Occupation Watch Bulletin 12-20

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Occupation Watch Bulletin
www.occupationwatch.org
December 20, 2004
By Andrea Buffa

A Year After the Capture of Saddam Hussein: An Ever More Brutal Occupation

This Sunday was another deadly day in Iraq, and, as usual, Iraqi civilians bore the brunt of the suffering. Car bombings in the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala left at least 64 people dead and scores more wounded. In Baghdad, gunmen ambushed and killed three Iraqi electoral commission workers:

Blasts Kill At Least 64 In Iraq's Holy Cities
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8390

These attacks capped a week of daily incidents of violence, including a car bombing at the entrance to the Green Zone in Baghdad; an explosion near the office of a senior Shiite cleric in Karbala; the beheading of a foreigner in Mosul; the assassination of a senior official in Iraq's communication ministry; and untold other unreported attacks on innocent Iraqi civilians.

Car bomber kills 13; nine Marines die
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8279

Bomb in Iraqi Shi'ite City Kills 8, Wounds 32
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8294

Top official shot dead in Baghdad
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8345

Westerner beheaded on Mosul street as American forces lose control of key city
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8368

As Patrick Cockburn points out, one year after Saddam Hussein's capture, things in Iraq have only gotten worse. "Far from that being the turning point the US had hoped for, the conflict remains bitter a year later. American planes have resumed bombing Fallujah, which the Marines claimed to have captured last month. Seven US Marines were killed in combat in western Iraq at the weekend. And the suicide bombings are creating a growing mood of insecurity in the capital."

A Year After Saddam's Capture
Iraq is Getting Worse
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8317

Not only is there no security in Iraq, but people's daily lives are extremely difficult, as constant power outages and 13-hour-long lines for gasoline remain the rule, rather than the exception. These hardships are described poignantly in the Iraqi blogger Riverbend's most recent entries: "The situation seems to be deteriorating daily. To brief you on a few things: Electricity is lousy. Many areas are on the damned 2 hours by 4 hours schedule and there are other areas that are completely in the dark- like A'adhamiya. The problem is that we're not getting much generator electricity because fuel has become such a big problem. People have to wait in line overnight now to fill up the car. It's a mystery. It really is. There was never such a gasoline crisis as the one we're facing now. We're an oil country and yet there isn't enough gasoline to go around..."

http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

The most extreme hardships are likely being faced by the people of Fallujah, whose city was recently leveled by the U. S. military. Thousands of Fallujah refugees continue to live in tent cities, unsure of when they will be able to return to their homes, or whether their homes still exist. Currently, there is no electricity or water in Fallujah and fighting between the U.S. military and insurgents continues in some parts of the 'liberated" city:

Displaced Fallujahh residents unsure of when they can return home
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8393

Apparently, the January 30 elections are supposed to lead to the resolution of all of these problems. But we can't help recalling that the same was said when Saddam Hussein was captured and then again when the Iraqi interim government took power and then again when the insurgents were supposedly driven out of Fallujah.

In other news this week, the mere announcement by the Iraqi interim government that Saddam Hussein and some members of his former brutal regime will soon stand trial created a media frenzy, although not a single trial has yet to begin:

'Chemical Ali' is first Saddam aide on trial
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8346

Much less fan fare was created when U.S. military documents made public by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that U.S. military abuse of Iraqi prisoners went far beyond Abu Ghraib. "Marines in Iraq conducted mock executions of juvenile prisoners last year, burned and tortured other detainees with electrical shocks, and warned a Navy corpsman they would kill him if he treated any injured Iraqis."

Details of Marines Mistreating Prisoners in Iraq Are Revealed
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8292

And in a continuation of his policy of never admitting errors, never recognizing failures, and ignoring the opinion of the rest of the world, U.S. President George W. Bush this week awarded the presidential medal of freedom to three of the architects of the Iraq war: General Tommy Franks ("We don't do body counts"), former Iraq Viceroy Paul Bremer (Iraq is now "an incomparably better place"), and former CIA Director George Tenet (the case for Iraq WMDs is a "slam dunk"):

Bush honours three who failed
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8302

As always, the question is, what is to be done? We close this bulletin with five recommendations to lessen the violence and insecurity in Iraq from Erik Leaver of the Institute for Policy Studies:

A New Course in Iraq
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8263

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