Sunday, April 27, 2003
Candy yesterday, rocks tomorrow. One day you are a hero, then you are an oppressor, we can't win in Iraq.
Some in Iraq have adopted a Palestinian tactic which has been used during their intifada. Our troops are coming under attack by Iraq's smallest warriors, the children.
The little urchins who were being given candy by American soldiers are now throwing rocks at those same soldiers. "They were throwing them like they were pitching a baseball," said Sgt. John McLean, who was hit on the helmet, in the back and on the heel. The crowd was only dispersed when the Americans fired a warning shot over their heads. Crowds of 250-300 Iraqi teenagers hurled stones at American marines patrolling Najaf on Thursday and Friday, US officers said.
These rock attacks are not a serious threat to U.S. forces. It is however, a highly symbolic gesture as a heroic form of resistance to an illegal occupying force. It kind of makes it tough for the U.S. to adopt a friendly image in the region.
The Israeli military routinely shoot children with rubber bullets tear gas and sometimes live ammunition, when children throw rocks at them. They have killed a large number of children during the Israeli occupation of the West Bamk and the Gaza Strip.
Have you seen the poster child for injured Iraqi children? He is Ali Ismail Abbas. Ali Ismail Abbas was fast asleep when a U.S. missile obliterated his home killing most of his family.
He is presently in a Baghdad hospital, an improvised metal cage over his chest to stop his burned flesh touching the bedclothes. "It was midnight when the missile fell on us. My father, my mother and my brother died. My mother was five months pregnant." Seven other members of his family also died in the attack. Neighbors pulled him out and brought him to the hospital unconscious. "Our house was just a poor shack. Why did they want to bomb us?" "Can you help get my arms back? Do you think the doctors can get me another pair of hands? If I don't get a pair of hands I will commit suicide," he told correspondents I wanted to be a doctor but how can I? I don't have hands
The British clinic which makes prosthetic limbs for Heather Mills, the wife of the pop star Paul McCartney, has offered to treat Ali Ismail Abbas.
"This is a humanitarian issue," said David Hills, manager of the Dorset Orthopaedic Company. "We all feel a certain amount of guilt for what is going on in Iraq, even if some of us thought this war was necessary as a means to an end." I think Mr Hills speaks for a lot of people in America.
It was far from being a bloodless war even though it looked like a "see no evil, hear no evil, think no evil", kind of war for Americans. We didn't think about the children either, until the media picks one to put on TV.
In this case, they stuck Ali, in our face. The image conjures guilt for causing him to loose his family, his arms, his future. Well there are hundreds of children like Ali in Iraq. left behind to endure what we have brought them, despair, pain and agony.
Some of the kids, have decided to show their anger. They are also showing the resentment at being invaded and belittled by our government. They show this, by throwing rocks at us right now, when they get older, they will probably throw something a lot more harmful than rocks at us.
Sources Cited:
BBC
The Guardian
Some in Iraq have adopted a Palestinian tactic which has been used during their intifada. Our troops are coming under attack by Iraq's smallest warriors, the children.
The little urchins who were being given candy by American soldiers are now throwing rocks at those same soldiers. "They were throwing them like they were pitching a baseball," said Sgt. John McLean, who was hit on the helmet, in the back and on the heel. The crowd was only dispersed when the Americans fired a warning shot over their heads. Crowds of 250-300 Iraqi teenagers hurled stones at American marines patrolling Najaf on Thursday and Friday, US officers said.
These rock attacks are not a serious threat to U.S. forces. It is however, a highly symbolic gesture as a heroic form of resistance to an illegal occupying force. It kind of makes it tough for the U.S. to adopt a friendly image in the region.
The Israeli military routinely shoot children with rubber bullets tear gas and sometimes live ammunition, when children throw rocks at them. They have killed a large number of children during the Israeli occupation of the West Bamk and the Gaza Strip.
Have you seen the poster child for injured Iraqi children? He is Ali Ismail Abbas. Ali Ismail Abbas was fast asleep when a U.S. missile obliterated his home killing most of his family.
He is presently in a Baghdad hospital, an improvised metal cage over his chest to stop his burned flesh touching the bedclothes. "It was midnight when the missile fell on us. My father, my mother and my brother died. My mother was five months pregnant." Seven other members of his family also died in the attack. Neighbors pulled him out and brought him to the hospital unconscious. "Our house was just a poor shack. Why did they want to bomb us?" "Can you help get my arms back? Do you think the doctors can get me another pair of hands? If I don't get a pair of hands I will commit suicide," he told correspondents I wanted to be a doctor but how can I? I don't have hands
The British clinic which makes prosthetic limbs for Heather Mills, the wife of the pop star Paul McCartney, has offered to treat Ali Ismail Abbas.
"This is a humanitarian issue," said David Hills, manager of the Dorset Orthopaedic Company. "We all feel a certain amount of guilt for what is going on in Iraq, even if some of us thought this war was necessary as a means to an end." I think Mr Hills speaks for a lot of people in America.
It was far from being a bloodless war even though it looked like a "see no evil, hear no evil, think no evil", kind of war for Americans. We didn't think about the children either, until the media picks one to put on TV.
In this case, they stuck Ali, in our face. The image conjures guilt for causing him to loose his family, his arms, his future. Well there are hundreds of children like Ali in Iraq. left behind to endure what we have brought them, despair, pain and agony.
Some of the kids, have decided to show their anger. They are also showing the resentment at being invaded and belittled by our government. They show this, by throwing rocks at us right now, when they get older, they will probably throw something a lot more harmful than rocks at us.
Sources Cited:
BBC
The Guardian
# posted by Thomas @ 12:49 AM 
