[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Demand an Investigation into Falluja

Thu Nov 18 00:43:07 PST 2004

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>please forward >>>
>ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
>http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
>===========================================
>DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION INTO WHAT HAPPENED IN FALLUJA
>
>We urge you to call the White House 
>(202-456-1111) and your Congressional 
>representatives (Congressional switchboard: 
>202-225-3121) to demand an investigation into 
>the civilian casualties and humanitarian crisis 
>in Falluja, and to insist that the Red Cross and 
>Red Crescent be allowed to bring relief supplies 
>into the devastated city. We also urge you to 
>write letters to the editor of your local 
>newspaper, making the same demand.
>
>There are many urgent questions that the Bush 
>administration is refusing even to address: How 
>many civilians were killed? How many homes 
>destroyed? How many hospitals, schools, mosques, 
>and other community institutions were destroyed 
>or had major damage done to them? When will the 
>residents of Falluja be allowed to return to 
>their homes?
>
>The information that is emerging about the 
>humanitarian disaster in Falluja, while still 
>sketchy, is extremely disturbing; the two 
>articles that follow give some of this 
>background.
>
>For regular updates on the situation in Iraq, we 
>encourage you to sign up for the email bulletins 
>of the Occupation Watch Center at 
>http://www.occupationwatch.org
>
>============================================
>U.N. OFFICIAL DENOUNCES FALLUJAH KILLINGS
>By Alexander G. Higgins
>Associated Press, 11/17/2004
>
>GENEVA -- The United Nations top human rights 
>official on Tuesday denounced the killing of 
>civilians and injured people in Fallujah, saying 
>violators of international humanitarian law must 
>be brought to justice.
>
>Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for 
>human rights, spoke in general terms and did not 
>specifically mention insurgents' attacks against 
>hostages or a U.S. military report that it is 
>investigating the videotaped fatal shooting of a 
>wounded man by a U.S. Marine in a mosque in 
>Fallujah.
>
>"There have been a number of reports during the 
>current confrontation alleging violations of the 
>rules of war designed to protect civilians and 
>combatants," Arbour said in a statement.
>
>"All violations of international humanitarian 
>law and human rights law must be investigated 
>and those responsible for breaches - including 
>the deliberate targeting of civilians, 
>indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the 
>killing of injured persons and the use of human 
>shields - must be brought to justice, be they 
>members of the multinational force or 
>insurgents," Arbour said.
>
>She also complained of she said was a lack of 
>independent access to civilians trapped in 
>Fallujah during the U.S.-led assault and an 
>absence of information on the number of 
>civilians casualties.
>
>A relief convoy of ambulances and supplies was 
>unable to enter Fallujah because of fighting in 
>the city Monday, Red Crescent officials said.
>
>Rana Sidani, a spokeswoman for the International 
>Red Cross, said that no international relief 
>organizations have been able to enter the city 
>since the assault began more than a week ago.
>
>"We are sure that there are civilians in 
>Fallujah," Sidani said. "There are injured 
>without access to medical care."
>
>She said the Red Cross, whose mandate is to 
>protect victims of war, knew there were 
>civilians inside the city because it had been in 
>telephone contact with them.
>
>People who reached safety have told the Red 
>Cross they had to leave civilians behind, Sidani 
>said. "They tried to leave but were prevented 
>from doing so," she said.
>
>Sidani said she didn't know whether the 
>civilians left behind were men or whether there 
>were also women and children.
>
>"This is the problem," she said. "There is nobody (to observe) in there."
>
>"Whether they are women and children or men, 
>they are protected under international 
>humanitarian law. Even if they are men and 
>participating in the conflict and are injured. 
>Once they are injured, they are protected," she 
>said.
>
>Marie Heuze, spokeswoman for U.N. offices in 
>Geneva, said the entire "United Nations is 
>following what's happening in Fallujah with deep 
>concern."
>
>The World Health Organization has provided 
>supplies to the Iraqi Health Ministry, including 
>50,000 blood bags, officials said. UNICEF will 
>provide drinking water to Fallujah residents who 
>fled to the outskirts.
