It appears from recent reports (see below) the loose norms and minimal respect for international law fostered by the Bush-Cheney White House have unavoidably filtered down into the mindset of our troops and officer-corps and now, may act as a stumbling-block for General Stanely McChrystal's new and revised plans for the US effort in Afghanistan.
A Swedish aid agency operating in Afghanistan for decades, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), has reported that soldiers from the US 10th Mountain Brigade stormed through one of their hospitals last week, searching for wounded Taliban. They broke down doors, tied up hospital staff and visitors and generally roughed-up and threatened the staff. Afterward, they insisted that they (the US military) would decide who the hospital admitted and that the staff was to report on any wounded patients which might be insurgents. The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan complained that the actions of the US military were a clear violation of internationally recognized (see below) accords regarding the operation of hospitals in areas of conflict and also a clear breach of the civil-military agreement the US has concluded with the Afghanistan government. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/asia/08kabul.html?ref=global-home.
Such behavior clearly does not conform with the image we, here at home, have of our troops—at least as it is portrayed in the mass media. Such (illegal and inhumane) behavior can only make plans for a "new way" for the US in Afghanistan far more difficult to achieve. In regard to the incident, Lt Commander Christine Sidenstricker, a public affairs officers for the US Navy, stated that “We are investigating, and we take allegations like this seriously.” She added: “Complaints like this are rare.”
But uncharacteristic as it seems, it must not be as rare as the Navy public affairs officer claims, since after reading the above piece in the NY Times, I made a cursory google search of the words “US troops attack hospital” and came up with other instances, in Iraq--where US troops—chasing “insurgents” raided hospitals.
In “US Troops Raid Fallujah Hospital Again”, See http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=10165, (and http://newstrust.net/stories/2968)
posted on December 15, 2006, (downloaded September 6, 2009) the author relates an incident which occured following a roadside bombing on December 7, 2006, in which several Iraqi policemen were killed, the injured were taken to Fallujah General Hospital in Bagdhad, soon afterward a US marine was hit by sniper fire.
Fallujah General Hospital was raided by US troops many times, particularly during the assault on that city in April and November of 2004. In December 2004, the US military was accused of impeding Iraqi health care workers around and inside Fallujah, and also accused of deliberately targeting ambulances. In November 2005, another report indicated that the US military had raided two hospitals in Ramadi.
The antiwar.com article adds other allegations from Iraq, including US treatment of Iraqi doctors, many of whom were arrested by US forces and held for “supporting terrorism” (ostensibly because they were "guilty" of patching up wounds of men the US considered "insurgents"), as a result, many doctors fled the country. These professionals were guilty of nothing other than providing their essenstial services to the community. The article adds that the independent Iraqi Medical Association announced in November 2006 that of the 34,000 Iraqi physicians registered prior to 2003, over half have fled the country and at least 2000 have been killed. Actions which either cause or encourage harm to health professionals, while having modest effect on the "insurgents" over the long term, severely compromise the health, well-being and survival of the civilian population and particularly to vulnerable pregnant women, children and newborns. Such US actions can achieve no good end. That similar behavior patterns of US troops are being observed in Afghanistan are cause for grave concern.
On the December 7 occasion reported above, shortly after the policemen were admitted to the hospital, a US Marine was also wounded by a sniper. Other Marines responded to the attack, then after the shooting died down, they immediately turned their attention to the hospital across the Euphrates River. Their assumption was that if they had wounded the attacker, he might seek help at the hospital.
However, a retired surgeon interviewed for the (antiwar.com) Inter Press Service article quoted here, said that “Americans have some imagination to think that the injured man would go to that ‘so-called’ hospital.” Any Iraqi from around here knows not to go there, “one, because of the continuous raids by the US, and two, the hospital’s near complete “lack of medicines and equipment,” stated the former physician.
Eyewitnesses add that US soldiers often raided the Fallujah hospital as if it was “a military target”.
On the day of the (December 7th) raid, nurses and staff panicked at the way the soldiers kicked open doors and blasted open other locked ones with their weapons. When a doctor tried to tell them he had the keys for a locked door, they pointed their guns at his head and threatened to shoot him.
Finally, prior to their search, the soldiers ejected all the staff from the building and kept them under guard in the near-freezing outdoor-garden until the early hours of the next morning.
The troops would not permit the staff to re-enter the hospital even to get some warm blankets…though the temperature dropped to five degrees C (41F).
“We are used to that kind of behavior from American soldiers,” said one of the hospital staff. “This is the third time I’ve been handcuffed by them, and had my face pushed into the ground.”
These allegations, if true, are in contravention of the following articles of the Geneva Conventions…to which the US is a signatory nation.
