Did the U.S. Intentionally Bomb Civilians in Basra, Iraq?

International Action Center
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For Immediate Release Press Contact: Deirdre Sinnott,
Attention: News Editor Sarah Sloan 212-633-6646

January 26, 1999

Was the 2,000-pound bomb that U.S. warplanes dropped on a residential neighborhood inIraq’s second largest city on January 25 an "accident" or did the Pentagondeliberately target civilians?

"The U.S. has deliberately targeted Iraqi civilians in the past," statedBrian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center (IAC). "During the Gulfwar, for instance, the U.S. used two precision or ‘smart’ bombs to destroy theAl-Amariyah bomb shelter in downtown Baghdad. As many as 1,100 Iraqi children were killed.The Pentagon spokesman went on TV in Feb. 1991 to announce that the attack on Al-Amariyahwas not an accident. The U.S. was trying to terrorize the population.

"Of course, economic sanctions that have lasted eight years target civilians. Morethan 1.7 million civilians have died from hunger and disease according to UNICEF, the UNagency that evaluates children’s health. It is not known if this attack wasintentional or an accident proving that the Pentagon’s ‘smart’ missilesaren’t always so smart.

"But the fact that at least one and possibly two of these huge bombs crashed intoresidential housing is not in dispute. It was the middle of the day on Monday, a quietafternoon, when Iraqi families in al-Jumuhuriya had their homes and their worlds literallyblown apart by U.S. missiles," Becker said.

CNN reported eleven killed and 59 wounded, some of them suffering serious burns. Manyof the dead were children and some of their mothers.

Why did the attack happen? Here lies the deepest irony, according to the IACspokesperson. Because Iraqi planes dared to fly into the No-Fly Zone, says the Pentagonspokesperson, Frank Leyhew. "Iraqi actions pose serious threats to our air crews andour actions today are an appropriate response to these threats," Leyhew told theAssociated Press following the reports of the strike on the residential neighborhood.

"The Pentagon won’t find any Arab people who believe the U.S. bombing was an‘appropriate response,’" Becker said. The United States and Britaindeclared all of southern Iraq a No-Fly Zone on the pretext that the "people ofsouthern Iraq would then be safe from Saddam Hussein’s air force."

"Remember in Vietnam the famous interview with an U.S. army colonel who, surveyinga peasant village that had been set aflame by napalm bombs, said ‘we had to burntheir village to save them from the communists.’ That remark was made famous for itsabsurdity. It became a symbol of the ludicrous character of the U.S. war propaganda,"Becker asserted.

He continued, "For the last month U.S. warplanes have lobbed missile after missileinto southern Iraq on the pretext that the No-Fly Zones, one in northern Iraq and theother in the south, must be enforced. Who and what gives the United States and Britain theright to declare that Iraq can’t fly its own planes in its own air space? Not theUnited Nations! These two imperialist powers just proclaimed that they would shoot downany Iraqi aircraft that fly in these two zones.

"The U.S. says it is ‘concerned’ about the Kurds in northern Iraq andthe Shiite population in the south. That’s hogwash. Those are the people who arebeing killed and maimed by U.S. bombs and missiles. The real reason is that the U.S. wantscontrol over these two regions because that is where Iraq’s oil reserves are located.This oil constitutes 10% of the worlds known reserves."