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Recent
Stories
April
15, 2003
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
April
14, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush's War Without End
Uri Avnery
Gunboat Democracy: This is Only the Beginning
Wayne
Madsen
Americans: The New Mongols of the Mideast?
Shahid
Alam
Iqra: Iraq is Free
Hani
Shukrallah
Day of the Chicken Hawks
Terry
Jones
The Iraq Gravy Train
John
Chuckman
The Iraq War's Trashiest Piece of Propaganda
Patrick
Cockburn
US has a Lot to Answer For: Violence,
Misery and Poverty in Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/14
April
12 / 13, 2003
Carol
Lipton
Wag the Kennel: the Kenneth Joseph
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Wayne
Madsen
Meet the New Butcher of Baghdad: Maj.
Gen. Buford Blount III
John
Brown
"They Got It Down": the Toppling
of the Saddam Statue
Kathy and
Bill Christison
Final Thoughts from Palestine
William
Blum
Our Vulnerable Warmongers' Rush to Justify Devastation
Wallace
Gagne
Let the Stealing Begin
Ann
Harrison
Rosenthal Update: Judge Delays Ruling in Medical Pot Mistrial
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Henry Miller
What is the Greatest Treason?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Render Unto Cesar
Zeljko
Cipris
Mocking Militarism: On Ishikawa Jun's Song of Mars
Ishikawa
Jun
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Jamey Hecht
Chairman of the Sandwich Board
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Engel
Hell of a Town: Mayor Bloomberg and
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Chang Yang-Hao, Adam Engel and Hammond Guthrie
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Perry
War Web Log 4/12
April
11, 2003
Omar
Barghouti
From Saddam to Uncle Sam
Ron
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Greed is Rewarded
David
Vest
The Corporate War on Iraq
Paul
de Rooij
Propaganda Stinkers: Fresh Samples from the Field
Anthony
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Foreign Aid: Embezzlement as Public Policy
Mas'ood
Cajee
Franklin Graham: Spiritual Carpetbagger
Michael
Neumann
Now What?
Michael
Berry
The Neo-Cons Have a Dream
Stew Albert
Oh Freedom
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/11
Website
of the Day
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April
10, 2003
Zoltan
Grossman
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the Victory, the Harder the Peace
Uri
Avnery
The Night After
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The Telltale Signs of Empire
David Krieger
Before You Become Too Flushed with Victory, Think of Ali Ismaeel
Abbas
Jeremy
Brecher
What Can the World Do Now That Tanks Prowl Baghdad?
Robert
Jensen
The Unseen War
Geoffrey
Neale
Ashcroft's War on the Constitution:
A Patriot Attack on America
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Last Tango in Baghdad
Hammond
Guthrie
Rumors of War
Joseph
Heller
Nately's Old Man
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/10
Website
of the Day
The
Third Page
April
9, 2003
David
Lindorff
Secret Bechtel Docs Reveal: Yes,
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Doug
Lummis
Saving Private Lynch: Hollywood and
War
Susan
Davis
The New York Times and the Peace Movement
David Vest
Smoking Gun? You're Watching It
John
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America's Sovereign Right to Do
as It Damn Well Pleases
Akiva
Eldar
Gary Bauer and AIPAC: an Unholy Alliance
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Ray
Hanania
Suicide Bombers without the Suicide:
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Steve
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War Web Log 4/9
April
8, 2003
David
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Killing the Messengers: It Doesn't
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Richard
Lichtman
Dr. Phil in the Trenches
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Brown
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Ben
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Report from the Oakland Docks: "The
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Jason Leopold
FERC and Wall Street: Conversations
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Conyers Heeds the Call on Perle
Linda Heard
Journalists Die, the Networks Lie, Iraqis Ask "Why?"
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Faruqui
Wallowing in Hypocrisy
Wallace
Gagne
Baghdad Babble
Harry
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Report from the Protests at the Bush/Blair
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Larry Kearney
I Understand There's a Boy in
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Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/8
M. Shahid
Alam
The Israelization of America
April
7, 2003
Todd
Chretien
Wooden Bullets & Grenades: Oakland
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David
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Harry Browne
War and Peace Summit a Royal Farce
Gideon
Levy
America is Not a Role Model
Diane
Christian
A Scene from an Obscene War
Jules
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Remembering Deir Yassin
James Davis
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Robert
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The Twisted Language of War
Patrick
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Slaughter on the Road to Dibagah
John
Mackay
War and Art
Seth Sandronsky
Wars and the Color Line
Steve
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War Web Log 4/7
April
5, 2003
Alexander
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The Iraqi Humanitarian Relief is
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Anne
Gwynne
A Drowning in Salem
Uri
Avnery
Roadmap to Nowhere
Chris
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Hell for Leather: Bombs, Bullets, Bibles and Bush
William
Cook
Would You Have Sent Your Son (or Daughter) Off to War If...
