Art
Ref post #18quetzalcoatl9 said:I'm sorry, which question is this that you are referring to?
No, Ref post #9quetzalcoatl9 said:Let me see if I understand this, you are saying that 37% of the civilian casualties are due to US personnel. You are also saying that the US forces claim great accuracy due to training and technology, and therefore you conclude that these civilian casualties are purposefully inflicted.
You might think it is okay but per the Geneva convention the US action is illegal Ref post #45.quetzalcoatl9 said:However, I do not see how you can make that conclusion when the US military forces are operating in response to the insurgency. If a gunmen is in a building shooting at people (civilians and US soldiers) the soldiers are expected, in the interest of their security, the security of the civilians and the stability of the Iraq, to shoot back. In the process I agree that civilians will die, but my point is that this is unavoidable and largely the blame falls upon the insurgents. They wish to engage US forces in populated areas, so who's fault is that?
Yes the story even made the news here. And why is that? It's because the actions of the police were considered highly controversial.quetzalcoatl9 said:The other week in the news, here in the US, some scumbag was toting a gun and waving it at police...and he happened to use his 2 year old daughter as a shield. He began shooting. The police could not let a crazed gunmen start shooting, since this was in a public place and they have a duty to protect the people. They shot back, and in the gunfight that ensued the child was sadly killed. You cannot blame the officers for this, they were not the ones who dragged the child into that situation.
Perhaps the people you know are very decent folk but that doesn't mean to say there are no rotten apples in the US military. As for cowardice - check out the murder of civilians by US helicopter pilots on Haifa Street caught on live TV and the subsequent squirming by the US military authorities (3 sets of excuses superseding each other as earlier excuses were demolished) for an example of cowardice. Or even the links supplied above to the school incident, looks like some US forces are very tough when it's only unarmed kids they have to deal with.quetzalcoatl9 said:Yes, but I am talking about people who have actually spent more than a year on the ground in Baghdad, the very people that we read about in the news. I'm not talking about some drunk at a bar. While I realize that this is not a citeable source, it is useful for this conversation since you have raised the question of US troops using children as human shields..I find this hard to believe. Whatever you may think of our soldiers, and whatever you may hate about the US for invading Iraq, I can assure you that cowards they are not.
I think you will find I am not a lone voice on this issue either in this forum or internationally. Here's a sample of the numerous reports you can find on the net.quetzalcoatl9 said:And yet you are the only one making this claim, so I am supposed to take your legal advice regarding the matter? Where is a UN ruling finding the US in violation of the Geneva Convention?
UN Report Slams Use of Torture to Beat Terror
By Thalif Deen
Inter Press Service
November 11, 2004
No country can justify torture, the humiliation of prisoners or violation of international conventions in the guise of fighting terrorism, says a U.N. report released here. The 19-page study, which is likely to go before the current session of the U.N. General Assembly in December, does not identify the United States by name but catalogues the widely publicised torture and humiliation of prisoners and detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. troops waging the so-called ”war on terrorism.”
The hard line taken by the United Nations comes amidst the controversial appointment of a new U.S. attorney general, who has implicitly defended the use of torture against ''terrorists'' and ''terror suspects''.
U.N. Accuses U.K. and U.S. Forces of Breaching Geneva Convention
2003-04-12 | PHOTO: U.S. soldiers in Iraq
LONDON
"'This inaction by the occupying powers is in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which explicitly state that medical establishments must be protected ..'
UN Human Rights Expert Charges US Using Food Access as Military Tactic
GENEVA -- A UN human rights expert sharply condemned the invasion of Iraq and the global anti-terror drive, accusing the US-led coalition of using food deprivation as a military tactic and of sapping efforts to fight hunger in the world.
Jean Ziegler sharply condemned the invasion of Iraq and the global anti-terror drive, accusing the US-led coalition of using food deprivation as a military tactic in a report to the UN human rights commission. (AFP/Orlando Sierra)
"The situation of the right to food in Iraq is of serious concern," the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said in a report to the UN human rights commission.
The report also highlighted "widespread concerns about the continued lack of access to clean drinking water" and allegations by British campaigners that water sources were deliberately cut off by coalition forces.
"Those are the allegations, but what is proven is that at Fallujah, denial, the blockade imposed on food and the destruction of water reservoirs was used as weapon of war," Ziegler told journalists.
He insisted that the practice was a "clear violation" of the Geneva Conventions and delivered a firm condemnation of any attempt to deny food or water supplies.