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We will say it again, slowly. You have been liberated : Another report from Caoimhe B in Iraq national |
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news report
 Thursday May 08, 2003 12:02 by VITW
 “They were ordinary people. During the war, everyone was confused. The Americans were saying one thing, the government another. People didn’t know whether to stay in their homes, or to try to travel to the villages, where it was safer. The vans were driving slowly down the road, because the Americans had made many check-points. There was no warning, the tank just opened fire.” Do you get it, yet? A small boy points to the bullet holes on the van’s sides, as he mimes a re-enactment of what made them, stiffening his outstretched arms into the barrel of a tank, frowning as he takes aim, and then unleashing a barrage of fire. His sisters stand in the shade of their adobe-brick home nearby, observing silently. A welcome gust of breeze breaks the oppressiveness of this cloudless airless day, rustling their brightly-colored dresses. Besuniya, whose entrance and perhaps existence would go unmarked in the blink of an eye in a moving car, greets visitors with a large bronze statue of two fellaheen, farmers– a man and a woman, scythes in hand. Besuniya is a farming community, home to about sixty families barely scratching out a survival, and has been without electricity and running water for the past Abu Samir, gesturing towards the two burnt-out, bullet-ridden vans, explains “They were ordinary people. During the war, everyone was confused. The Americans were saying one thing, the government another. People didn’t know whether to stay in their homes, or to try to travel to the villages, where it was safer. The vans were driving slowly down the road, because the Americans had made many check-points. There was no warning, the tank just opened fire.” This and twelve other similar incidents during the ten-day period claimed the lives of over ninety people in the Besuniya area alone. Many of the bodies of those killed still remain in the nearby Shamia Hospital, burnt or shredded beyond recognition. “They were all people trying to travel to safety. Women, children, elderly people – families. They committed no crime – except to believe their human rights would be respected as civilians”, says Doctor Iyar. The putrid, unmistakable smell of death remains in the buses – splinters of bone, charred flesh, hair, scraped off the seats by villagers and buried in a shallow pit nearby. As we stand there, a couple of U.S. army aid trucks, a rare sight, pass by, en route from Kuwait. An elderly villager spits in their direction. “I may not be educated, but we understand what is happening, why they have come” he says. “I would rather drink sea water than accept a single bottle of water from the Americans or Kuwaitis. Do they think they can buy our loyalty with their hand-outs?” In Hilla, we visit the home of an elderly bus driver, Abu Ala’. He describes how he, a few days before the invasion of Baghdad, was slowly approaching an American check-point, waving his arm out the window, trying to decipher their instructions. He was frightened, he says, gesturing to his black and white Kefiyah (head-dress) ,that he would be mistaken for a fighter, so he told the 31 passengers behind him that he thought it better to return to Hilla. Some of the women, however, he says – urged him to stay put – “They were frightened, but laughing. They said – what do the Americans have to fear from a busload of women and children and an old man?” The tank, with no warning, fired directly into the crowded bus. The force of whatever was fired(some speculate that the Americans, like their Israeli counterparts, are using flachette shells) immediately severed the heads of two young women, slamming into the chest of another, leaving a gaping cavity in place of her heart, lungs, ribcage. Abu Ala’ drove, with four flat tyres, and severe burns to his own chest to Hilla Hospital, several miles away, to deliver his load of dead and wounded. After hours of trying to stem the bleeding of severed limbs, recalls a doctor, the floor was slick with blood. The death toll, of 31 passengers, was 27 dead. The morgue retains; in one of its units, along with 19 unrecognisable, unidentified bodies; a slidable trolly of small severed limbs and large pieces of flesh, not yet matched to their owners bodies. Hospital orderlies used shovels to clean the bus of shattered bones, brains, organs. One of them recalls “I found the foot and hands of a small child. When I went home to my own children that night, I could not stop weeping.” Abu Ala’, his wife confides to me as we sit together in their bedroom, held his head in his hands and would not speak to her for two days afterwards. “He feels responsible” she says, “but they gave him no warning.” On the way to Nassiriya we pass, on the side of the road, a convoy of 27 American army oil trucks. “Mabruuk” (congratulations) comments our driver to them – “you got what you came for.” The 27 men, women and children killed in Abu Ala’s bus also “got it.” One of them , perhaps, for each oil truck. Iraqis are all having to “get it.” That their precious blood had been cheapened, by all of us – those that deliberately take it by creating policies and weapons designed to starve, torture, degrade and kill, and those of us that remain silently complicit while lowering our eyes just that fraction of an inch necessary not to witness the glaring pain and injustice pulsating this beautiful, cursed land. We will say it again, slowly. You have been liberated.
