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Al Jazeera (English)
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            Dahr Jamail's Blog from Baghdad
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Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Destroying Babylon: The onslaught of Mosul has begun
(Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches, January 17, 2005)
The onslaught of Mosul has begun, as occupation forces are launching attacks into Iraq's third largest city. While there are mass resignations of police and elections polling staff there, yet another new police chief has been awarded control of the 1,000 strong police force-which was over 5,000 men just two months ago. . . . In Ramadi fierce clashes continue between the bringers of "democracy" and those resisting the occupation. It is reported that five huge explosions hammered a US base near the city. . . . Samarra wasn't without its share of "democracy" as US soldiers opened fire on a car of civilians. The military spokesman said warning shots were fired before the car was shot, wounding two people. Iraqi police, along with several witnesses however, reported the car was shot by a tank and four people died. . . . Of course clashes persist in "stabilized" Fallujah. Remember how the reason Fallujah bombed to the ground was to bring stability and security for the "elections?" Remember how Iraq was invaded because the past regime had weapons of mass destruction? . . . Closer to home, an Iraqi Army patrol was attacked just south of the capital, injuring two of them. Horrible as that is, they fared better than 15 of their comrades who were kidnapped from a bus recently near Hit. . . . As the gas crisis persists and worsens by the day, 300 followers of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began a sit-in today at the Oil Ministry-their chief complaint is the question, "Why does the US military have plenty of gasoline for their vehicles and Iraqis do not?" . . . Abu Talat's wife works in a bank and she told him many of the banks in Baghdad are paying their employees in advance for the next two weeks for fear of bank robberies during the "elections." . . . Most of the day has found our cell phones without signal. Recently the Iraqi "government" announced that in order to provide security for the polls on January 30, cell and satellite phones will be cut, and the use of cars will be "limited" the day before, of and after the "elections." . . . I say "elections" because the Higher Commission for Elections announced that it won't be releasing the names of the candidates prior to the "elections." With four of Iraq's 18 governorates unable to participate in them, an estimated 90% of the Sunni population not voting, a sizeable amount of the Shia boycotting and a very large percentage of Iraqis unwilling to vote because of the horrendous security situation, calling them elections seems a bit of a stretch. . . . a friend of mine from Baquba told me earlier today, when my mobile was actually receiving a signal, that there had been fighting there everyday, and many home raids. He had even been detained for five hours by the military. "I do not know why they detained me," he told me, "This is the freedom-they are free to detain anyone here without a reason." . . . The Guardian recently reported that "troops from the US-led force in Iraq have caused widespread damage and severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon." . . . The ancient city, south of Baghdad, has been used by US and Polish forces as a military camp during the occupation, despite objections from archaeologists. . . . A study conducted by archeological experts found cracks and gaps where people had tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of the Ishtar Gate, "2,600 year-old brick pavement crushed by military vehicles, archaeological fragments scattered across the site, and trenches driven into ancient deposits." . . . "Outrage is hardly the word, this is just dreadful," said Lord Redesdale, an archaeologist and head of the all-party parliamentary archaeological group. "These are world sites. Not only is what the American forces are doing damaging the archaeology of Iraq, it's actually damaging the cultural heritage of the whole world." . . . Tim Schadla Hall, reader in public archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, said: "In this case we see an international conflict in which the US has failed to take into account the requirements of the Hague convention ... to protect major archaeological sites - just another convention it seems happy to ignore." . . . So Babylon is being destroyed [by the United States of America]. Along with the Iraqi people.

posted by LoZo 8:21 AM