Gila
Svirsky
A Busy Day for Bulldozers
Mike Ferner
Back from Baghdad: What Next for the Peace Movement?
Joanne
Mariner
Civilian Deaths and Official Apologies
John Stanton
Bush Takes His Killing Orders
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Romi
Mahajan
Learning to Count the Dead
Aluf Benn
After Iraq, US Vows to Deal with
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Mary
Ellen Peterson
Gay Marine Refuses to Fight
William
MacDougall
Country Music and the Crimes of Patriotism
Ron
Jacobs
War and Occupation
Bernie
Pattison
Aborigines and the Different God
Mark
Engler
Iraq War as Arms Expo
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Li'l Box of Love: a Novelini
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Tripp, Albert, Katz
Jeffrey
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Flesh and Its Discontents: the Paintings of Lucian Freud
Norman
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Canada and the War
April
4, 2003
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Colin Powell's Shame
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Was Einstein Right About Israel?
David
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The Meaning of Victory
Tom
Gorman
The Mantra of the Troops: Support
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The Absence of War
Vijay
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There Are No More Arguments
Tom
Stephens
The End of the Innocence
Mickey
Z.
Makes Me Sic (Sic): Copy Editing
Bush Speak
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Tristam
War Coverage: a Dishonest Reality
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Hammond
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The Deadly Mihrab
Steve
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War Web Log 04/04
April
3, 2003
Uri
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A Crooked Mirror: Presstitution and
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David
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Can You Hear the Silence?
Anthony
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Colin Powell Telemarketer
David
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Takoma: the Dolphin Who Refused
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Michael
Roberts
War, Debts and Deficits
Ramzy
Baroud
Now That Iraqis Are Being Killed Is Israel Any More Secure?
Jo Wilding
From Baghdad with Tears
Anton
Antonowicz
Cluster Bombs on Babylon
Alison
Weir
Israel, We Won't Forget Rachel Corrie
Bruce
Jackson
Hating Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Eliot Katz
War's First Week
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War Web Log 04/03
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April 16,
2003
Embedded Photographer:
"I Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
by
MICHEL GUERRIN
for Le Monde
Translated for CounterPunch
by NORMAN MADARASZ
Laurent Van der Stockt, a photographer working
for the Gamma agency and under contract for the New York Times
Magazine, followed the advance of the 3/4 Marines (3rd battalion,
4th regiment) for three weeks, up to the taking of Baghdad on
April 9. He was accompanied by New York Times Magazine
editor, Peter Maas. Born in Belgium in 1964, Laurent Van der
Stockt mainly works in conflict zones: the first Gulf War, Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan, Chechnya, Africa and the Occupied Territories. This
is his eyewitness account of the Marines' march to Baghdad:
"Everything began at the Kuwait/Iraq
border. I forced my way into the country and arrived at Safwan.
American soldiers had seized the opportunity to tear up portraits
of Saddam Hussein on the main street. They were doing this right
in front of the local inhabitants, whose elation quickly vanished.
The soldiers obviously didn't imagine that it was up to the Iraqis
to be doing this, or that it was humiliating for them. These
were the same soldiers who would topple down Saddam's statue
in Baghdad three weeks later...
I understood that the Marines' general
strategy was to not waste any time. In the cities they crossed,
the Marines had to make a show of force. Then they would resume
their advance by going as fast as possible up by the east through
the desert, and avoid any contact with the population. It takes
an effort to picture what an army looks like as it advances through
the sands. It's an anthill. It's more than a city on the march.
It's a world whose extremities are never seen. It's a cutting
edge, mechanical version of Julius Caesar's army.
During the first few days, with colleagues
from the New York Times and Newsweek, I tried to
follow the convoys in a SUV by playing hide-and-seek. We were
spending a lot of time then with the 1 500 Marines of the 3/4,
commanded by Colonel Bryan P. McCoy. His troops gave us water,
gas and food. In exchange for their tolerance, we respected the
rules to not pass the convoy and to camp at such and such a place.
We were just barely tolerated. The colonel could see that the
'few jokers were behaving well'. He knew we had experienced more
wars than his own troops.
For McCoy, we were obviously interesting
right from the start. We were the ones who could tell his story.
Trust settled in between us. He let us drive at the head of the
convoy. The Marines are generally less privileged than the army.
They're trained to do the dirty work, the less honorary jobs.
