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US GENOCIDE OPERATION "PHANTOM FURY"
Foreign Press Foundation - 08.11.2004 21:49

"This violence we've seen is a part of a few people trying to stop the progress toward democracy. Fallujah, south of Baghdad, these incidents were basically thrust upon the innocent Iraqi people by gangs, violent gangs." (President Bush, 11 April 2004)



US GENOCIDE OPERATION "PHANTOM FURY"

- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, warned that the use of force risked alienating Iraqis when their support for elections was vital. Mr. Allawi called UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 'confused'.

by Henk Ruyssenaars

FPF-09-11-2004 - Bombing hospitals as the US has been doing now again - during the planned genocidal crusade "Phantom Fury" in Fallujah - of course is a crime against humanity, a war crime.

This criminal behavior is on July 26th 1946 already as such described in the 'Summation for the Prosecution' by US Justice Robert Jackson* during the Nuremberg Tribunal against the Nazis, who had done the same.

And international law is still the same...

Looking at the barbarian behavior of the United States armed forces and their cronies in Iraq - and especially in Fallujah again - through the eyes of the Chief of Counsel for the United States Justice Jackson, his words to the members of the Nuremberg Tribunal are valid again:

"We need not trouble ourselves about the many abstract difficulties that can be conjured up about what constitutes aggression in doubtful cases. I shall show you, in discussing the conspiracy, that by any test ever put forward by any responsible authority, by all the canons of plain common sense, these were unlawful wars of aggression in breach of treaties and in violation of assurances."

[Jackson/Nuremberg -  http://tinyurl.com/3hrnk ]

Following his conclusion it is clear what should be done, also because of what an international armada of law professors and jurists - and even United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has confirmed, "The war in Iraq is illegal".

[ BBC/Annan - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v ]

Warfare in Disregard of International Law

Justice Jackson in Nuremberg pointed out that another group of war crimes was: 'Warfare in Disregard of International Law', and other deliberate violations of the Hague and Geneva Conventions [ ] and in obedience to highest levels of authority (R-110)." Like the US and it's 'allies' - is doing now, and similar to the war crime scene 6 months ago in Fallujah.

The conclusion is as evident as the question: "How and when do we get 'them' to an international and 'just' Tribunal ?"

The Fallujah Massacre

The Fallujah Massacre last April - with up to a thousand people killed - was casually described by the Bush administration as "a crackdown" against extremists: "This violence we've seen is a part of a few people trying to stop the progress toward democracy. Fallujah, south of Baghdad, these incidents were basically thrust upon the innocent Iraqi people by gangs, violent gangs." (President Bush, 11 April 2004)

Still not understanding reality, and breeding more terrorism for every day, the US has - as the unreliable and warmongering BBC puts it - a shade of it's former self - [BBC -  http://tinyurl.com/6udw9] 'razed the Fallujah hospital to the ground in one of the heaviest US air raids. Witnesses said only the facade remained of the small Nazzal Emergency Hospital in the center of the city.

There are no reports on casualties* (? - HR).

A nearby medical supplies storeroom and dozens of houses were damaged as US forces continued preparing the ground for an expected major assault. UN chief Kofi Annan has warned against an attack on the restive Sunni city. It is the third time since the end of the US-led war that US and Iraqi forces have tried to gain control of Fallujah. [ ]

In a letter to the leaders of the US, UK and Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the use of force risked alienating Iraqis when their support for 'elections' was vital.

But Mr. Allawi called the letter "confused".

He said if Mr. Annan thought he could prevent insurgents in Fallujah from "inflicting damage and killing", he was welcome to try.

" The hospitals I have seen are full of people but empty of supplies and medicine. The erratic electricity also makes operating difficult. Ten to 18 new cases are brought in every day. The injured know they won't get much treatment. They come just to be near the doctor, to hear the doctor talk to them." [ http://tinyurl.com/44pur]

Fallujah's main hospital, which the military and Iraqi Prime Minister - Ayad Allawi - said was under insurgent control, meaning the Iraqi resistance, was stormed by the from a video known Iraqi soldiers which stormed through the facility, blasting open doors and pulling handcuffed patients into the halls in search of gunmen.

