[Peace-discuss] question about bombing the bridge/ bus

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Here's Aljazeera's account of the attack.  We can recall too many similar
incidents from Kosovo.  --CGE]


Tuesday 25, March, 2003 / Last Updated: 11:20 Doha time, 5:20 GMT  
 
US 'precision' bomb destroys civilian bus 
 
The United States has admitted responsibility for striking a civilian bus
inside Western Iraq but added that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s
government bears ultimate responsibility for the episode because of its
non-compliance with UN resolutions, according to a military spokesman at
US Central Command in Doha, Qatar.

Five Syrians were killed and 10 were hurt when a US missile struck the bus
in Rutba, western Iraq, as it was returning to neighboring Syria on Sunday
morning, the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA reported.

The bus was carrying 37 Syrians when it was struck as it drove through
Rutba, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the border, it said.

"Unfortunately yesterday (Sunday) coalition forces destroyed a civilian
bus during targeting of a bridge on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border,"
a US military spokesman said in a statement at the coalition's forward
command headquarters in Qatar.

"The bridge was in the process of being hit by munitions when the civilian
bus attempted to cross. The bus stopped on the bridge and was hit by
munitions already released prior to the bus approaching the bridge," he
said.

But accounts by survivors of the attack who were interviewed by Syrian
television conflict with this explanation. They claimed that the attack
did not occur as the bus was crossing the bridge but while it was
stationary and passengers were disembarking.

One of the wounded said they were surprised by the coalition air attack
which occurred at a rest stop.

"Suddenly, we heard an enormous explosion and then the noise of a plane,
but we could not see it," he said.

The Syrian foreign ministry reacted by summoning the US and British
ambassadors Monday to lodge an official protest over the incident. The
ministry had delivered an "official protest" to the two diplomats over
"this terrible aggression," the Syrian news agency SANA said.

It also "reserved the right to claim damages and warned against the danger
of targeting innocent civilians" in line with international law. SANA
called the action ‘criminal’ and accused the US of contravening the
“Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war.”

Syrian Information Minister Adnan Omran said Sunday's air attack indicated
that shelling was being focused on civilian cars and targets.

"This is a dangerous matter and refutes claims that they only hit military
targets," Omran said. "I don't know how a bus carrying people returning
home and escaping bombardment and destruction can be mistaken as a
military target. This is a civilian target. This is an example. There are
many other targets such as houses, restaurants, gas stations and schools
on the border that were damaged or destroyed."

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Syria and the
United States over the US-led invasion of Iraq.

US forces threw all hope of winning support from the Iraqi people ”out of
the window” by placing the American flag on Umm Qasr “even before they
controlled it,” a Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told the BBC’s Radio
4, adding that it was a horrible reminder of an occupying power.
 

On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Ann-Marie Shapiro wrote:

> What is going on with bombing a bridge near Syria?  I don't expose
> myself to the mainstream news (I cannot stomach it) so I don't know
> what they are claiming.  But I haven't run into any analysis in the
> alt press yet either. I haven't had a lot of time.  (I have been
> reading more about 9-11).  Can someone clue me in?  To quote Babe
> "doesn't seem right" (even from an military-strategy-attack-on-Baghdad
> point of view).  Is this a clue about "what's next?"  Or just SOP
> military strategy?
> 
> Thanks, Ann-Marie
> 
> The greatest evil...is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded,
> carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted
> offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and
> smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices." -- C.S.
> Lewis
>