Massive U.S. Bombing Of Iraqi Villages Creates New Enemies

Numerous Iraqis have described the massive U.S. attack as inexcusably excessive. Massive U.S. Bombing Of Iraqi Villages Creates New EnemiesBy Cliff Montgomery – Mar.11th, 2008Survivors of destroyed Iraqi villages are furious about the Jan. 10th attack by American F-16 jets and bombers, saying it simply scored another Bush Administration loss of local hearts and minds.Numerous Iraqis have described the massive U.S. attack on a set of villages in the district of Latifiya, an area just south of Baghdad, as inexcusably excessive.”The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq,” said Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy to Inter Press Service (IPS), a liberal news wire service. Azzawy currently works in Baghdad as a military researcher.”U.S. military and political tactics failed in this area, and that is [the reason for] this massacre. This kind of bombing is usually used for much bigger targets than small villages full of civilians. This was savagery,” he added.The assault on Juboor and nearby villages south of Baghdad actually began a week earlier, with U.S. forces then employing a combination of tank bombardment and heavy artillery. The U.S. attack was in response to a recent escalation of tensions between members of the primarily Sunni Muslim al-Juboor tribe and gangs which local residents have described as “sectarian death squads,” according to IPS.”On Jan. 10th, huge aircraft started bombing the villages,” nearby village resident Ahmad Alwan informed IPS.”We took our families and fled. We have never seen such bombardment since the 2003 American invasion. They were bombing everything and everybody,” Alwan added.Local residents told IPS that four F-16 fighter jets and two B1 bombers dropped at least 20 tons of explosives on the small villages in Latifiya within a period of 10 minutes.”The al-Qaeda name is used once more to destroy another Sunni area,” noted Akram Naji, a Baghdad lawyer with relatives in Juboor.”Americans are still supporting Iranian influence in Iraq by cleansing Baghdad and surroundings of Sunnis,” Naji told IPS.The Sunni villages were bombed mere weeks after the American military assured Iraqi families it was safe to return to the area after an earlier spate of intense bombing killed scores of people. Several residents also had fled the villages in fear that the groups they call “sectarian death squads” had been backed by the Bush Administration.IPS says it’s hard to find people in the area who still speak of reconciliation with either George W. Bush or with their fellow Iraqis in the Bush-supported Baghdad government.”We have no alternative but to fight this occupation and its allies,” declared a former army officer living in Baghdad who wished to remain anonymous.”We can see clearly now that Americans came with the idea that we, Sunni Arabs, are the enemies they have in mind no matter what we do to please them. We will fight for our existence, and this massacre will not go unpunished,” he added.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!