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Rules of War Broken in Falluja Assault -Amnesty International
LONDON (Reuters) - The rules of war protecting civilians and wounded combatants have been broken by both sides in the week-long assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday.
The London-based group, which gave examples of what it said were breaches of the rules by both U.S. troops and insurgents, demanded that all violations be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.
Not only had the attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops failed to take the necessary steps to ensure that non-combatants did not come under fire, but insurgents had also abused flags of truce and fired indiscriminately.
"Amnesty International fears that civilians have been killed, in contravention of international humanitarian law, as a result of failure by parties to the fighting to take necessary precautions to protect non-combatants," Amnesty said.
Amnesty said 20 Iraqi medical staff and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a Falluja clinic on Nov. 9, according to a doctor who survived the strike -- though it was not known who fired the missile.
On the same day a 9-year-old boy bled to death after being hit in the stomach by shrapnel. Unable to take him to hospital because of the fighting, his parents buried him in their garden.
Elsewhere a woman and her three daughters were reported killed when their house was bombed, Amnesty said.
It also said a British television program, Channel Four News, broadcast footage on Nov. 11 that appeared to show an American soldier firing a shot in the direction of a wounded insurgent behind a wall and then commenting "he's gone."
"Under international humanitarian law the U.S. forces have an obligation to protect fighters hors de combat. Amnesty International calls on the U.S. authorities to investigate this incident immediately," the human rights watchdog said.
It said insurgents were also reported to have violated international humanitarian law.
WHITE FLAG A RUSE
"In one incident, some Iraqis are reported to have come out of a building waving a white flag. When a Marine approached this group, insurgents opened fire on the Marines from different directions."
A U.S. military official in Iraq (news - web sites) also accused insurgents of storing weapons in mosques and schools. Insurgents were reported to be firing from a mosque on Nov. 10, Amnesty said.
"All violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be investigated and those responsible for unlawful attacks, including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, and the killing of injured persons must be brought to justice," it added.
Although half the city's civilian population was reported to have left the city before the assault began, the tens of thousands left behind were in dire straits, it said. Falluja's normal population is believed to be about 300,000.
"There are concerns that a humanitarian crisis is looming with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and with no electricity. There are also many wounded people who could not receive medical care because of the fighting," it added.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6813303
LONDON, Nov 15 (AFP) - Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Monday it was deeply concerned the rules of war designed to protect civilians and combatants have been violated in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.
"Amnesty International fears that civilians have been killed, in contravention of international humanitarian law, as a result of failure by parties to the fighting to take necessary precautions to protect non-combatants," the London-based group said in a report on its website.
"We are not getting the full picture of what is going on in Fallujah," Amnesty spokeswoman Nicole Choueiry told AFP on Monday.
"Some clarification needs to be made, not only to Amnesty but to the whole world because no one has a clear picture of what is going on.
"It's really unclear whether they have been abiding by (international law) or not, but there are increasingly worrying reports in the media," Choueiry said.
"There are increasing reports that civilians have died and we have been asking for clarifications as to the rules of engagement and of the total civilian casualties," she said.
"There are also worrying reports about the insurgents using civilian areas or civilian targets to lure in combatants."
In one incident, some Iraqis are reported to have come out of a building waving a white flag, Amnesty said. When a US Marine approached this group, insurgents opened fire from different directions.
Twenty Iraqi medical staff and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a clinic on November 9, according to reports from a doctor who survived the strike, the group said.
On November 11 a British television programme, Channel Four News, broadcast footage in which a US soldier appeared to have fired one shot in the direction of a wounded insurgent who was off screen.
The soldier then walked away and said "he's gone", Amnesty said.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=33760
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"Twenty Iraqi medical staff and dozens of other civilians were killed when a missile hit a clinic on 9 November, according to reports from a doctor who survived the strike."
-from above report
This story is disturbing in and of itself. Hospitals and ambulances are supposed to be protected by international law from being targetted yet it appears that the US intentionally bombed this clinic killing many doctors, hospital staff, and civilians (undoubtedly mostly women and children).
What is just as disturbing is that this story merited little more than one sentence in this Amnesty International report without even an extensive interview with the surviving physician to at least estimate the actual number of patients killed. In fact the next sentence in the report attempts to lessen the severity of this action by stating that it is unknown if the missiles were US missiles or fired by insurgents: "It is not known whether the missile was fired by the US-led forces or by insurgents." As though Iraqi resistance would destroy their own hospital filled with their own people (their sisters, mothers, wives and children) even if they had such missiles which they don't.
So this story (bombing a hospital) is disturbing in and of itself but what is more disturbing is the reaction to it in the rest of the world including supposed human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (which did not even release a statement on this that I could find). If such a response comes from human rights groups imagine the response in the mainstream media. From what I could tell, this was typically ignored but where it was mentioned, the implication was that the clinic was empty and no civilians had been murdered because there was no mention at all of civilian casualties.
Had an Israeli hospital been bombed would Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or any other media outlet be so silent about it as they have been about this clinic bombing in Fallujah?
I also imagine that in many such bombings there are survivors stuck in the rubble but unlike earthquakes, no one from the world community cares enough to send rescue teams to dig out the survivors. I can only wonder how many such survivors have been stuck in bombed homes and buildings only to die from dehydration because no one other than poorly equipped Iraqis care enough to help?
All I hear is a deafening silence from the world concerning these atrocities (which the bombing of the clinic is only the tip of the ice berg -- many residential homes were bombed as well), as though the lives of Iraqis and Arabs in general mean nothing.
-from above report
This story is disturbing in and of itself. Hospitals and ambulances are supposed to be protected by international law from being targetted yet it appears that the US intentionally bombed this clinic killing many doctors, hospital staff, and civilians (undoubtedly mostly women and children).
What is just as disturbing is that this story merited little more than one sentence in this Amnesty International report without even an extensive interview with the surviving physician to at least estimate the actual number of patients killed. In fact the next sentence in the report attempts to lessen the severity of this action by stating that it is unknown if the missiles were US missiles or fired by insurgents: "It is not known whether the missile was fired by the US-led forces or by insurgents." As though Iraqi resistance would destroy their own hospital filled with their own people (their sisters, mothers, wives and children) even if they had such missiles which they don't.
So this story (bombing a hospital) is disturbing in and of itself but what is more disturbing is the reaction to it in the rest of the world including supposed human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (which did not even release a statement on this that I could find). If such a response comes from human rights groups imagine the response in the mainstream media. From what I could tell, this was typically ignored but where it was mentioned, the implication was that the clinic was empty and no civilians had been murdered because there was no mention at all of civilian casualties.
Had an Israeli hospital been bombed would Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or any other media outlet be so silent about it as they have been about this clinic bombing in Fallujah?
I also imagine that in many such bombings there are survivors stuck in the rubble but unlike earthquakes, no one from the world community cares enough to send rescue teams to dig out the survivors. I can only wonder how many such survivors have been stuck in bombed homes and buildings only to die from dehydration because no one other than poorly equipped Iraqis care enough to help?
All I hear is a deafening silence from the world concerning these atrocities (which the bombing of the clinic is only the tip of the ice berg -- many residential homes were bombed as well), as though the lives of Iraqis and Arabs in general mean nothing.
I think what the US is doing in Fallujah is a horrible crime by any standard. But the headline of the article gives me pause.
So the US is breaking the rules of war. My question is: When, pray tell, did ANY state follow the rules of war? Those rules, it appears, were made to be broken.
So the US is breaking the rules of war. My question is: When, pray tell, did ANY state follow the rules of war? Those rules, it appears, were made to be broken.
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