[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Napalm

[Alfred Kagan]

It only gets worse.

>Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2004 22:00:19 -0500
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:15135] FW: Occupation Watch Bulletin - Dec. 6, 2004
>From: Mark Hudson <hudsonm at telerama.com>
>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Reply-To: srrtac-l at ala.org
>Sender: owner-srrtac-l at ala.org
>
>------ Forwarded Message
>Occupation Watch Bulletin
>By Assaf Kfoury
>December 6, 2004
>
>THE FALLUJA COVER-UP
>
>Who will hold the Bush administration accountable for its crimes in Iraq?
>Certainly not the US corporate press. It is not "all the news that's fit to
>print". Whatever appears in print is sanitized to numb readers about the
>horrors of the war in conformity with the official party line (from
>Washington, DC). To get the plain truth we have to rely on independent
>journalists and alternative news sources outside the mainstream.
>
>Take the use of napalm bombs by US troops. We are yet to see or hear any
>mention of it in the mainstream media in the US. The use of naplam and other
>chemical weapons was reported in the Arabic press and also by
>freelance journalist Dahr Jamail:
>
>'Unusual Weapons' Used in Fallujah
>by Dahr Jamail
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8030
>
>There was a brief mention in the London Sunday Mirror this past week:
>
>Fallujah Napalmed
>by Paul Gilfeather
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8159
>
>In fact, napalm bombs have been used since the beginning of the invasion in
>March 2003, and Fallujans are only the most recent victims:
>
>US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq
>by Andrew Buncombe
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8160
>
>A 1980 UN convention banned the use against civilian targets of napalm, a
>terrifying mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks to skin as it
>burns. As Andrew Buncombe noted, "Most of the world understands that napalm
>and incendiaries are a horrible, horrible weapon." Nevertheless, the US did
>not sign the UN convention and continues to make use of the weapon in its
>imperial wars. Yesterday in Vietnam, today in Iraq.
>
>Photographs of dead and mutilated Fallujans have been shown, not by the
>daily press, but by anonymous bloggers on the Internet:
>
>Iraq in Pictures
>http://www.fallujahinpictures.com/
>
>The photographs show an ugly reality contradicting the official propaganda
>about the "liberation" of Falluja. In response, the US military makes its
>public affairs officers in Baghdad produce a 59-page Microsoft PowerPoint
>presentation titled, "Telling the Fallujah Story to the World," glorifying
>the prowess of US soldiers and their respect for Iraqi civilians and
>property -- naked spin and deceit, even for an otherwise tame Washington
>Post reporter:
>
>Images of Fighting in Fallujah Compel at Different Levels
>by Thomas E. Ricks
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8149
>
>A more truthful account is provided by Nermeen al-Mufti, former co-director
>of the Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, who accompanied a relief convoy
>to the ravaged city. She reported the utter devastation and found the
>silence of the dead. "The whole city is calm. So calm, it is disturbing.
>Falluja today is a city of ... unspeakable pain:"
>
>In the Rubble of Falluja
>by Nermeen Al-Mufti
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8133
>
>More than 200,000 Iraqis fled their homes in Falluja before the US-led
>assault. They are now living as refugees in deteriorating conditions in
>villages around Falluja and in Baghdad:
>
>U.N fears for refugees who fled attack on Falluja
>by Rory McCarthy
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8120
>
>Fallujans face the bleak choice of living in tents through the winter months
>or returning to a city in ruins. According to plans drawn up by the US
>military, their city would look more like a police state or a huge detention
>camp than anything like the democracy they were promised. Fallujans will be
>allowed to return only if they submit to DNA tests and retina scans. They
>will have to wear badges displaying their home addresses at all times. They
>will not be permitted to drive cars:
>
>Returning Fallujans will face clampdown
>by Anne Barnard
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8148
>
>Falluja is but one place in Iraq. Civil strife, chaos and wholesale
>destruction continue unabated throughout the rest of the country. This past
>week there were bloody clashes, this time between Iraqi militias, with
>American troops and tanks complacently standing by, within earshot:
>
>Day's violence showcase for ethnic tensions
>by Anthony Shadid and Karl Vick
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8153
>
>Fear of ethnic conflict charges Mosul unrest
>by Thanassis Cambanis
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8071
>
>So is torture by US troops persisting. We first heard about torture at Abu
>Ghraib because a few soldiers disobeyed orders and let the news out. (Of
>course, Iraqis had known about it from the beginning.) Other cases of
>torture have since been revealed, always inadvertently, and also too fast
>for the military to squelch the information. This past week it was
>photographs of Navy Seals torturing Iraqi prisoners, made public by an
>Associated Press reporter:
>
>Navy probes apparent Iraqi prisoner photos
>by Seth Hettena
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8144
>
>The photographs were promptly removed from public view, but not fast enough
>for an independent anti-war blogger to collect a few of them:
>
>US Navy Seals Torturing Iraqis
>http://ancapistan.typepad.com/photos/navy_seals_torturing_iraq/index.html
>
>INSIDE IRAQ: REPORTS FROM INDEPENDENT IRAQI JOURNALISTS
>
>In our previous weekly bulletin, we announced a new section on the
>Occupation Watch website. Working with a few Iraqi journalists, OW has
>arranged to provide views of the occupation through articles giving voice to
>those Iraqis who are frequently not heard. To view the most recent postings
>from our Iraqi correspondents, please visit:
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=30
>
>READ DAHR JAMAIL'S DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ:
>http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/
>
>SIGN UP FOR OW'S EMAIL BULLETIN: To sign up for the Occupation Watch
>Center's weekly email bulletin, go to
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/email.php


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu