CPTnet
November 22, 2003
IRAQ: Destruction at Duluhaya

by Le Anne Clausen

[Note:Photos corresponding to this release will be posted shortly on
www.cpt.org/gallery.]

Recently, Anne Montgomery and I traveled north to the village of Duluhaya to
document human rights abuses committed by the US military.

On the road, traffic was at a standstill for hours due to the ambush of a US
military Humvee by Iraqi insurgents. It was taking unusually long for a
helicopter to arrive to transport the wounded. I realized what this meant:
the soldiers were probably dead.

We next visited a farm near the village, hit by US shelling on September
29th when most of the family were in the home. The family members also took
us to document bulldozed walls around the village. "Any graffiti that
opposes the US military's presence, they bulldoze the wall," said one
relative. "They could use paint if they wanted to, but they want to teach a
lesson." On one such wall, which fronted the village's school building,
someone had written, "This is Democracy?"

Next we traveled to a date palm grove where US military had destroyed more
than a thousand trees and two houses because, according to the military, an
insurgent fired upon US troops from the grove. Eighty families nearby
depended on the income from the trees, which must grow for fifteen years
before they are able to bear dates.

Our final stop for the day was a funeral. We met the family of the man
killed by US forces as he was trying to protect his wife from being beaten
by the soldiers. The soldiers ashot their 12 year-old son, wounding him in
the shoulder, torso, and thigh. They also shot up and ransacked the house
and took $1,500 and several family photographs. Just before we left, the
dead man's friends brought out a letter to show us, signed by 1st Lt. Justin
Cole at a nearby US military base. The letter, bearing the dead man's
photograph, stated that the man had been helpful to US troops previously.
The letter closes, "Please treat this gentleman with the dignity and respect
that he deserves."

 Most of the human rights abuses I saw carried out in Palestine by the
Israeli military during my two years with CPT there I have seen carried out
in Iraq by US forces in just the two months since I
arrived here. Many Iraqis speak
of initially welcoming the US troops, who removed Saddam. They were
hopeful for a peaceful, prosperous life on their farmland with their
families. What they received instead was house raids, and dead wives and
children. Now they support the armed resistance.

Traveling back along the road blocked earlier by the Humvee ambush, we
noted that all evidence of the ambush were gone--even the burn marks on the
road. It is a practice designed to increase morale of the soldiers who must
still patrol the area and to remove any signs which might raise the morale
of the resistance.

How much more will we pretend has never happened, and at what cost?

Photos corresponding to this release will be posted shortly on
www.cpt.org/gallery