U.S. offensive kills many civilians in Iraq

The Pentagon mounted its biggest offensive in a year against Iraqi resistance forces on Nov. 5. According to a statement from the Marines, some 2,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 local Iraqis took part in “Operation Steel Curtain,” rolling through the streets of Qusayba on the Syrian border.

A Reuters article Nov. 5 calls this offensive “the biggest operation in the mainly Sunni desert province of Anbar since weeks of fighting forced insurgents from the city of Falluja, close to Baghdad, in November last year.”

A collaborationist Iraqi politician, Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaimi, aroused anger when he encouraged the U.S. slaughter: “Without hesitation I say we will go and bring down their houses on the heads of their inhabitants.” The media in Arab countries carried stories of entire families wiped out in the onslaught, in which the U.S. conducted nine aerial bombings.

The Marines claim the target is “al-Qaeda,” that is, a “terrorist network” and that the U.S. forces use only precision bomb ing and artillery fire. According to reports from the Iraqi resistance, U.S. war propaganda exaggerates the role of what they call “al-Qaeda in Iraq.” The Pentagon also claims its troops are carrying out “surgical” strikes when, in reality, the U.S. Air Force is bombing people’s homes, killing dozens of civilians and terrorizing thousands.

“Local people said there were dozens of civilian casualties in Qusayba and nearby Qaim,” Reuters reported. “They added that much of Qusayba’s 30,000 people had already fled the town. ‘The Americans destroyed Qaim. Our houses are destroyed, our children are getting killed. What are we supposed to do now?’ one unidentified resident told a local reporter.” (Reuters, Nov. 5)

In early October U.S. forces carried out a similar attack on the town of Haditha, but not as large as “Operation Steel Curtain.” The following report, published by the BRussells Tribunal, passed on this description of Haditha from local Iraqis:

“Water, electricity, phones, roads were all cut off. The city was besieged before the bombing began on Oct. 5 and went on for 18 days. Many houses were demolished; many families left to the refugee camps, many people were arrested, including the Moslem Scholars Association secretary in Haditha and his son.

“The general hospital was occupied for 10 days; the hospital director and one of the doctors were brutally beaten and locked up for a week inside the hospital. Many schools and offices were still occupied. All houses were raided, some twice a day. All weapons were confiscated including the personal. There is no government, no offices, no schools, no work, no markets … nothing.”

One can only assume that, at present, an even greater assault on the civilian population is going on under the name of “Operation Steel Curtain” and that the U.S. military in Iraq aims to terrorize the population, not win its allegiance.

Fragging: what goes around, comes around

It is no surprise then, that the Pentagon’s brutal policies are coming back to haunt them.

In a hearing in Kuwait on Nov. 1 and 2, Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez was charged with the murder of West Point graduate Capt. Philip Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen at Forward Operating Base Danger, near Tikrit, Iraq, on June 7. Martinez may face the death penalty.

The deaths were first reported as the result of fire from Iraqi resistance forces. According to expert witnesses, however, the fatal wounds were more consistent with injuries from a Claymore anti-personnel mine and fragmentation grenades.

Soldiers killing their officers with fragmentation grenades became a regular event during the war in Vietnam. Between 1969 and 1971 alone, the Army reported 600 separate “fragging” incidents, which caused 82 deaths and 651 injuries.

It was not only personal grievances against selected officers that motivated the Vietnam-era fragging, but the overall anti-war political climate and the unwillingness of African-American troops to tolerate racism. Officers who were considered too aggressive in moving troops into battle or who had treated enlisted soldiers in a racist way were especially at risk.

Though a witness testified that Martinez said he hated Esposito, no explicit political or personal reason was given to explain Martinez’s alleged motive.

Attorneys for the accused argued that at the time of the deaths, the U.S. was not officially at war—President George W. Bush had announced over a year earlier that the war with Iraq was over. Their motion that Martinez be tried in a civilian court was denied.

The first fragging of the U.S. aggression against Iraq took place just before the March 20, 2003, invasion. Last April, Sergeant Hasan Akbar of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division was convicted of the murder of two officers and attempted murder in the wounding of 14 other soldiers. Akbar was sentenced to death.

Akbar, a Muslim, had told investigators he staged the attack because he was upset that U.S. troops would kill his fellow Muslims.

While no political motive has yet been made public for the latest alleged fragging, some reports indicate the Pentagon is worried that this may not remain an isolated incident.

The population of the U.S. has become aware that the Bush administration lied to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Soldiers know, too, that over 2,000 of their buddies have died serving a lie. They also know how the U.S. is slaughtering the Iraqi people and how much these people hate the occupation. Whether this knowledge results in organized refusals to fight or individual acts against authority, the Pentagon generals know the chain of command is in trouble.