So many Fallujahans have been killed by the U.S. marines that residents have had to dig mass graves. The city's football stadium now holds more than 200 bodies.
"When you see a child five years old with no head, what can you say?" says a doctor in Fallujah whose name is being withheld for his safety. "When you see a child with no brain, just an open cavity, what can you say?"
he doctor says many were buried in the football until it became full. "When you are burying you cannot stay long because they (the U.S. marines) will just shoot you," he says. "So we use the shovel. Just dig a big hole and put a whole family in the hole and leave as soon as possible so we are not shot."
Filmmaker Julia Guest who traveled to Fallujah in a convoy delivering relief supplies told IPS that the clinic's ambulance was fired upon twice by U.S. snipers -- during the ceasefire. The second time it was fired on, it was carrying U.S. and British citizens who had negotiated an agreement with the marines to rescue the injured from an area under heavy U.S. sniper fire.
... The U.S. military does not deny shooting at ambulances. But it blames the resistance fighters. U.S. marines spokesperson Lt Eric Knapp says his forces have seen fighters loading weapons into ambulances from mosques in the area.
"By using ambulances, they are putting Iraqis in harm's way by denying them a critical component of urgent medical care," he says. "Mosques, ambulances and hospitals are protected under Geneva Convention agreements and are not targeted by U.S. marines. However, once they are used for the purpose of hostile intent toward coalition forces, they lose their protected status and may be targeted."
Common Dreams article "When you see a child five years old with no head, what can you say?" says a doctor in Fallujah whose name is being withheld for his safety. "When you see a child with no brain, just an open cavity, what can you say?"
he doctor says many were buried in the football until it became full. "When you are burying you cannot stay long because they (the U.S. marines) will just shoot you," he says. "So we use the shovel. Just dig a big hole and put a whole family in the hole and leave as soon as possible so we are not shot."
Filmmaker Julia Guest who traveled to Fallujah in a convoy delivering relief supplies told IPS that the clinic's ambulance was fired upon twice by U.S. snipers -- during the ceasefire. The second time it was fired on, it was carrying U.S. and British citizens who had negotiated an agreement with the marines to rescue the injured from an area under heavy U.S. sniper fire.
... The U.S. military does not deny shooting at ambulances. But it blames the resistance fighters. U.S. marines spokesperson Lt Eric Knapp says his forces have seen fighters loading weapons into ambulances from mosques in the area.
"By using ambulances, they are putting Iraqis in harm's way by denying them a critical component of urgent medical care," he says. "Mosques, ambulances and hospitals are protected under Geneva Convention agreements and are not targeted by U.S. marines. However, once they are used for the purpose of hostile intent toward coalition forces, they lose their protected status and may be targeted."
Open season on anything that moves. (As if we pay any attention to the Geneva Conventions.)
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