arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Zowat duizend betogers verzamelden voor het voormalige kantoor in Fallujah van Saddam Hoesseins Baath-partij, waar nu de Amerikaanse militairen gestationeerd zijn. Zij hadden borden bij zich waarop zij de schietpartij van maandagavond veroordeelden. “Toen betogers met stenen en schoenen naar het gebouw gooiden, begonnen de Amerikanen volgens ooggetuigen op de Irakezen te schieten. Een Amerikaanse officier zei dat onderzocht zou worden of de Irakezen ook hadden geschoten. Hij zei dat het nog onduidelijk was of er ook Amerikanen gewond waren geraakt tijdens het incident.” (De Standaard Online van 30.04.2003)

Over het incident van maandag rapporteerde CNN het volgende: “The clash began at around 10 p.m. Monday when up to 250 demonstrators approached members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based at an elementary school, demanding they leave so classes could resume, an Iraqi telecommunications engineer said. "That's when all hell broke loose," he said. The engineer said his cousin was killed, his brother lost a leg and two women in his household were injured in the shooting. The fight lasted several hours, witnesses said. U.S. Central Command said the demonstrators fired on the soldiers with AK-47s and the soldiers fired back fired in self-defense. Some demonstrators told CNN's Karl Penhaul the soldiers fired first. Others said residents threw rocks at soldiers when tempers flared.” Balans volgens het Rode Kruis: 15 burgerslachtoffers en 53 gewonden.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/29/sprj.irq.falluja/index.html

Hieronder het standpunt van Amnesty International over de besetting van Irak:
Iraq: People come first - Protect human rights during the current unrest
Amnesty International's 10-point appeal

22 April 2003 MDE 14/093/2003

There is an urgent need to protect human rights in Iraq. Although major combat operations appear to have ended, violence, killings, destruction of property and widespread insecurity continue, and the humanitarian emergency remains. If Iraq's future is to be hopeful, it must be built on respect for human rights.

Amnesty International calls on the occupying powers, and all others exercising authority in Iraq, to commit themselves publicly to the following 10 points. These derive from obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and from international human rights standards. Other states should insist on respect for these principles:

1. Ensure public order and safety
The occupying powers and any interim authorities in Iraq must restore and maintain public order and safety in areas under their control. They must prevent acts of violence to people or property. In maintaining public order, they must ensure that any use of force is necessary and proportionate to the threat. They must respect the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.
Those reconstituting police or security forces must set up fair vetting procedures, to reduce the chance of restoring to their duties officials who may have been involved in serious human rights violations.

2. Meet the basic needs of the Iraqi population
The occupying powers, in particular, must ensure the prompt provision of food, water, shelter and medical supplies to people living in areas of Iraq under their control, maintain hospitals and other public services, and protect public health and hygiene.


3. Where fighting continues, protect civilians and act lawfully
Sporadic fighting may continue or erupt in parts of Iraq. In all cases, civilians and others taking no part in hostilities must be protected, and there must be no indiscriminate attacks, hostage-taking, collective punishments or other inhumane or arbitrary treatment.

4. Respect the rights of detainees
When armed conflict ends, prisoners of war must be released. Detained civilians must be released in the shortest possible period of time, unless they are charged with a recognized criminal offence and brought to trial. In all circumstances they must be allowed the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. Detainees must in all cases be treated humanely and protected from coercion, torture and ill-treatment.

5. No arbitrary expulsions, no ethnic cleansing, protect refugees
Occupying powers may not forcibly remove or expel any Iraqi civilian from occupied territory, and civilian detainees should not be removed from Iraq. All Iraqis should be protected against being forcibly or arbitrarily displaced from their homes.
Those who flee abroad, or are already in exile, must be protected against forcible return (refoulement) so long as they are at risk of serious human rights abuses in Iraq.

6. Put the human rights of the Iraqi people at the heart of reconstruction efforts
The protection of human rights should be a key factor in prioritizing and implementing reconstruction projects. The occupying powers must safeguard the property of civilians (under the 4th Geneva Convention all Iraqi nationals are protected persons) and, as caretakers of public property and natural resources, must not appropriate them or otherwise dispose of them.

