Editor’s
Note:
Viewpoint is a special publication. It is dedicated to
bringing each of our 50,000 plus readers information that
is generally not available through the mainstream press.
The Internet has allowed a new way to get information. We
are proud to be part of this new phenomenon.
Today, we have a report from a free-lance reporter who is
on-the-ground. He traveled from Anchorage, Alaska to cover
this story and he originally filed it for a website called,
Electronic Iraq. We hope you this view of what is going on
in Iraq helps you be better informed.
PS, GIs in Iraq have been forbidden access to Electronic
Iraq via the Internet. It is run in the US by Americans.
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Conflicting Numbers & Surreal Press Conference -by Dahr
Jamail
The other day, I reported on an attack upon a US Humvee
patrol in Al-Dora, Baghdad, which is in the Al-Rashid
district.
However, statements taken from three boys and five men who
witnessed the US military clean-up and medical evacuations
all reported the same story: The US military flew in
medical choppers to air lift 2 wounded soldiers from the
scene. They all witnessed at least five bodies loaded into
US vehicles and driven from the scene.
These statements were taken from some scene of the incident
the day after it occurred, as well as taken from several
men from other areas of Al-Dora.
A phone call from the scene of the incident to the
Coalition Public Information Center (CPIC) provided
information that the US military reported two dead and
three wounded soldiers.
This is confirmed by accessing the following information:
According to press release 04-01-03C on 2 January, US Cent
Com reports 2 dead, 3 injured Task Force 1st Armored
Division Soldiers Killed in Ambush in Al Rashid district at
about noon when their convoy was struck by an IED, then the
soldiers taking small arms fire after the explosion.
(Source)
The same press release can be found on the Combined Joint
Task Force Seven website, release #040103g, with the same
dead and injured count. (Source)
Thus, the usual conflict in the number of US soldiers
killed and injured rests between the many Iraqis who
witnessed the scene during the US cleanup and medical
evacuations, and the figures given by CENTCOM and Combined
Joint Task Force 7.
The US military in Iraq has been under constant scrutiny
for under-reporting US casualty figures from attacks
throughout Iraq. The effect of this is to give the
impression to both the media and people of Iraq, as well as
people in the US that the degree of loss of life by US
military personnel in Iraq is lower than it may actually
be.
Thus, the sense of urgency the US military is faced with in
Iraq isn't being conveyed to the public. For example, I
just moments ago returned from a CIPIC press conference by
General Kimmitt where he stated there are 25 attacks per
day on coalition forces.
Nor are people being allowed the opportunity to grasp the
seriousness of the mounting US casualties in Iraq as a
result of the occupation.
This being an election year in the US only brings more
doubt about the actual figures being reported by the
military here as compared to the numbers provided by Iraqis
witnessing the attacks and/or the medical operations which
ensue.
Virtually every investigation I've conducted on events of
this nature has provided a disparity in the numbers of US
dead and wounded between those reported by CPIC and Iraqi
witnesses; be they civilians, hospital staff, or figures
from the morgue.
This point is further underlined by the incident in Samarra
at the end of November when the US military claimed a
convoy came under attack by a highly organized group of
Fedayeen fighters and responded by killing 54 of them. Upon
further investigation by myself and several other
journalists at the hospital, morgue, and several interviews
in Samarra, the highest Iraqi body count recorded was 8.
The US military never adjusted their figures to reflect
this, despite the fact that no more than 8 bodies have ever
been found as a result of this battle.
Not only has the US casualty rate in Iraq continued
unabated since the capture of Saddam Hussein, it has
increased.
On a daily basis US soldiers are dying here, as well as
being severely wounded. When one looks at a general
headline on a news website and reads: 1 US soldier killed,
2 wounded, it is not shown the degree to which these
soldiers are wounded. Many have suffered permanent brain
damage, loss of feet, legs, hands, arms. There lives are
changed forever by permanent disabilities; rather than the
impression the mainstream media leaves of injured by cuts
and bruises.
The system of information control runs deep in Iraq today.
The CPA has recently released a law stating that no public
demonstrations are allowed without their approval and
consent. If a demonstration occurs without said, the people
will be detained promptly.
During the aforementioned press conference this evening,
attended not only by media but the additional 15 US
soldiers in the room, I paid close attention to the words
used by General Kimmitt and the very uptight man in the
suit standing next to him assisting him in answering
questions posed by the media.
After laughing and looking at one another while smiling on
two different occasions while giving a press conference
while reporting attacks on US troops resulting in them
dying and being wounded, the two men at the podium used
interesting terms in order to avoid the term "resistance."
Resistance fighters are thus referred to as "anti-coalition
fighters", "anti-coalition suspects" (detainees), and of
course the mainstay, "terrorists."
We are shown a slick video taken by military personnel of a
raid conducted on the Ibn Taimiyah Mosque last Thursday.
This raid brought great scrutiny on the CPA for
disrespecting the traditions and culture here, due to the
fact that US soldiers raided it wearing their combat boots
and wielding weapons. They rolled up the pray rugs while
looking for tunnels hiding weapons caches, and coming up
empty on the tunnels.
While the raid did yield many weapons, TNT, and grenades,
the method in which it was conducted may be more
detrimental to the occupiers efforts than the fruits it
yielded.
They arrested its prayer leader, Shaikh Mahdi Salah al-Sumaidi,
a member of the Supreme Council for Religious Guidance,
along with 20 of his assistants. General Kimmitt went out
of his way to point out in the video, how the Sheikh was
bound and handled as fairly as all the other detainees.
My Iraqi friend sitting next to me holds her hand to her
forehead, holding her head and shaking it slowly while
watching the bound Sheikh, as well as the soldiers wearing
boots in the mosque, carrying weapons, and rolling up the
rugs. She is in disbelief.
While US soldiers may need to conduct raids on mosques,
wouldn't a better policy be to let IPs (Iraqi Police) or
Iraqi Civil Defense personnel handle this culturally
sensitive operation?
In addition, General Kimmitt went out of his way to stress
that IPs and ICDCs were "fully integrated" in the force
that raided the mosque. If so, why didn"t these men conduct
the raid? Why were only US soldiers seen in the mosque on
the video?
During the rattling off of statistics of numbers of raids,
detainees, and weapons caches found, there is never any
mention of Iraqi civilian casualties.
Instead, they discuss a "whole new group" of Iraqis
stepping forward to help the coalition since the capture of
Saddam Hussein. They divide these two groups into the
"Hopefuls" (those who want to help now that he is gone) and
the "Fearfuls" (those who were too afraid to help while his
shadow was still at large).
After the carefully conducted press conference comes to a
close, I walk out of the surreal atmosphere of the CPIC in
the fancy conference hall, back into the insecure streets
of Baghdad to return home. The usual sporadic gunfire from
various parts of the city echoes off the buildings as night
falls over the land of the "Hopefuls" and "Fearfuls."
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Dahr Jamail is a freelance journalist and political
activist from Anchorage, Alaska. He has come to Iraq to
bear witness and write about how the US occupation is
affecting the people of Iraq, since the media in the US has
in large part, he believes, failed to do so.
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