A Swedish aid agency operating in Afghanistan for decades, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), has reported that soldiers from the US 10th Mountain Brigade stormed through one of their hospitals last week, searching for wounded Taliban. They broke down doors, tied up hospital staff and visitors and generally roughed-up and threatened the staff. Afterward, they insisted that they (the US military) would decide who the hospital admitted and that the staff was to report on any wounded patients which might be insurgents. The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan complained that the actions of the US military were a clear violation of internationally recognized (see below) accords regarding the operation of hospitals in areas of conflict and also a clear breach of the civil-military agreement the US has concluded with the Afghanistan government. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/asia/08kabul.html?ref=global-home.
Such behavior clearly does not conform with the image we, here at home, have of our troops—at least as it is portrayed in the mass media. Such (illegal and inhumane) behavior can only make plans for a "new way" for the US in Afghanistan far more difficult to achieve. In regard to the incident, Lt Commander Christine Sidenstricker, a public affairs officers for the US Navy, stated that “We are investigating, and we take allegations like this seriously.” She added: “Complaints like this are rare.”
But uncharacteristic as it seems, it must not be as rare as the Navy public affairs officer claims, since after reading the above piece in the NY Times, I made a cursory google search of the words “US troops attack hospital” and came up with other instances, in Iraq--where US troops—chasing “insurgents” raided hospitals.
In “US Troops Raid Fallujah Hospital Again”, See http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=10165, (and http://newstrust.net/stories/2968)
posted on December 15, 2006, (downloaded September 6, 2009) the author relates an incident which occured following a roadside bombing on December 7, 2006, in which several Iraqi policemen were killed, the injured were taken to Fallujah General Hospital in Bagdhad, soon afterward a US marine was hit by sniper fire.
Fallujah General Hospital was raided by US troops many times, particularly during the assault on that city in April and November of 2004. In December 2004, the US military was accused of impeding Iraqi health care workers around and inside Fallujah, and also accused of deliberately targeting ambulances. In November 2005, another report indicated that the US military had raided two hospitals in Ramadi.
The antiwar.com article adds other allegations from Iraq, including US treatment of Iraqi doctors, many of whom were arrested by US forces and held for “supporting terrorism” (ostensibly because they were "guilty" of patching up wounds of men the US considered "insurgents"), as a result, many doctors fled the country. These professionals were guilty of nothing other than providing their essenstial services to the community. The article adds that the independent Iraqi Medical Association announced in November 2006 that of the 34,000 Iraqi physicians registered prior to 2003, over half have fled the country and at least 2000 have been killed. Actions which either cause or encourage harm to health professionals, while having modest effect on the "insurgents" over the long term, severely compromise the health, well-being and survival of the civilian population and particularly to vulnerable pregnant women, children and newborns. Such US actions can achieve no good end. That similar behavior patterns of US troops are being observed in Afghanistan are cause for grave concern.
On the December 7 occasion reported above, shortly after the policemen were admitted to the hospital, a US Marine was also wounded by a sniper. Other Marines responded to the attack, then after the shooting died down, they immediately turned their attention to the hospital across the Euphrates River. Their assumption was that if they had wounded the attacker, he might seek help at the hospital.
However, a retired surgeon interviewed for the (antiwar.com) Inter Press Service article quoted here, said that “Americans have some imagination to think that the injured man would go to that ‘so-called’ hospital.” Any Iraqi from around here knows not to go there, “one, because of the continuous raids by the US, and two, the hospital’s near complete “lack of medicines and equipment,” stated the former physician.
Eyewitnesses add that US soldiers often raided the Fallujah hospital as if it was “a military target”.
On the day of the (December 7th) raid, nurses and staff panicked at the way the soldiers kicked open doors and blasted open other locked ones with their weapons. When a doctor tried to tell them he had the keys for a locked door, they pointed their guns at his head and threatened to shoot him.
Finally, prior to their search, the soldiers ejected all the staff from the building and kept them under guard in the near-freezing outdoor-garden until the early hours of the next morning.
The troops would not permit the staff to re-enter the hospital even to get some warm blankets…though the temperature dropped to five degrees C (41F).
“We are used to that kind of behavior from American soldiers,” said one of the hospital staff. “This is the third time I’ve been handcuffed by them, and had my face pushed into the ground.”
These allegations, if true, are in contravention of the following articles of the Geneva Conventions…to which the US is a signatory nation.
Article 12 of the First Geneva Convention states: "sick and wounded combatants shall be treated humanely and cared for by the party to the conflict in whose power they may be…any attempts on their lives, or violence to their persons, shall be strictly prohibited.”