7. Commit to a comprehensive program for ensuring justice
All those responsible for crimes under international law and other grave human rights abuses in Iraq must be brought to justice, in accordance with international standards for fair trial and without the imposition of the death penalty. There should be no amnesties for crimes under international law.
At the heart of any comprehensive program for justice must be the reform of the Iraqi criminal justice system. Complementary and transitional approaches, for example international or mixed tribunals, should be considered in the meantime.

8. Establish a UN commission of experts to advise on approaches to ensuring justice
A UN Commission of experts should begin work immediately, in close consultation with Iraqis, and report in a matter of months on proposals for reforming the Iraqi criminal justice system and for complementary and transitional approaches to justice. Its recommendations should be taken on board by a new Iraqi government, as under international law the occupying powers are not entitled to introduce wide-ranging changes to the existing system. The occupying powers, however, should suspend the imposition of the death penalty and other cruel and inhuman punishments, as well as the operation of Iraqi special courts that violate international standards for fair trial. They should not establish their own tribunals.

9. Deploy UN human rights monitors throughout Iraq
Human rights monitors would aid protection of people's rights by addressing human rights cases and issues directly with the authorities on the ground, and by providing authoritative and timely information to the international community.

10. Assist the work of humanitarian organizations
The occupying powers must allow humanitarian organizations access to people in need, and should not unnecessarily delay their activities. They should cooperate fully with the International Committee of the Red Cross, including by granting it access to all detainees, and with the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140932003

Zoals uit hogerstaand artikel, en ook uit de verslaggeving op VRT blijkt, is het dodenaantal 13 en is er een aanzienlijke groep gewonden.

Dit is het laatste berichtje dat ik op Belga vond: "Bij nieuwe protesten in de Iraakse stad Falloejah hebben Amerikaanse soldaten woensdag weer Iraakse betogers doodgeschoten. Volgens de Arabische zender al-Jazeera gaat het om twee doden. Het Franse persbureau AFP heeft het over drie dodelijke slachtoffers en twee zwaargewonden. In Falloejah betoogden woensdag zowat 7.000 Iraki's tegen de verdere aanwezigheid van de Amerikaanse troepen in de stad op zo'n 60 kilometer ten westen van Bagdad. (...) Maandagavond schoten Amerikaanse soldaten tijdens een betoging in Falloejah minstens dertien demonstranten dood. Het Amerikaans leger en de inwoners van de stad wijzen elkaar met de vinger voor de escalatie van het geweld."

Ik denk dat Hermes slecht geplaatst is om iemand onzorgvuldigheid te verwijten. Ten eerste heeft Hermes een oppervlakkig inzicht in de globale krachtsverhoudingen en in wat waarden dan wel zijn. Verhofstadt van zijn kant is emotioneel verward. Hij heeft nogsteeds niet begrepen dat hij de Belgische belangen bestrijdt door zijn adoratie van de gevaarlijkste man ter wereld. Dat is een premier van een land onwaardig.

Dat de Amerikanen en wij hebben dezelfde waarden zouden hebben is een onzorgvuldige uitspraak. Dé Amerikanen bestaan niet. Het gaat om een heterogene groep van mensen.
Verhofstadt identificeert zich met Bush, het stromannetje van de corporaties die de Amerikaanse regering gegijzeld hebben. Als dat de waarden van Verhofstadt zijn: manu militare en met een pak leugens en demagogie de rijkdommen van een land stelen, dan mag Verhofstadt zijn waarden houden. Ik verkies nogsteeds de souvereiniteit van een land te respecteren en een eerlijke prijs te betalen voor koopwaar inplaats van diefstal.

Ik denk dat we heel wat waarden gemeenschappelijk hebben met het Amerikaanse volk en evengoed met het Arabische volk. Verhofstadt gaat nogsteeds mee in de polarisatielogica die de Bush administratie heeft opgedrongen aan de wereld teneinde zijn rooftocht te doen aanvaarden.

De strijd tegen de islam kadert in een politiek van onderdrukking. Verhofstadt kiest dus voor onderdrukking. Tja, van de autoritaire trekjes van Guy, daar hebben we de laatste maanden al staaltjes genoeg van gezien. Nochtans had de man ooit kwaliteiten. Tot ongeveer 5 maanden geleden kon ik hem best waarderen. Wat is er gebeurt?

De commentschrijver hierboven is niet anti-Amerikaans, wel pro Amerikaanse volk.