They have the oldest tanks, and the least up-to-date M16 rifles.
They themselves translate 'USMC' (United States Marine Corps)
by United States Misgodded Children, i.e. the US' forgotten children,
forgotten by God.
Their motto is 'Search and Kill'. The
'Kilo' unit is nicknamed 'Killer Kilo'. The words 'Carnivore'
or 'Blind Killer' are painted on their tanks. McCoy could snap
with a 'Shame on You' a smile flashing across his face
to the sniper who had just finished telling him: 'I've
got eight, Sir, but only five'. Literally meaning: I've shot
eight, but only five of them are dead.
I've never seen a war with so few 'returns'.
The Iraqi army was like a ghost. It barely existed. Over the
three weeks, I only saw the adversary fire a few short-range
rockets and a few shots. I saw deserted trenches, a dead Iraqi
soldier lying next to a piece of bread and some old equipment.
Nothing that really made you feel that there was a real confrontation
going on, nothing comparable to the massiveness of the means
at the Americans' disposal.
On April 6, we were at the outskirts
of Baghdad, facing a strategic bridge the Americans called 'the
Baghdad Highway Bridge'. Residential zones were now much greater
in number. American snipers got the order to kill anything coming
in their direction. That night a teenager who was crossing the
bridge was killed.
On the morning of April 7, the Marines
decided to cross the bridge. A shell fell onto an armored personnel
carrier. Two marines were killed. The crossing took on a tragic
aspect. The soldiers were stressed, febrile. They were shouting.
The risk didn't appear to be that great, so I followed their
advance. They were howling, shouting orders and positions to
each other. It sounded like something in-between a phantasm,
mythology and conditioning. The operation was transformed into
crossing the bridge over the River Kwai.
Later, there was some open terrain. The
Marines were advancing and taking up position, hiding behind
mounds of earth. They were still really tense. A small blue van
was moving towards the convoy. Three not-very-accurate warning
shots were fired. The shots were supposed to make the van stop.
The van kept on driving, made a U-turn, took shelter and then
returned slowly. The Marines opened fire. All hell broke loose.
They were firing all over the place. You could hear 'Stop firing'
being shouted. The silence that set in was overwhelming. Two
men and a woman had just been riddled with bullets. So this was
the enemy, the threat.
A second vehicle drove up. The same scenario
was repeated. Its passengers were killed on the spot. A grandfather
was walking slowly with a cane on the sidewalk. They killed him
too (SEE PHOTO IN LE MONDE). As with the old man, the Marines
fired on a SUV driving along the river bank that was getting
too close to them. Riddled with bullets, the vehicle rolled over.
Two women and a child got out, miraculously still alive. They
sought refuge in the wreckage. A few seconds later, it flew into
bits as a tank lobbed a terse shot into it.
Marines are conditioned to reach their
target at any cost, by staying alive and facing any type of enemy.
They abusively make use of disproportionate firepower. These
hardened troops, followed by tons of equipment, supported by
extraordinary artillery power, protected by fighter jets and
cutting-edge helicopters, were shooting on local inhabitants
who understood absolutely nothing of what was going on.
With my own eyes I saw about fifteen
civilians killed in two days. I've gone through enough wars to
know that it's always dirty, that civilians are always the first
victims. But the way it was happening here, it was insane.
At the roughest moment, the most humane
of the troops was called Doug. He gave real warning shots. From
800 yards he could hit a tire and, if that wasn't enough, then
the motor. He saved ten lives in two hours by driving back civilians
who were coming towards us.
Distraught soldiers were saying: 'I ain't
prepared for this, I didn't come here to shoot civilians.' The
colonel countered that the Iraqis were using inhabitants to kill
marines, that 'soldiers were being disguised as civilians, and
that ambulances were perpetrating terrorist attacks.'
I drove away a girl who had had her humerus
pierced by a bullet. Enrico was holding her in his arms. In the
rear, the girl's father was protecting his young son, wounded
in the torso and losing consciousness. The man spoke in gestures
to the doctor at the back of the lines, pleading: "I don't
understand, I was walking and holding my children's hands. Why
didn't you shoot in the air? Or at least shoot me?"
In Baghdad, McCoy sped up the march.
He stopped taking the time to search houses one-by-one. He wanted
to get to Paradise Place as soon as possible. The Marines were
not firing on the thickening population. The course ended with
Saddam's statue being toppled. There were more journalists at
the scene than Baghdadis. Its five million inhabitants stayed
at home."
Interviewed by Michel Guerrin for LE MONDE, April 12, 2003.
Translated for CounterPunch by Norman
Madarasz (nmphdiol@yahoo.ca).
Today's
Features
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
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