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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

IRAQ: Focus on impact of heavy bombardments

ANKARA, 27 November 2003 (IRIN) - With the US pounding Iraqi towns with bombs and artillery in an effort to step up raids to catch oppositionists, human rights groups have expressed concern over the impact 'Operation Iron Hammer' could be having on local populations.

According to a BBC report, US warplanes and ground forces have bombarded targets in central Iraq in the latest series of operations against suspected insurgents.

"We have been told that the Coalition are targeting empty buildings, and are informing people in the areas nearby that the building will be bombed, but this is frightening people," Gabriel Carlyle, the joint coordinator for Voices in the Wilderness-UK (VW-UK), told IRIN from London on Thursday. "This is huge fire power and there is a real terrorist element to this," he added.

US Central Command has said the decision to escalate bombardments was taken "in order to stop violence and acts of insurgents who oppose the transition of Iraq to a free and democratic state".

US military officers say they believe that most of their adversaries are former members of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime, although several hundred foreign Islamic militants may also be involved.

DEEP IMPACT ON CIVILIANS

But these heavy bombardments are seriously affecting the local population and making life hell for Iraqi residents.

"We thought it was war again. Two days ago in Dawrah [a Baghdad suburb], it was like a battlefield. Many farmers there supported the Saddam Hussein regime, and the US troops started to bomb and shoot [at] this area," Zaynab Kazim, a secretary in the Iraqi trade ministry, told IRIN in Baghdad.

She said this was causing relations between civilians and the Americans to deteriorate steeply. "The US army is so big. It's difficult to believe that they cannot do anything to solve this problem any other way," she added.

Kazim went on to say that she and her neighbours were continuing to be frustrated by frequent power cuts and having to queue for petrol after more than six months of US-led foreign troops being present in Iraq. "We have waited for more than six months. Nothing has happened, and we have no patience for this, since we have already waited 35 years," she said.

Others say they just want to get back to normal life. "I'm very angry, because I thought the war was over. I have tests next month, and I can't read or study when I hear bombs at night. This is not the modern way to handle such problems," Muhammad Fallah, a 22-year-old student at the University of Baghdad, told IRIN.

LIKELY TO CAUSE BAD BLOOD

Dr Talal Husayn, a professor of Arab politics at the university, believes that this bombing campaign will result in more bad blood between the religious groups. "I see the situation, and I am afraid for the future. I believe the danger is now in Iraq between Sunnis and Shi'ahs [Iraq's two main Muslim religious groups], because they will start fighting to control the government," he explained.

VW-UK sees this latest move by Coalition forces as a retrograde step. "This is an escalation and is taking the situation back to where it was in April, and it is going in the wrong direction," Carlyle asserted. "This is not the way to behave if you supposedly have Iraqis' interests at heart," he added, pointing out that what was happening was making it even more difficult for the US and the UK to help the Iraqi people.

VW-UK is not alone in expressing such views. "Military operations must respect the basic principles of international humanitarian law, meaning civilians/noncombatants must be protected to the greatest extent possible: no targeting of civilians, no indiscriminate attacks, etc," Joe Stork, the acting executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, told IRIN from Washington DC.

There have been some estimates of the loss of life incurred by Iraqis since the war began, but there are no clear figures. The most recent report by the international health charity, Medact, estimates that more than 20,000 Iraqis have died between the start of the war and late last month.

HOUSE DEMOLITIONS

Meanwhile, out of its continuing concern over the welfare of the population, Amnesty International (AI) has sought clarification from US Secretary of Defence Donald H. Rumsfeld on the reported demolition of several Iraqi homes by US soldiers. "The US government should clarify whether it has officially permitted house demolitions as a form of collective punishment or deterrence," said AI in a letter sent to the US government last week.

"If such proved to be the case, it would constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law," it noted.

The letter continued to say that AI had received reports that on 10 November US soldiers arrived at a farmhouse belonging to the Najim family near the town of Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad, and ordered all the people living in the house to leave within 30 minutes. Later that day, two F-16 warplanes reportedly bombed and destroyed it.

According to AI, the action was apparently taken in retaliation for an attack a few days earlier by Iraqi armed groups on a US troop convoy resulting in the killing of a US army officer. A day after the attack, US soldiers arrested six men outside the Najim house, reportedly after weapons had been found inside a truck parked in front of the house. "It seems that the destruction of the Najim family house was carried out as a collective punishment and not for 'absolute military necessity," said AI.

If the above was an accurate account of the intent of the action, then the US military authorities would have been in breach of Articles 33 and 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the letter said.

AI also said it had learned that at least 15 houses had been destroyed by US forces since 16 November during military operations in Tikrit.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Environment, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Human Rights

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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003