans.

Family members at one of the houses, in the village of al Haweda, said they were given five minutes to evacuate before soldiers opened fire.

The destruction of the homes is part of a sharp crackdown on insurgents in the so-called Sunni Triangle where guerrillas have downed at least two U.S. helicopters, one a Chinook in Fallujah on Nov. 2, killing 16 U.S. soldiers, and the other the Nov. 7 downing of the Black Hawk. On Saturday, two more helicopters crashed, after one of them may have been fired upon, killing 17.

U.S. forces struck dozens of targets on Monday, killing six guerrillas and arresting 21 others, the military said. The operation is expected to continue through Wednesday, said Col. James Hickey, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division.

Hickey said the four homes were destroyed on Sunday because enemy fighters lived and met there. Leveling the homes will force the fighters to find other meeting places, he said.

"Those four people used those houses as sanctuary, and we're not allowing them to have sanctuary," Hickey said.

On Monday, angry residents of al Haweda, where three of the destroyed homes were, said the tactic will spawn more guerrilla fighters and perhaps spark an Iraqi uprising similar to the Palestinian intifada in the West Bank and Gaza.

"This is something Sharon would do," said 41-year-old farmer Jamel Shahab, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. "What's happening in Iraq is just like Palestine."

"We're going to turn the heat up and complicate their battlefield," driving them into the desert, he said. "There they will be exposed and we will have them."

It was unclear whether the decision to destroy the houses was part of an overall strategy approved in Washington. White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to comment specifically, referring questions about the razings to the Defense Department, but he praised the military's efforts to get tough with Iraqi insurgents.

``There are terrorists who are seeking to spread fear and chaos in Iraq, and we are on the offensive and taking the fight to the enemy,'' McClellan said. ``Our coalition forces are doing an outstanding job working with Iraqis to bring these terrorists to justice.''

Officials at the Department of Defense referred questions to Central Command in Tampa, which oversees all military operations in Iraq. Spokesmen there declined to comment.

"This is something Sharon would do," said 41-year-old farmer Jamel Shahab, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. "What's happening in Iraq is just like Palestine."

Shahab stood amidst the rubble of the former home of 55-year-old farmer Omar Khalil, who was arrested shortly before the home was destroyed. The military said Khalil's son, who escaped, is one of the suspects in the downing of the Black Hawk.

Khalil's wife, Kafey, sat wailing near her wrecked house. "I have no son. I have no husband. I have no home. I will be a beggar."

Kafey Khalil said military officials first visited the house two days ago, demanding that her husband turn in her son. He refused.

Then at about 10 p.m. Sunday, the military returned, she said.

"They started shouting at us, `Get up! Get out!''' she said. "They brought a big truck for us. It was so cold we felt like we were dying. After five minutes they started shooting. We didn't have time to get anything but blankets. They brought in the tanks and the helicopters and started bombing."

After the shooting stopped, the women and children were released and were left at the scene, they said. They were sifting through the wreckage on Monday, attempting to salvage what few items remained.

Two other homes nearby were also in shambles. What walls remained were pierced by tank rounds. A small boy held up what was left of the family's TV set.

In the backyard of one home, a cow lay dead, its stomach split open by a large caliber round, its unborn calf half-exposed. A dog limped nearby, a piece of shrapnel protruding from its body.

Tank tracks had churned up the sandy earth. Spent 5-inch-long shell casings littered the ground. Boys collected them and displayed handfuls to journalists.

The Israeli military's practice of demolishing the homes of families of convicted or suspected terrorists has brought widespread condemnation from human rights and other governments - including the United States.

The State Department's 2002 human rights report, released in March, said such policies "left hundreds of Palestinians not involved in terror attacks homeless." In September, department spokesman Richard Boucher criticized Israel for destroying a seven-story apartment building in Gaza during a raid on a suspected Hamas militant.

There was no official reaction in Washington.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested Monday that the tactic was not sanctioned in Washington. "I can't wait to see al-Jazeera's presentation of it," the official said, referring to a satellite TV network viewed widely throughout the Middle East.

The military had promised a tough crackdown in response to the recent surge in American military deaths and has launched two operations, Operation Iron Hammer around Baghdad and Ivy Cyclone in the heart of the Sunni Triangle.

Hickey said counterstrikes against fighters around Tikrit have been continuous, but that Ivy Cyclone Two represents a higher level of coordination using more advanced weapons.

For example, Sunday night's action included the launching of a missile from Baghdad, 55 miles away, at the abandoned home of former Saddam henchman Izzat Ibrahim al Duri, who is No. 6 on the coalition's most-wanted list. A reporter and photographer from Knight Ridder were allowed to witness the destruction, which was completed by laser-guided artillery fire.

Hickey said al Duri's house was destroyed to deny guerrillas a meeting place, though it was unclear that such high-tech weaponry was needed to destroy the structure, which appeared completely looted.

Hickey said soldiers had been instructed to make sure to evacuate innocent civilians nearby. Near al Duri's house, two men, four children and two babies were shivering in near-freezing temperatures in the back of a truck, given just a few minutes to flee their neighboring farm.

"We know exactly what we're shooting at and why we're shooting it," Hickey said. "Collateral damage won't be a problem."

Military officials said the targets around Tikrit and Kirkuk also have included enemy mortar sites and a suspected insurgent training camp. The camp, on an island in the Little Zab River west of Kirkuk, was hit Sunday morning by a satellite-guided missile with a 500-pound warhead fired 130 miles from a Baghdad launch site.

Hickey promised no letup in the campaign. He also promised to deal harshly with weapons violations. "If we see someone with a weapon," he said, "he becomes a ballistics test," meaning the man is shot.

"You won't see guns in Tikrit," he said.

Warren Strobel in Washington contributed to this report.

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