>
>The U.N. refugee agency and the International 
>Organization for Migration have provided tents 
>and other supplies for the displaced.
>
>Christiane Berthiaume, spokeswoman for the 
>United Nations' World Food Program, said "Iraqi 
>institutions have the capacity to provide food 
>through the public distribution system, which is 
>functioning as required and with which we will 
>assist."
>
>© 2004 Associated Press
>
>===========================================
>800 CIVILIANS FEARED DEAD IN FALLUJAH
>by Dahr Jamail
>Inter Press Service, 11/16/2004
>
>BAGHDAD -- At least 800 civilians have been 
>killed during the U.S. military siege of 
>Fallujah, a Red Cross official estimates.
>
>Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of 
>U.S. military reprisal, a high-ranking official 
>with the Red Cross in Baghdad told IPS that "at 
>least 800 civilians" have been killed in 
>Fallujah so far.
>
>His estimate is based on reports from Red 
>Crescent aid workers stationed around the 
>embattled city, from residents within the city 
>and from refugees, he said.
>
>"Several of our Red Cross workers have just 
>returned from Fallujah since the Americans won't 
>let them into the city," he said. "And they said 
>the people they are tending to in the refugee 
>camps set up in the desert outside the city are 
>telling horrible stories of suffering and death 
>inside Fallujah."
>
>The official said that both Red Cross and Iraqi 
>Red Crescent relief teams had asked the U.S. 
>military in Fallujah to take in medical supplies 
>to people trapped in the city, but their 
>repeated requests had been turned down.
>
>A convoy of relief supplies from both relief 
>organisations continues to wait on the outskirts 
>of the city for military permission to enter. 
>They have appealed to the United Nations to 
>intervene on their behalf.
>
>"The Americans close their ears, and that is 
>it," the Red Cross official said. "They won't 
>even let us take supplies into Fallujah General 
>Hospital."
>
>The official estimated that at least 50,000 
>residents remain trapped within the city. They 
>were too poor to leave, lacked friends or family 
>outside the city and therefore had nowhere to 
>go, or they simply had not had enough time to 
>escape before the siege began, he said.
>
>Aid workers in his organisation have reported 
>that houses of civilians in Kharma, a small city 
>near Fallujah, had been bombed by U.S. 
>warplanes. In one instance a family of five was 
>killed just two days ago, they reported.
>
>"I don't know why the American leaders did not 
>approach the Red Cross and ask us to deal with 
>the families properly before the attacking 
>began," said a Red Cross aid worker, who also 
>spoke on condition of anonymity.
>
>"Suddenly they attacked and people were stuck 
>with no help, no medicine, no food, no 
>supplies," he said. "So those who could, ran for 
>the desert while the rest were trapped in the 
>city."
>
>If the U.S. forces would call a temporary 
>cease-fire "we could get our trucks in and get 
>the civilians left in Fallujah who need medical 
>care, we could get them out," he said.
>
>Mosques have organised massive collections of 
>food and relief supplies for Fallujah residents 
>as they did last April when the city was under 
>attack, but these supplies have not been allowed 
>into the city either.
>
>The Red Cross official said they had received 
>several reports from refugees that the military 
>had dropped cluster bombs in Fallujah, and used 
>a phosphorous weapon that caused severe burns.
>
>The U.S. military claims to have killed 1,200 "insurgents" in Fallujah.
>
>Abdel Khader Janabi, a resistance leader from 
>the city has said that only about 100 among them 
>were fighters.
>
>"Both of them are lying," the Red Cross official 
>said. "While they agree on the 1,200 number, 
>they are both lying about the number of dead 
>fighters." He added that "our estimate of 800 
>civilians is likely to be too low."
>
>The situation within Fallujah is grim, he said. 
>If help does not reach people soon, "the 
>children who are trapped will most likely die."
>
>He said the Ministry of Health in the 
>U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government had stopped 
>supplying hospitals and clinics in Fallujah two 
>months before the current siege.
>
>"The hospitals do not even have aspirin," he 
>said. "This shows, in my opinion, that they've 
>had a plan to attack for a long time and were 
>trying to weaken the people."
>
>© 2004 IPS
>
>===========================================
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>ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
>http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand