Massacre in Najaf?

Under the subtitle "Al-Zaman reports..." Juan Cole comments on Sunni calls for an investigaion into the recent assault near Najaf in which hundreds were reported killed, and a US helicopter was shot down. Juan Cole continues:

The Sunnis are archly comparing what they are calling a massacre to the killings at Dujjail in 1982. It was for killing 150 or so persons there, in response to their attempt to assassinate him, that Saddam Hussein was hanged. The Sunnis are implying that now that the Shiites are in power, it is they who are massacring people when they prove troublesome, and that maybe some more hangings are in order.

He points out an inconsistency that the supposed pilgrims were going to Najaf to commemorate the martyrdom of al-Husayn, the Prophet's grandson.

I still can't understand why you would go to Najaf for that commemoration. Husayn's tomb is in nearby Karbala, and 2 million other people went there, including people from Najaf.

Maybe the people involved in the military confrontation were on their way to Karbala? Then, Cole adds a comment that I interpret to suggest he is suspicious of the claims of a massacre:

Maybe this kind of suspicious detail is the reason for which only Sunnis are taking the allegations seriously.

Maybe. But other reports aren't as cautious as Cole's.

Here's another take on the question of a "Najaf Massacre" from DemocracyNow! which involves an interview with Patrick Cockburn, of the London Independent, and Dr. Amer Majeed, an Iraqi doctor at Al Sadr hospital in Najaf.

Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily, reporting for Inter Press Service (IPS), add their voices on this subject. What might be confusing to some is that it was Shia who were killed and Sunni who are calling for the investigation, according to Cole. Jamail and al-Fadily explain that the Hawatimah and Khaz'al tribes, members of which were supposedly killed, do not follow Iranian-born Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Rather, according to the IPS report, "They believe the religious leadership should be kept in the hands of Arab clerics." Ali al-Fadhily, who visited the scene for IPS, reports:

Ahmed, a member of the al-Khazali tribe said "our two tribes have a strong belief that Iranians are provoking sectarian war in Iraq which is against the belief of all Muslims, and so we announced an alliance with Sunni brothers against any sectarian violence in the country. That did not make our Iranian dominated government happy."

It looks like the southern Iraqis called in US and British "air support," and the coalition forces did much of the dirty work. It raises the question, once again, who benefits from the sectarian violence? Iraqi blogger Riverbend has pondered a similar question.

Regardless of this recent event in Najef, there is plenty of reason compare acts of the US, and Israel for that matter, with the the case of Dujail.

Riverbend Ponders: Is the Iraq Debacle Intended

In her blog post of Dec. 29 Riverbend posed the question, "Is the US crushing Iraq on purpose?" I've wondered the same thing myself.

Noam Chomsky argues that the US was able to achieve its objectives in Vietnam by crushing that nation, but the same is not true in Iraq. (I could dig up his reasoning if you'd like).

Greg Palast, BBC investigative reporter, argues that the US wants to limit Iraqi oil production to keep oil prices up. He has documentation that is pretty convincing. This perspective supports the contention that the US is creating chaos on purpose.

Creating crises as a way to maintain dominance is a well established management technique. I suspect that we might be witnessing a case in which this concept was being applied by the US, and like a contolled burn in forest management, it has gotten out of control.

Update: January 6, 2007

I ran across the following, which sheds some potential light on the question:

"All criminals who survived the Fallujah crisis after committing genocide and other war crimes were granted higher ranks," Maj. Amir Jassim from the Ministry of Defense told IPS. "I and many of my colleagues were not rewarded because we disobeyed orders to set fire to people's houses [in Fallujah] after others looted them."

Jassim said the looting and burning of homes in Fallujah during the November siege was ordered from the Ministries of Interior and Defense.

"Now they want to do the same things they did in Fallujah in all Sunni areas so that they ignite a civil war in Iraq," said Jassim, referring to the Shia-dominated ministries. "A civil war is the only guarantee for them to stay in power, looting such incredible amounts of money." [1]

Sources:

[1] Dahr Jamail with Ali al-Fadhily, October 2006, Govt Death Squads Ravaging Baghdad

Iraq's Damaged Children

This article pretty much speaks for itself.

Report on the impact of the Iraq war on the children.

Independent journalist Dahr Jamail has also written and spoken recently on the topic of the children's plight in Iraq. Here's a blog entry of his from December 14, 2006.