US
Resorting To 'Collective Punishment' In Iraq
By Dahr Jamail &
Ali al-Fadhily
19 September, 2006
lnter
Press Service
RAMADI - U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment
of civilians in several cities across the al-Anbar province west of
Baghdad, residents and officials say.
"Ramadi, the capital
of al-Anbar province, is still living with the daily terror of its people
getting killed by snipers and its infrastructure being destroyed,"
Ahmad, a local doctor who withheld his last name for security purposes
told IPS. "This city has been facing the worst of the American
terror and destruction for more than two years now, and the world is
silent."
Destroying infrastructure
and cutting water and electricity "for days and even weeks is routine
reaction to the resistance," he said. "Guys of the resistance
do not need water and electricity, it's the families that are being
harmed, and their lives which are at stake."
Students and professors at
the University of al-Anbar told IPS that their campus is under frequent
attack.
"Nearly every week we
face raids by the Americans or their Iraqi colleagues," a professor
speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. Students said that U.S.
troops occupied their school last week..
"We've been under great
pressure from the Americans since the very first days of their occupation
of Iraq," a student told IPS.
Such raids are being reported
all over Ramadi. "The infrastructure destruction is huge around
the governorate building in downtown Ramadi," said a 24-year-old
student who gave his name as Ali al-Ani. "And they are destroying
the market too."
IPS reported Sep. 5 that
the U.S. military was bulldozing entire blocks of buildings near the
governorate to dampen resistance attacks on government offices.
Such U.S. action seems most
severe in al-Anabar province, where resistance is strongest, and which
has seen the highest U.S. casualties.
The city of Hit 80km west
of Ramadi was surrounded by U.S. troops for several days earlier this
week. Several civilians were killed and at least five were detained
by U.S. forces. Checkpoints are in place at each entrance to the city
after the U.S. military lifted the cordon around it. This has stifled
movement and damaged local businesses.
"There was an attack
on a U.S. convoy, and three vehicles were destroyed," a local tribal
chief who gave his name as Nawaf told IPS. "It wasn't the civilians
who did it, but they are the ones punished. These Americans have the
bad habit of cutting all of the essential services after every attack.
They said they came to liberate us, but look at the slow death they
are giving us every day."
In Haditha, a city of 75,000
on the banks of the Euphrates River in western al-Anbar, collective
punishment is ongoing, residents say. This was the site of the massacre
of 24 civilians by U.S. marines in November 2005.
"The Americans continue
to raid our houses and threaten us with more violence," a local
tribal leader who gave his name as Abu Juma'a told IPS. "But if
they think they will make us kneel by these criminal acts, they are
wrong. If they increase the pressure, the resistance will increase the
reaction. We see this pattern repeated so often now."
Abu Juma'a added: "I
pray that the Americans return to their senses before they lose everything
in the Iraqi fire."
In Fallujah, local police
say residents have turned against them due to the collective punishment
tactics used by U.S. forces.
"The Americans started
pushing us to fight the resistance despite our contracts that clearly
assigned us the duties of civil protection against normal crimes such
as theft and tribal quarrels," a police lieutenant told IPS. "Now
90 percent of the force has decided to quit rather than kill our brothers
or get killed by them for the wishes of the Americans."
At least one U.S. vehicle
is reported destroyed every day on average in the face of mounting U.S.
raids and a daily curfew. The scene is one of destruction of the city,
not rebuilding.
"Infrastructure rebuilding
is just a joke that nobody laughs at," Fayiq al-Dilaimy, an engineer
in Fallujah told IPS. He was on the rebuilding committee set up after
the November 2004 U.S.-led operation which destroyed approximately 75
percent of the city..
"People of this city
could rebuild their city in six months if given a real chance. Now look
at it and how sorrowful it looks under the boots of the 'liberators'."
Many of the smaller towns
have been badly hit. "Khaldiyah (near Fallujah) and the area around
it have faced the worst collective punishments for over two years now,"
said a government official in Ramadi. "But of course most cities
in al-Anbar are being constantly punished by the Americans."
Samarra and Dhululiyah towns,
both north of Baghdad, have also been facing collective punishment from
the U.S. military, according to residents.
"Curfews and concrete
walls are permanent in both cities, which makes life impossible,"
Ali al-Bazi, a lawyer who lives in Dhululiyah and works in Samarra told
IPS. "There are so many killings by American snipers. So many families
have lost loved ones trying to visit relatives or even just stepping
outside of their house."
While Baghdad is not in al-Anbar
province, occupation forces have used similar tactics there. In January
2005 IPS reported that the military used bulldozers to level palm groves,
cut electricity, destroy a fuel station and block access roads in response
to attacks from resistance fighters.
A U.S. military spokesman
in Baghdad did not comment on specific cases, but told IPS that the
U.S. military "does its best to protect civilians from the terrorists."
© Copyright 2006 IPS
- Inter Press Service