Liberating and making friends all the way ?

"We had to kill them in order to save them ?"

Henk Ruyssenaars


This just came in, concerning the warmongering BBC -  http://tinyurl.com/6td3d


MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media

November 8, 2004 - RAPID RESPONSE ALERT:

THE BBC - LEGITIMISING MASS SLAUGHTER IN FALLUJAH

Introduction ˆ Pacifying The Population

In 1984, Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead described how „demonstration elections are „organised and staged by a foreign power primarily to pacify a restive home population, reassuring it that ongoing interventionary processes are legitimate and appreciated by their foreign objects." (Herman and Brodhead, Demonstration Elections, South End Press, 1984, p.5)

In the case of Iraq, it is of course vital that domestic audiences in the US and UK be persuaded that their governments are killing Iraqis with the support of, even on behalf of, Iraqis themselves. The possibility that Iraqis might be dying in their tens of thousands for Western power and profit must, of course, be kept so far out of sight that it is barely even thinkable.

In this morning‚s ZNet commentary, Herman notes that there may be a demonstration election planned for Iraq in January:

„But meanwhile it is nominally ruled by Ayad Allawi, openly selected by US officials, but taken by the media (and Kofi Annan and the UN) as a genuine leader of Iraq. In the runup to 'saving' Fallujah, US military officials say that they are awaiting a go-ahead from the head-of-sovereign-Iraq, Mr. Allawi, for permission! Like the United States needed a go-ahead from [South Vietnamese] Generals Ky and Thieu to ravage their country with Agent Orange and napalm!" (Herman, ZNet Commentary, 'We Had To Destroy Fallujah in Order to Save It,‚ November 8, 2004)

The Iraqi leader‚s mythical go-ahead being, again, vital in providing legitimacy for an attack on a Third World city with main battle tanks and supersonic bombers.

Some Would Call It A Fiction

Today, the broadcast media announced that the long-awaited superpower assault on Fallujah ˆ a city of 300,000 people, of whom some 30,000 are said to remain ˆ had begun.

Remarkably, the courageous ITV News reporter, Julian Manyon, did not fall into line. On today‚s 12:30 Lunchtime News, Manyon said:

„We've had now, this morning, the formality ˆ some would call it, I'm afraid, the fiction - that Iyad Allawi, the prime minister of Iraq, has given the official order to commence the operation against Fallujah. Of course in reality it is an American operation." (Manyon, ITV News, 12:30pm, November 8, 2004)

This is not the hymn sheet from which the media is supposed to be singing.

Fortunately, the post-Hutton BBC is on hand to channel official propaganda with the power to reassure and bamboozle the viewing public. The BBC‚s lunchtime news anchor, Anna Ford, opened today‚s news with this solemn announcement:

„Iraq‚s prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has said he has given American and Iraqi forces the authority to clear Fallujah of terrorists." (Ford, BBC 1, 13:00 News, November 8, 2004)

Almost everything in this statement is false: Allawi is not the legitimate prime minister of Iraq, he is an American-installed stooge. Allawi did not give authority to US forces to attack Fallujah - +they+ are the authority in Iraq, Allawi is their mouthpiece. The US goal is not to „clear Fallujah of terrorists"; it is to crush Iraqi resistance to US control of their country.

BBC executives justify affording such high-profile coverage to Allawi's words on the grounds that he is the Iraqi leader. If similar coverage had been proposed for the Soviet-imposed rulers of Afghanistan in the 1980's, the same BBC executives would have fallen about laughing.

Might, quite simply, makes right.

On the same news programme, the BBC's 'embedded' correspondent, Paul Wood, gave a report that included footage of US forces and an Iraqi commando unit storming a hospital in Fallujah. Iraqi prisoners were shown being tied up and blindfolded. Wood said:

„The insurgents here were quickly overpowered, and without a shot fired."

On ITV, Manyon had told us 30 minutes earlier that half of these hospital „insurgents" had immediately been released.

Footage followed of a speech by US marine general John Sattler to troops:

„This town's being held hostage by mugs, thugs, murderers and intimidators. All they need is for us to give them the opportunity to break the back of that intimidation."

Wood added:

„Officers from this battalion are meeting now. I think, probably, following the press conference by prime minister Allawi, they will come back to tell these marines that finally the operation is on."

Anna Ford spoke again from the studio:

"Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said the rule of law will be imposed in Fallujah very soon."

And then to a clip of Allawi‚s press conference:

„We are after terrorists, we are not after anybody else. And all the Iraqi people, including people in Fallujah, they want us to go ahead and finish the terrorists, and have the rule of law prevail in Fallujah, and this is what we intend to do."

Again and again, the impression was given that Allawi was in charge, that he was giving the orders, that he was intent on bringing 'law and order', rather than US control, to Iraq. You could not guess from today's BBC lunchtime news that this is in fact a war between illegal foreign occupiers and local resistance fighters.

The impression given was that Iraqis were directing the war being waged on their own people, with Western control and goals whitewashed to invisibility. This has the effect of pacifying and disarming British public opinion, so reducing resistance, so making it easier for the West to continue killing for control and profit.

Claire Marshall then reported from Baghdad:

„He [Allawi] said that he has given his authority to the multinational and to the Iraqi forces. This does seem to be the authority which they were waiting for in order to carry out their full-scale assault, possibly into the centre of Fallujah."

Imagine how horrified we would have been to hear crude propaganda of this kind from a Soviet journalist reviewing Red Army actions in Afghanistan.

Marshall continued:

"Prime minister Iyad Allawi also suggested that the fight will go on. He said that "any place in Iraq which houses terrorists will now be cleaned".

[Holocaust's 'Final Solution, the 'Endlösung' ? - HR]

Thus, on seven occasions, the BBC gave the impression that Allawi was the real authority in Iraq, so promoting the lethal myth that the assault on Fallujah is essentially an Iraqi operation against "terrorists" and „mugs, thugs, murderers and intimidators", to be „cleaned" and „cleared". There were no balancing words from commentators opposed to the US waging an illegal high-tech war against city slums.

Marshall added:

„Basically the people who are still in the town of Fallujah are those who either have nowhere else to go, or those who are trying to protect their houses from looting, or those who want to join in the fight."

One other category springs to mind ˆ those who are too young, old, sick and infirm to move at all.

SUGGESTED ACTION

The goal of Media Lens is to promote rationality, compassion and respect for others. In writing letters to journalists, we strongly urge readers to maintain a polite, non-aggressive and non-abusive tone.

Write to Anna Ford Email:  anna.ford@bbc.co.uk

Write to Paul Wood Email:  paul.wood@bbc.co.uk

Write to Claire Marshall Email:  claire.marshall@bbc.co.uk

Write to Helen Boaden, director of BBC News Email:  helen.boaden@bbc.co.uk

Please also send all emails to us at Media Lens: Email:  editor@medialens.org

Visit the Media Lens website:  http://www.medialens.org

This media alert will shortly be archived at:
 http://www.MediaLens.org/alerts/index.html

Fwd. by :


FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
 http://tinyurl.com/3crhn
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars
 http://tinyurl.com/2ghoh
The Netherlands
 FPF@Chello.nl

The Dutch author has this far worked abroad for 4 decades for international media, as a foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - and for the BBC - in the Arab World and the Middle East.

Seeing worldwide that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism !
(US Senator Hollings agrees:  http://tinyurl.com/2ylmv )

Evil triumphs when good men, women and we journalists remain silent: -  http://tinyurl.com/3tgqa - Let's fight today, because tomorrow it may be too late...

Help the troops come home ! We need them badly to fight our 'governments':  http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/

HR











- E-Mail: fpf@chello.nl
 

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