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Comments (27 of 27)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27Interesting article which I'm putting here as it concerns the ISM in Palestine: Caoimhe worked with them previously. In this the group rejects the Mass Media tag of 'Human Shields' which has been used in referring to them in recent days.
http://www.uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=67267&group=webcast
I noticed this quote: "The tank, with no warning, fired directly into the crowded bus. The force of whatever was fired(some speculate that the Americans, like their Israeli counterparts, are using flachette shells) immediately severed the heads of two young women, slamming into the chest of another, leaving a gaping cavity in place of her heart, lungs, ribcage.
Abu Ala’ drove, with four flat tyres, and severe burns to his own chest to Hilla Hospital, several miles away, to deliver his load of dead and wounded."
I can assure anyone that if a tank fired at a bus, it would *NOT* be driving away, flat tyres or not. Either she is lying or she is stupid.
So what qualifies you to dismiss out of hand the testimony of eyewitnesses? Ever fired a tank round at a bus? Ever been fired upon by a tank?
How do you KNOW youre right, observing from your armchair.
But seriously DO you know *anything* about tank shells that you didnt learn from hollywood war films?
Thats right gargoyle it must be made up because no way would the US do such a thing. And all the other similar reports on similar incidents were made up as well. And you know this because ...
In fact a quick web trawl reveals a second account of a bus being hit at Hilla, see
http://www.active.org.au/sydney/news/front.php3?article_id=2392
A third account is at http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=700
"Just south of Hilla, US tanks blew apart a civilian bus heading toward Najaf, killing all but one of its 35 passengers. "Many of the people on the bus were decapitated," said hospital surgeon Dr. Dhiya Sultani. "
We are awaiting your apology
Why do all the links sited come from sources with obvious agendas (including ms. butterly)? Maybe you should ask yourself that question. Why are you so willing to blindly trust these sources that are so obviously biased? Could it be because they follow *your* bias?
Trust me, if the US fired a tank round at a civilian bus, it would not be able to drive away. In fact, the latter account someone posted seems to corroborate my statement, meaning that if the two stories are speaking of the same event, then there is indeed either a lie or a severe misinterpretation of second hand information taking place.
If you don't trust those sources why should we trust you about the bus not being able to drive away.
A bus is essentially a flat bed truck, with a flimsy metal frame. If the round exploded, in the middle, or was a flachette round (an explosive round to be used againist troops) the bus could have driven away.
Thats right its all part of an international conspiracy to discredit the US who as we all know only killed bad people in Iraq.
Incidentally don't know if you have ever been shot at by a tank or not but that's hardly a key part of the story. I'll conceed the average Iraqi bus driver would have a problem, telling the difference between an Abrams and a Bradley fighting vehicle, most people call anything with a turret a tank. Exactly what sort of US vehicle killed those people is not the issue here, is it.
Gargoyle, you are simply put, a nasty shit willing to crawl in the blood of others to keep up your pro-war hard on. You've neatly demonstrated it in this thread through you ill informed attack on Caoimhe. She has courage but you are a wanker who jerks off to the suffering of others and thinks that makes you hard. It doesn't, it makes you patheic and perhaps even an object of sympathy for the soft hearted.
Two simple questions to Gargoyle:
Does your knowledge of the power and consequence of tank fire arise from academic inquiry or real life? Perhaps if you saw the tragic human consequences in reality, you would'nt be as quick with your derogatory comments.