Het is ronduit pathetisch, meelijwekkend, belachelijk en achterlijk moordpartijen van soldaten in opdracht van de Bush administratie goed te praten. De Bush administratie is het Amerikaanse volk niet. Het is de grootste vijand van het Amerikaanse volk en van de hele mensheid trouwens. We hebben daar nog heel veel slechts van te verwachten en mouwvegen en andere hielenlikkerij zal daar niet bij helpen.

"But Dr Ahmed Ghanim al-Ali, director of Fallujah General Hospital, said there were 13 dead, including three boys under 11 years old. He said his medical crews were shot at when they went to retrieve the injured, which he said numbered 75."

"Local Sunni Muslim cleric, Kamal Shaker Mahmoud, said the demonstrators were unarmed students who had gone to the school to ask the troops to leave."

"It was a peaceful demonstration. They did not have any weapons. They were asking the Americans to leave the school so they could use it"


http://www.news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=489802003

Als je iemand citeert dan zou je zijn strekking best vermelden
Ik ben eens gaan grasduinen in het artikel van eddy daniels
Om te weten aan welke kant hij staat de volgende leugens

Ik citeer Eddy Daniels
"Het erop volgende embargo was geen VS- maar een VN-embargo en bedoeld om het bloedvergieten te stoppen. Dat dit twaalf jaar geduurd heeft was niet de schuld van de VS, maar van de halsstarrigheid van Saddam. "

Als je een beetje eerlijk bent dan weet je dat alle landen het embargo wilden opheffen behalve de VS en Groot-Brittannië . Het embargo is ingesteld door de VN maar in stand gehouden door de VS
Clinton verklaarde het embargo nooit te willen opheffen zolang Saddam aan de macht was
Hoe kan je dan in die kwestie spreken over de halsstarrigheid van Saddam

Een vlaamsblok intellectueel zou een zelfde artikel schrijven . Ik had onlangs een discussie met zo iemand. Wat een gelijkenis met het artikel

The Independent (UK) van 30.04.2003 : US troops open fire again on Fallujah crowd
By Charles J Hanley, AP

US troops opened fire today on anti-American demonstrators for the second time this week, during a march to protest about the previous shootings. At least one person was reported to have been killed and 16 wounded.

The gunfire came less than 48 hours after a shooting during a demonstration on Monday night that hospital officials said killed 13 Iraqis.

The clashes in Fallujah, a conservative Sunni Muslim city and Baath Party stronghold 30 miles west of Baghdad, reflect the area's increasing tensions as American troops try to keep the peace in Iraq.

About 1,000 residents were marching down Fallujah's main street and stopped in front of a battalion headquarters of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, in a compound formerly occupied by Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. The demonstrators were carrying signs condemning Monday night's shooting.

Protesters started throwing rocks and shoes at the compound and troops opened fire about 10:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), scattering the demonstrators. Demonstrators then returned to pick up the wounded.

Medical staff at the Fallujah hospital said a 30-year-old man was killed, another man was in critical condition and 15 others were wounded.

Some witnesses said the gunfire appeared to come from within the compound, but Maj. Michael Marti, an intelligence officer for the division's 2nd Brigade, said the soldiers in a passing convoy fired on the crowd. "My understanding is that there was no fire from the compound."

As the convoy was passing, the demonstrators "started throwing rocks and then at one point, they (soldiers) were engaged by what they believed was an AK-47" and opened fire, Marti said.

City officials who witnessed the gunfire said they saw or heard no shooting from among the protesters.

US Apache attack helicopters circled the site throughout the march and the aftermath, but did not open fire. US officers were meeting with Fallujah mayor Taha Bedaiwi al-Alwani and leading area sheiks.

"Why? The demonstrators didn't use guns, so why should the soldiers start attacking them?" asked the imam of the Grand Fallujah Mosque, Jamal Shaqir Mahmood.

He said the Americans should pull out of Fallujah - or at least cut back their forces.

(...)

Americans and Iraqis have given sharply differing accounts of Monday night's shooting. US forces insisted they opened fire only upon armed men - about 25 infiltrators among the protest crowd of 200, according to Col. Arnold Bray, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 325 Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Protesters insisted their demonstration was unarmed and peaceful.

Dr Ahmed Ghandim al-Ali, director of Fallujah's general hospital, said the clash on Monday killed 13 Iraqis - including three young boys - and injured about 75. Some residents put the death toll higher, at 15.

No American was injured.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=401798