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Al Jazeera (English)
    Baghdad Burning Blog (by Riverbend, an Iraqi civilian girl)
            Dahr Jamail's Blog from Baghdad
                Imad Khadduri's blog "Free Iraq" (scroll down for English version)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Killing the few to liberate the many is a line most Iraqis reject
(Iason Athanasiadis, Al-Jazeera, 9 April 2003)
The killing of at least seven Iraqi civilians, all women and children, at a US checkpoint has prompted renewed speculation that the Anglo-American forces are losing the battle for ‘hearts and minds’ in Iraq . . . The victims, women and children, were shot dead by US troops at a roadblock on Monday, in what appears to be the first case of killed Iraqi civilians going uncontested by the Pentagon. . . . US authorities backtracked fast Tuesday after making initial statements that laid them open to charges of insensitivity in which they blamed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s government for the killings. . . . The US media sounded warning bells Tuesday as it warned of the impact the killing by US troops of civilians will have on public opinion in Iraq and the Middle East. . . . "Even if accidental, such events, like the deaths of civilians in Baghdad attributed to errant US bombs, can incur large political costs both in and outside Iraq," the Washington Post said. . . . The New York Times concurred, stating that, ".... billions around the globe are seeing and hearing reports that women and children were gunned down yesterday while riding in a civilian van at an American checkpoint. . . . And US promises of an investigation "will mean very little in the Arab world, particularly if such scenes become routine. If that happens, the political war for Iraq could be lost even before the military one is won, said the Times. . . . The incident may be a sign of things to come, as an unsteady coalition struggles to control a resentful local population. . . . This has left US and British soldiers on the ground grappling with the difficulty of trying to build bridges with a rattled local population even as they continue to fight elements of that same population which oppose them militarily. . . . In Baghdad, suffering under one of the fiercest aerial bombardments of modern times, reports are emerging that a blitz-like spirit of resistance is developing among people. The consensus among people there is that the current conflict is mostly about occupying Iraq rather than its much-publicised liberation. . . . But budding resentment at what is perceived as a hostile, invading force is not just limited to Iraqi civilians but to significant majorities throughout the Arab world’s populations and elites. . . . In a sharp interview to an Austrian daily on Tuesday, President Assad pointed out that the current campaign in Iraq "will cause trouble around the entire world, not only here. And it will ruin their own interests, both economic and other," he said in reference to the US. . . . Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has also expressed concerns that the war in Iraq would spiral out of control. Following a graphic warning last September from Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa where he predicted that war in Iraq would ‘open the gates of hell in the region,’ Mubarak announced on Monday that “If there is one [Osama] bin Laden today, there will be 100 Bin Ladens after this war.”

posted by LoZo 12:03 PM