I attended a press conference today at the Ministry
of Health, led by the Iraqi Minister of Health himself. In short, he
held the press conference to stave off criticism of not doing enough
to assist (medically) the besieged and suffering residents of Falluja,
as well as some of the areas down south where fighting has occurred.
Al-Iraqia television, the Coalition Provisional
Authority-run propaganda station that most of my Iraqi friends call
the "CIA Station", was at the press conference. They packed up and
left promptly after the minister and his two doctors finished their
discussion, entirely missing the pointed questions that were to follow.
A stunning surprise, however, was that the minister
acknowledged the U.S. military had been intentionally targeting ambulances
in Falluja. He expressed his outrage over the matter, and stated that
he had personally pressed the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) and Bremer
for explanations about why these human rights violations, as well as
violations of the Geneva Conventions, are occurring.
He said that the U.S. military had accused mujahedeen
in Falluja of using ambulances for fighting, and that is why Marines
were firing on them. Perhaps there is some truth in this, but at the
same time, ambulances that were being used legitimately are being targeted
as well, and innocents are dying. My personal friends Jo Wilding and
David Martinez were riding in one of these that received 5 sniper rounds
through it. I can vouch that they are not mujahedeen.
The minister said that he tried to negotiate with
the military, promising to try to insure that ambulances were cleared,
and not being used by the mujahedeen.
I asked the minister if he would comment on the
U.S. military using cluster bombs in Falluja. When I was in Falluja
last weekend I took several statements from citizens there that said
cluster bombs were being used on civilians (that they are being used
at all in Falluja is a war crime), and when my friends Jo and David
returned there several days ago, they reported hearing the distinctive
sound cluster bombs make often through the night in Falluja.
I too have heard the horrendous sound, for during
my last trip in Iraq when Al-Dora was being bombed on a nightly basis
for a few nights, I heard the other worldly sound--a long buzz which
sounds almost like a roar, then an explosion, another buzz, followed
by several random explosions going off (these would be the "bomblets").
It's really difficult to describe with words, as I've never heard anything
quite like it. A gruesome sound, knowing that on the other end of it
is found shredded and burning bodies.
A doctor sitting next to the minister took the microphone
and said that as a surgeon himself, there was no way to differentiate
between bombs by the wounds they make on bodies.
So my question was effectively dodged.
|