I respect your right to disagree with any persons actions, but why, while attacking someone who is willing to risk her life for what she believes in,are you unwilling even to put your name to a comment on indymedia?
Informing us as to who you are and the nature of your experience would at least lay the basis for an informed debate.
Too bad she didn't visit before we liberated Iraq.
Nonsense.
Real life. I have seen the effect of tank fire in live fire exercises. It is possible that it may have been a Bradley vehicle as someone else noted. If an Ambrams fired on a non-armoured bus, there'd be nothing left but scrap.
Joe, I don't doubt Caoimhe's courage. I never said I did. I doubt her objectivity. She has an agenda. Do any of you think that if she went there and found people that welcomed the US's presence, she'd print that in her report? Why was she not there all the years Saddam was putting people through plastic shredders? Obviously the question is rhetorical. Don't let Caoimhe's overly graphic descriptions of events sway your emotions to the point you ignore the fact that she is a very biased person. And hell, there's nothing wrong with that, but make no mistake that it places a very definite caveat on her reporting.
And as such, ye should no more expect me to take her word on what happened more I'd expect you to accept a soldier's version of the same events. Something tells me if you got the other side to the story, it would be quite different. As always is the case, the truth almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle. Both she and the soldiers are putting their lives on the line for something they believe in. That doesn't make either one necessarily correct. Defining what is correct can only be done in the context of the mind of the person interpreting the information, and in this case, there is no doubt that we haven't all the information.
sometime before 5th April anyway.
What's a busload of civilinas doing in the middle of a warzone?
As far as I recall, the Fedayeen used buses them to go about their business so I assume the US tank commander viewed the occupants of the bus as such, if this thing ever happened at all.
Garda-goyle TROLL strikes again
Another insightful posting from the Gargoyle.
dont you realise that we love u trollz, you keep us on our toes (and only go to prove our points)
I represent oink! that remark! oink!
Attack the poster rather than the content of the argument. This is the truest sign that your position is weak. I await your apology ;)
PS - I am not Gardai
It seems ALL of the bad things that happened in the last 150 years were casued by the US.
i myself am a persian gulf vet, operation praying mantis 1988, this the covert operation while we were helping saddam with iraq's war w/ iran, praying mantis destroyed iran's navy(two fast us ww2 vintage fast frigates and approx. (and i was told by my superiors)300 iranian sailors perished, this on apr 18th 1988.. one of the most severe ironies of my life was discovering the actuality of the operation on a nightline episode(sept 17th 2002).. another irony, though, was we never retaliated against iraq for hitting the uss stark a year previous(37 us sailors killed), so in my mind there is no justifying in the mind for taking that missle hit, obviously the iran-iraq war took precedent over that incident according to reagan.. yet during this time we gave saddam, amongst other things, the very chemical agents that chemical ali used, the government did nothing then, but are conveniently crying foul now.. sure most of you know this , but all i have to say is that actually seeing the pattern evolve over the years firsthand kinda makes me sick at times and shameful, for as long as you understand the very basic tenets of goverment denial and complicity, only then does one realize how easy it is to piece the puzzle together...
log on to this page, 18 comments on, reading about Gardaí, and ordinance, and secret operations oh years ago, and young Caoimhe over there, and people here, and stuff like that.
It is very hot in Iraq, and very different to either Ireland or Barcelona where I live. Caoimhe is in a very different culture, for we know very sincere reasons, with bravery which always is found with a tint of idiocy and genius, and this cyberplace opened by her, for her, to offer us personalised, humanised space to reflect on War, on Iraq, on young women be they Irish or Iraqi, and words be they written by Gardaí or not, would they bother? and veterans of secret operations oh years ago, and young Caoimhe over there, would it matter were she older? and this space here opened to reflect.
Give her some thought.
open your threads and arguments somewhere else.
Like Venus said above, and I concur
WELL DONE CAIOMHE SEE YOU SOON WITH YOUR KIND.
Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights activist living in Baghdad. She is working with Voices in the Wilderness and can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected] .
my apologies for not mentioning caiohme and her ultimate acts of selflessness in light of what i was talking about in terms of witnessing atrocities...
More like Caoimhe's ultimate ego trip!
Since when have any of these pissy groups ever made the slughtest differecne to anyone but themsleves?
It's the silent majority what gets things done. These "freedom fighter" are laughed at by the people they are trying to free (see dear_raed).
Pathetic ego trip by people with too much education and too little sense.
they help, especially considering that olives are the cashcrop of the occupied territories and that the Israeli state prevents the Palestinians from doing the harvest.
you could get on your telephone...
Israeli Minister of Interior, Tel:
+972-2-629-4701; Fax: +972-2-629-4750
Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom Fax:
+972-2-5303704 e-mail: [email protected] Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz Fax: +972-3-6916940, 6976990
e-mail: [email protected]
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fax: (+972-2) 566-4838 or 651-3955 or 651-2631
WELL DONE CAIOMHE SEE YOU SOON WITH YOUR KIND.
Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights activist living in Baghdad. She is working with Voices in the Wilderness and can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected] .
related link: ireland.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=47282&start=20&sid=35515
and Irish people everywhere.
We truly live in dark times when a discussion occurs as to whether this report is authentic or not. You Americans are quite happy to believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction/ chemical/ biological weapons and posed a threat to your consumer-driven lifestyle, but even one of your own citizens, who was a US marine for 12 years and was the concealment expert for UN weapons inspectors(Scott Ritter), has proven that Iraq was stripped of WMD capacity way back in 1998. The rest of the world knows that Hussein had absolutley nothing to do with 911 either, but half your population thinks he was directly resposible... How desperately sad that Gargoyle misses the entire point of the article - the butcher of 27 civilians in the name of "Freedom" and "Liberation". Rather, Gargoyle prefers to discuss the type of shell used to kill innocent civilians. As a citizen of the world who does not see things from cocooned, fear-fueled, oppressive country you live in, we see and understand where the greatest terrorist threat comes from - unelected president George W Bush and his hawk administration, who are not protecting the people of America, nor of the world. Rather, he is putting them at great peril. Gargoyle, you represent all that is rotten in the "land of milk and honey". No doubt you do not even see the democratic rug being pulled out from underneath you. More the pity. You, my friend are the "thick" one.
I have no right to question the truth of the article at all. Please cut out the thought police BS. I question everything. I don't believe everything the US govt says but you indymedia types are more than happy to believe a one-sided story form the most biased of sources as long as it suits YOUR agenda. The article is one sided and she has an agenda, so it puts a huge caveat on the report. We don't know whether 27 innocent civilians were killed in this incident or not, because we know Caoimhe would say it was unprovked even if it wasn't and we know she already lied about the tank portion of the story, therefore it calls the article into question even more.
I believe Caoimhe is very passionite and very biased. You can't honestly disagree that she isn't biased just because her opinion happens to match yours, can you, or you are really that thick?
We really need a bit more detail on this story before jumping to conclusions about "terrorist USA" and other hystercial hate mongering.
This is flimsy to say the least.
As for Scott Ritter, he proclaimed on March 25 of this year that:
"the United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated. It is a war we can not win.
We do not have the military means to take over Baghdad and for this reason I believe the defeat of the United States in this war is inevitable," he said.
"Every time we confront Iraqi troops we may win some tactical battles, as we did for ten years in Vietnam but we will not be able to win this war, which in my opinion is already lost."
What a genius, a real expert on Iraq there.
I thought, before reading this peice, that my hatred for this war could not be stronger, however i found that it could be. This deatiled account of the brutality that my country showed durring "The Great Mistake", as I am calling it, is incredible. If I could only move to Ireland, and renounce my citizenship from my own, Rogue nation. I apologize to the world for the actions of my country. What have we done? What have we done?