US military 'turns blind eye to killings'

[Barrett808]

US military 'turns blind eye to killings'
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail

BAQUBA, Iraq - This little-known city 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad is emerging as one of the fiercest hotbeds of resistance in Iraq, with internecine violence escalating amid widespread complaints that the US military is deliberately turning a blind eye to sectarian killings committed by government security forces.

A political leader in the city said: "The Iraqi people have complained to everyone, but naturally no one will do anything about it. We know who is in charge and who is responsible and eventually who is to be damned. It is the government of the United States of America."

The local leader, speaking from his home in Baquba, said the situation in the area was becoming dire: "The worst is the direct participation of the national security forces in criminal acts, and the US Army's sudden disappearance from the scene as soon as those murderers show up," he said. Many have been killed, and hundreds arrested in Diyala province, he said.

The Sunni party al-Tawafuq has demanded a full investigation into the violence in Baquba, and immediate release of the detained civilians. "We are sure the arrests were made under sectarian flags and those detainees are innocent farmers captured on their own plantations," the group said in a statement.

An Iraqi army colonel told reporters in Diyala last week that that US troops had arrested 10 Iraqi soldiers suspected of sectarian killings. However, there was no official US comment.

(more)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HJ11Ak02.html

[bemildred]

1. Best to ignore what you cannot fix. nt

[saigon68]

2. FREEDOM is on the March

In my day it was

Kill a Commie for Mommy

Now they substitute the racial epithet rag head

[leftchick]

3. aw god

these poor people. :(

[rodeodance]

4. seems to me our troops are just trying to stay alive in this hell-now we

we some iraqi official complaining. damm!

[Nihil]

5. Hey Bush! You bought it, you broke it, you own it.

You police it.

Better still: You get out there, beyond your little hidey-hole
of the GreenZone and face the music yourself.

(PS: The "you" is Bush Co, not rodeodance!)

[LynnTheDem]

6. I know what you mean, however, we INVADED and are OCCUPIERS

in that poor nation.

Like it or not, whether we can or not, our legal duty as OCCUPIERS is to prevent these killings.

Period.

Iraqi officials certainly have the duty and the right to complain about us not fulfilling our legally required duties.

(Of course we very obviously cannot, and so any sentient being would conclude we need to get out of Iraq right this minute. Unfortunately, the current US "government" are not sentient.)

[bpeale]

7. see?

this is what happens when you lower the standards for the military. you end up with the lowest common denominator.

[calimary]

8. Whoa - what a statement:

"...We know who is in charge and who is responsible and eventually who is to be damned. It is the government of the United States of America."

(US military 'turns blind eye to killings'
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HJ11Ak02.html - documenting this for my journal)

It's so sad. SO sad. It's not just this local official in Iraq who says so. The rest of the world knows this as well. And increasing numbers of Americans know, or are slowly waking up to the realization. What's SO sad is the tiny, tiny, but disproportionately vocal and powerful minority here in America that's foisted this on ALL the rest of us, EVERYWHERE.

I hope God will be merciful in His judgment upon those of us here who knew and tried so hard to stop it. I tried like hell, too, but I know I will still feel guilty about this for the rest of my days.

DAMN. I HATE being so powerless...

:cry: