Iraq's “My Lai”
The truth is now coming out about another
atrocity committed by U.S. troops in Iraq.
According to U.S. Congressman John Murtha, 24 Iraqi civilians were murdered
in the town of Haditha by U.S. Marines last November.
One day after this mass murder, U.S. investigators were on the scene to cover
up the crime with the lie that the deaths were a result of the "roadside
bomb" set by Iraqi insurgents. This atrocity is being compared to the 1968
My Lai massacre in Vietnam, when U.S. soldiers slaughtered 500 Vietnamese
villagers.
All the wheels are now in motion to pin the
blame on a few "bad apples" among U.S. troops, as was done in the
torture cases at the Abu Ghraib prison. There is talk
of an investigation and a hearing to find out how far up the chain of command
the responsibility goes for this crime and cover up. It is no mystery that the
crimes against the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq started with U.S. imperialism
unleashing armed aggressions against these countries. It is this original
crime, ordered by U.S. president George Bush and his administration, that has
given rise to all of the other atrocities that take place every day in these
countries.
Right from the beginning, George Bush made it
clear that all international laws governing the rights of countries, of their
citizens, of combatants and non-combatants alike, could be sacrificed anywhere
in the world in the name of fighing terrorism. The
U.S. administration openly declared itself in favour
of legalizing torture and assassination. It decided that the Geneva Conventions
would not apply in Afghanistan or Iraq. Total lawlessness would be the law.
These were the marching orders for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a 20-year old U.S. Marine from
Milwaukee told a Los Angeles newspaper a few days ago that "The Geneva
Convention doesn't really exist over there. We're dealing with terrorists, not
an army".