Article 24 (First Geneva Convention) “Medical personnel exclusively engaged in transport of sick and treatment of wounded and staff..shall be protected in all circumstances.”
Article 18 (Fourth Geneva Convention) reads: "Civilian hospitals ….may in no circumstances be the object of attack…but at all times be respected and protected by the parties to the conflict. "
Why was such obviously illegal, inhuman behavior tolerated in Iraq? Is it possible that US soldiers in Iraq (and now those in Afghanistan) are not regularly informed of their responsibilities regarding the Geneva Conventions?
With General McChrystal's new plan, summarized as: "Protecting the people is the mission. The conflict will be won by pursuading the population, not by destroying the enemy."
(As stated by David Ignatius:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103429.html).
For McChrystal to garner even some form of success in that country with his policy, he will have to make significant changes in the mindset of the US forces. That he seems not to have accomplished as yet.
We must ask ourselves this question--if we routinely ignore and undermine these humane, sensible and in the end, practical codes of conduct, how can we expect the Taliban or others to respect them?
After the Fallujah hospital attack, Lt. Col Bryan Salas, spokesman for the Multinational Forces in Iraq, responded to reporter-questions by indicating he was well aware of the alleged illegality of the actions of his men. His carefully crafted response (some may describe it as cagey and hypocritical) to reporters was: “Coalition forces searched the hospital to ensure that it continues to be a safe place for the citizens of Fallujah…and to receive the medical treatment they deserve.”
However, in other cases in Iraq, US officers frankly admitted they raided hospitals, perhaps blithely unaware that it was a war crime to do so.
In this piece, posted in Gulf News, on April 25, 2008, and downloaded September 6, 2009, Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for the US military in Iraq, clearly indicates his troops are on their way to attack a psychiatric hospital in Sadr City. See entire article at: http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10208328.htm
“In the latest violence, Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a US military spokesman, said his troops were attacked on their way to raid a psychiatric hospital not far from Sadr City.
We must ask ourselves this question--if we routinely ignore and undermine these humane, sensible and in the end, practical codes of conduct, how can we expect the Taliban or others to respect them?
After the Fallujah hospital attack, Lt. Col Bryan Salas, spokesman for the Multinational Forces in Iraq, responded to reporter-questions by indicating he was well aware of the alleged illegality of the actions of his men. His carefully crafted response (some may describe it as cagey and hypocritical) to reporters was: “Coalition forces searched the hospital to ensure that it continues to be a safe place for the citizens of Fallujah…and to receive the medical treatment they deserve.”
However, in other cases in Iraq, US officers frankly admitted they raided hospitals, perhaps blithely unaware that it was a war crime to do so.
In this piece, posted in Gulf News, on April 25, 2008, and downloaded September 6, 2009, Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for the US military in Iraq, clearly indicates his troops are on their way to attack a psychiatric hospital in Sadr City. See entire article at: http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10208328.htm
“In the latest violence, Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a US military spokesman, said his troops were attacked on their way to raid a psychiatric hospital not far from Sadr City.
He said soldiers were attacked by roadside bombs and small arms fire, prompting the US military to call for helicopter support. Four gunmen were killed, Stover added. Iraqi forces eventually raided the Al Rashad psychiatric hospital but made no arrests, he said.
The hospital has been under the spotlight since its acting director was held on suspicion he was involved in passing on details of patients to Sunni Islamist Al Qaida.
He (the director) was released last week after being detained for two months. It was unclear if he was ever charged...."
Perhaps insidious illegal policies established by Bush-Cheney regarding the applicability of Geneva Conventions to the conflict, their characterizations of the enemy, and of the Moslem faith, their blatant propagandizing and their open flaunting of the rule-of-law has had its effects on the nation's thinking and particularly on the mindset of the young men and women who they sent into a war zone. But this unworthy philosophy must be renounced and unlearned for General McChrystal's and President Obama's new plans for "protecting the people and pursuading the population" in Afghanistan to ever succeed.
Get the picture?
rjk
The hospital has been under the spotlight since its acting director was held on suspicion he was involved in passing on details of patients to Sunni Islamist Al Qaida.
He (the director) was released last week after being detained for two months. It was unclear if he was ever charged...."
Perhaps insidious illegal policies established by Bush-Cheney regarding the applicability of Geneva Conventions to the conflict, their characterizations of the enemy, and of the Moslem faith, their blatant propagandizing and their open flaunting of the rule-of-law has had its effects on the nation's thinking and particularly on the mindset of the young men and women who they sent into a war zone. But this unworthy philosophy must be renounced and unlearned for General McChrystal's and President Obama's new plans for "protecting the people and pursuading the population" in Afghanistan to ever succeed.
Get the picture?
rjk
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