Value-added analysis and commentary on economic and social affairs. The blog name is my handle; G D A E are the four notes on a violin or mandolin; music is one of my diversions.
"The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged the Pentagon to investigate the death of journalists in Iraq at the hands of US forces in that country."
The straw that broke the camel's back was the Wikileaks release of US helicopter gun ship videos showing the calculated unleashing of massive fire power on a group of Iraqis, killing around 12 people including Reuters photographer and his driver, and wounding two children in a van that came to the aid of those who were shot.
Help call for an independent investigation of the long series of journalists killed in Iraq.
"Earlier this week, Pakistan's military reported that suicide attacks have killed nearly 1,200 people — most of them civilians — since the July 2007 army attack on militants holed up in Islamabad's radical Red Mosque."
This doesn't even count the civilians killed by US flying robots.
The fact is it doesn't take an expert to figure out that, as the US reduces troop strength it will increase the use of "air power." By its nature, despite false hopes of "smart bombs," bombs, missiles, cannons and heavy machine guns fired from the air are crude. The information on which such attacks are made is often crude. The potential for getting the information right, but actually shooting at the right target is farily high. The result is more civilian killings by the US, and that has been happening for some time now.
Today we hear another in a long series of such incidents.
A U.S. military airstrike this week killed 47 civilians traveling to a wedding, the head of an Afghan government commission investigating the incident said Friday.
The airstrike on Sunday in Deh Bala district of Nuristan province also wounded nine civilians, said Burhanullah Shinwari, the deputy chairman of the Senate, who led the delegation.
Will the commission findings change anything? Maybe, in the short term, the US will be a bit more careful. But any significant change in civilian deaths at US hands will only occur if US forces withdraw completely, which in Afghanistan is highly unlikely. You won't hear the pundit class saying this, because they can't. The rich and powerful won't let it happen. So the people's press will have to keep making this point until the rest of the people catch on.
The number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel dwarfs the number of civilians killed by Palestinian resistors to the Israeli occupation. Below is an example of many:
3 Palestinian Civilians Killed in Ongoing Israeli Airstrikes
Three Palestinian civilians, including a thirteen-year-old were killed Wednesday when an Israeli missile hit their car. Israel called the attack an “error” and said it was targeting militants. The killings came one day after nineteen Palestinians lost their lives—the highest single-day Palestinian death toll in more than a year.
Of course it's the militants' fault, right? If they weren't resisting the Israeli occupation of their land, which began in 1948, this wouldn't have happened.
New figures from the Pentagon show the U.S. carried out fives times as many aerial bombings in Iraq last year as it did in 2006. According to the Washington Post, U.S. forces dropped more than 1,400 bombs—an average of nearly four a day. The 2006 total was 229 bombs, an average of four per week. The UN estimates at least two hundred civilians were killed in U.S. bombings from April until the end of the year. The figures come as the U.S. continues an extensive bombing campaign over Arab Jabour south of Baghdad. In one of the largest strikes since the 2003 invasion, U.S. warplanes dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs in a ten-minute span one week ago. Military experts are predicting an increase in the bombing, should the U.S. draw down its forces in Iraq. Airstrikes are also at record levels in Afghanistan. NATO bombings topped 3,500 last year, doubling the number for 2006.
The record, logic and the physics are clear. Increased areal bombing increases civilian deaths, regardless of increased accuracy of the weapons.
In Vietnam, the US drew down troops, increased bombing and civilian deaths increased. For over a year now, in addition to troop increases in Iraq, the US has significantly increased air attacks. A resulting increase in civilian deaths has been documented by many sources.
The Associated Press reports, "Commanders tout success of Iraq strikes." [1] This is a clear propaganda piece, and unfortunately, the AP is serving as the stenographer.
We know, and AP editors know, that my opening statements are true. That's why they throw the following bone to the unwashed masses:
Despite the massive size of the air strikes, Donnelly said that to the military's knowledge, no civilians were killed. That could not immediately be independently confirmed. He added that the targeting of three targets was called off because unmanned surveillance planes showed civilians in those areas.
As a government official, I know what the phrase "to the military's knowledge" means. It means, "we know that this policy of increased use of areal bombing increases civilian deaths, but in this particular case, we don't have detailed data, so... maybe civilians didn't die."
There's an implication that the military will get back to us later when they have more "knowledge." But how many of us will ever hear about their improved knowledge on this particular case? I follow this Iraq war fairly closely, and can almost guarantee I will NOT ever hear what happened to civilians in this case, even if the military gains the "knowledge".
But I have enough knowledge to see through the propaganda. It's a pathetic embarrassment to be American in the face of this Orwellian state of affairs. So I write a stupid blog entry, and go to work. I should do better than that.
Here's the contact for the Associated Press. Refer to the article sourced below. Ask them to find out, and report back to you, how many civilians died in this particular set of air strikes.
The Date in 2003 Bush tells [former] Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar he plans to go to war two days before he tells Secretary of State Powell. This fact is revealed to the public April 18, 2004 [2].
2. Mother Jones, Chronicle of a War Foretold, Tim Dickinson and Jonathan Stein, Sept - Oct 2006.
Photo: This photo happens to be of Lebanon, but it's counter propaganda value is justified. We need an image in our mind of what "bomb" or "explosion" means.
First, everyone should be familiar with what's called the Johns Hopkins Study on excess deaths between March 2003 and July 2006, published in The Lancet British medical journal. The study estimates a range of about 400,000 to 900,000, with a average of about 655,000.
Second, former US military intelligence analyst, pfc. Evan Knappenberger, cites an independent number:
At the time we had concluded that there were close to 3/4 of a million civilian deaths over the course of the Iraq war. Now I would guess it is probably upwards of a million.
Knappenberger bases his statement on his own involvement in intelligence analysis:
I personally read through about 30,000 separate reports of civilian casualties in Iraq and put together a picture over a very long period of time, of the situation around Baghdad as far as what they call SECMAK now, which is sectarian murders and killings. After a month of reading through these reports, we started to get a picture of what was going on. Unfortunately, it was pretty much ignored by the chain of command.
In response to Knappenberger's estimate, Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow made the following statement, leading me to search for a third independent source:
Well that actually coincides with the two studies done most recent, a million, and before that The Lancet, the British medical journal published that study from Johns Hopkins University, saying around 655,000.
Editorial Note: I'm trying to track down Amy Goodman's reference to another study that estimates 1,000,000 excess Iraqi deaths since the US assault.
. Score another one for alternative media. Dan and his partner give you a feel of what the cops were doing in MacArthur Park and surrounding areas in LA on May 1, 2007. The LAPD is reported to have shot at least 240 "non-lethal" rounds. This is a "must see" video, and I've looked at a number of others.
Independent Videographers Caught in MacArthur Park Police Sweep May 1, 2007
The image of police in black riot gear with "non-lethal" weapons is becoming very common (See Pentagon Photos). We need to take the riot toys away from the police departments. "Nonlethal" weapons kill people and make it too easy for cops to use excessive force.
In an analysis of 373 incidents in which 969 projectiles were fired, the following statistics were identified:
Recent Growth in Use (reflects only those surveyed for the study):
56 Incidents were from 1985 - 1995 312 Incidents were from 1995 - 2000
Results of 782 Impacts:
680 resulted in a Bruise, Abrasion or Laceration 27 resulted in a bone fracture 14 resulted in a penetration (photo below of a projectile lodged near a man's eye) 10 Deaths
Range of Fire:
60% were shot within 30ft 40% were shot within 20ft
Munition Types:
About 80% were bean bag varieties. The others were baton rounds (various plastic, foam, rubber, wooden projectiles).
Carl Kesser, independent Miami filmmaker, with a bean bag lodged near his eye.
He was shot while covering the protest of the Free Trade Area of the America in Miami Florida, November 2003 [2]
In addition to deaths caused by "non-lethal" projectiles, there are numerous reported deaths due to taser weapons.
In November 2004 Amnesty International published a report detailing its concerns about taser use in the USA, including the circumstances in which more than 70 people had died in the USA and Canada after being struck with the weapons.[1]
The cops need to back off, and stop forming riot lines. The cops need to realize they are working class people, and be prepared to switch sides "when the time comes" and it will.
Sources:
1. USA: Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International’s concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving tasers AI Index: AMR 51/139/2004
2. The city of Miami agreed Tuesday to pay $180,000 to Carl Kesser. After medical costs and attorneys' fees, Kesser said that he was ''breaking even'' by taking the offer. Kesser said he was disappointed the courts did not find Miami violated his constitutional rights, as he'd hoped to make a statement with his suit against the city. On the plus side, he said, ``there's probably 150, 170 cases behind me.'' Article. Study on the effects of less-than-lethal weapons [PDF]. IMPACT MUNITIONS DATA BASE OF USE AND EFFECTS, Ken Hubbs ; David Klinger, February, 2004.
