[Peace-discuss] airstrikes

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

12th January  2003                                                            
                     our ref: IBM at MoP-Iraq#ASII PR3j3

Ministry of Peace             O
139 Vauxhall Street
London SE11 5LL
United Kingdom

0207 582 3734

 

PRESS RELEASE
 
EVIDENCE OF US/UK AIR STRIKES TARGETING CIVILIANS

New evidence is now available that US/UK Air Forces have targeted civilians 
and civilian objects in the North and South 'No-Fly' Zones, in defiance of 
the Geneva Conventions.

            Bombing raids have been inflicted on Iraq by US/UK forces since 
1991.  But the government and media have kept it quiet, even denying the 
damage as 'Iraqi propaganda'.
            Now, detailed United Nations reports on each bombing raid have 
been released.   Air Strikes in Iraq was suppressed by the Security Council 
(United States).  41% of strikes resulted in civilian casualties. In the 
period from 28th December 1998, just after the infamous Christmas/ Ramadan 
blitz on Baghdad, to 31st May 1999, 73 civilians were killed and 257 injured. 
Over the whole of 1999, 144 civilians were killed and  446 wounded during 132 
days of raids, averaging one every two and a half days.  These official 
reports by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Count Hans von Sponeck, verify 
every strike, many witnessed by his team. 
            This gives the lie to the Ministry of Defence claim that they had 
"no people on the ground to assess the casualties".   Since this report and 
others like it must have been known to the MoD, it also raises the spectre of 
guilt for the appalling death and casualty rates. Yet strikes continue to 
this day with increasing intensity.
            The civilian hits also give the lie to the claim that these raids 
were to defend US/UK air 'patrols'. Only an extremely incompetent or 
criminally negligent force could hit non-combative sites nearly half the time 
without deliberate intent to kill and destroy.  It is clear from the report 
that such sites as schools, hospitals, farms and water works, posed no threat 
to anyone.
            This reckless use of weapons of mass destruction undermines the 
claim that 'patrols' are for 'humanitarian purposes'. They have exactly the 
opposite effect; killing and injuring civilians and damaging their vital 
infrastructure.  Such targeting, whether deliberate or not, falls foul of the 
Geneva Conventions Act (1995) which confers imprisonment for such offences.
            Iraq reacts in self-defence, which is a legitimate response to 
unannounced raids.  But the 'regime' is now accused of breaching UN 
Resolution 1441:  An outrageous excuse for war.
            This report thus establishes that the war against Iraq has begun. 
In fact it began in1991 when the 'No-Fly' Zones were proclaimed by the USA 
and UK without any UN authority. They cite Resolution 688.  But 688 does not 
mention any such zones nor any recourse to military interference in Iraq's 
internal affairs.   UNR688 was to help the Secretary-General prevent alleged 
humanitarian abuses. But that cannot be done from 30,000 feet. An operation 
killing and injuring thousands of people and terrorizing the whole nation 
cannot be humanitarian.
            Will the media and government ignore this report and remain 
partial to the wanton destruction and genocide of the great Iraqi nation?

  *  *  *

 

Copies of UNSC report Air Strikes in Iraq 28 December 1998 - 31st May 1999 
(26pp) 

available from Dr James B Thring, Secretary, MoP, address above (£2 copying 
and postage).

 

The 'Ministry of Peace' was set up to balance the MoD and war lobby and act 
as a focus for the peace lobbies