SOS from Haditha
In the Name of God the Most Merciful, The most Gracious,
In the name of the people of Haditha, its women, children, and old people
We call upon you, all the people of Iraq and the world: SOS
The American troops, accompanied by the Iraqi National Guards, are waging the most ferocious attack against our town, for three days now. They violated our blood, honor, and peaceful houses where not a single piece of weapon, fighters, or armed men were found. They killed old people, women and children; they bombed the houses with airplanes. We swear by the name of God that there was not a single piece of weapon in them. They killed Sheikh Ismael Al-Zawi, speaker of Al-Seif mosque, while he was going to pray at dawn. They forced families out of their houses, occupied them and used them as their headquarters. The INGs have stolen all the houses properties, including even children and women clothes. They closed all the roads to the town hospital, the wounded were left un attended. They killed women and children without any reason; there were no fighters among them. Please help the people of Haditha; even with a word … Our sanctities, houses, women, blood, and honor are violated by the INGs who come from the south. They swear bad words against the Companions of the Prophet in the streets, and on the American Tanks. They call Ahl Assunna bad words and say "This is the day of revenge of you, Sunnis"
Ps: We have lists of victims, of killing, house damage, and thefts
………….
This message was sent from Haditha 2 weeks before we could go there early in June. Haditha, similar to almost all the towns of upper Euphrates in Iraq, is well known for its exceptionally beautiful landscapes, its thickly green island, its socially and religiously conservative society…and its bitter suffering from the occupation troops and the Iraqi National Guards.
The beautiful Haditha looked really hurt by the occupation; with the sand storm on the day we went there, the destroyed or deserted houses, the closed roads between one area and another, especially what is called the western side near the Haditha Dam where the American troops are located. The tense and prudent silence that the Hadithans insist on, suspecting any stranger…all partly explains the SOS message above.
Mohammad was going to school
On that day, the Hadithans were especially angry because Mohammad Aarif, the Genius as he is called, was killed by the American. M. Aarif is a very intelligent high school boy. Last year he finished school but got an excellent level of 92, but it does not allow him to go to the Medical College according to the Iraqi Higher Education System. So he decided to repeat the year to get more than 95 level required for the medical college. Mohammad was going to school that morning when he was shot by a sniper in the head and was killed immediately.
Mohammad Omar was with his friend M. Aarif, the genius, when both were shot inside the house. They were in the garage starting the car to go to school. Omar was going to get his final report, he just moved to last year high school. But Omar could not talk; he was still anesthetized in the hospital when we arrived. A sever shot shattered his left arm, and another one in his chest. His body was full of shrapnel.
In the same emergency room, another man, Mohammad Ibrahim, 43, a worker in the Dam was shot in his chest. His condition looked stable, "but we are concerned about the complications" Dr. Iyad explained. He was still bleeding through a chest tube. Ibrahim could barely talk:" I do not know what happened, I was driving with my friend going to work when we were shot". His friend was still in the operation room.
The Innocent are Caught…
"This is the problem" Dr. Walid Abdul Khaliq, the Haditha General Hospital director explained. "The innocent are being caught between the fighters and the American troops. Two days ago, in Al-Haqlaniya (7 kilometers to the east of Haditha), the road was cut and there were military traps that the people did not know about. A municipality employee and his son were shot; he kept on bleeding so that when we reached him he was already dead. An employee in this hospital who has just moved to a clinic was shot too, we moved him to Ramadi but he died on the way. In the Dam area 2 people were killed today and 3 injured. It is true that there are fighters here, as every where in Iraq, but the civilians who have nothing to do with the fighting are being killed: students, children… ".
-We noticed that almost all the shots are in the head and the chest?
*"That is unfortunately true." Dr. Walid added "The situation is very tense. We reached the point that when we leave our families in the morning we do not know if we are going to see them again or not, even when the situation is relatively calm. There are no signs on the road, no amplifiers saying that this or that area are "dangerous".
………
Abu Ammar, a citizen of Haditha, relates what happened.
"Haditha was a quiet town when the American came and occupied the Dam area. They began to come down inside the town. Many people do not accept this and hit them. There was resistance. Many prominent people from Haditha went to the American and asked them to stay in their headquarters in the Dam area. The streets and the market place of Haditha are very narrow as you can see, they came with theirs Humvees, Hummers and armored vehicles, they crush cars, they shot at motorcycles, on the river bank they shot a boy of sixteen…etc They did not respond to the people's demand.
What happened last month was that they surrounded al-Haqlaniya area. They bombed civilian districts with airplanes, mortars, and artillery…they killed many families who have nothing to do with the resistance, civilians, women and children…they occupied buildings and houses, the May1 hotel for example. In one car which was coming from Aaloosse, 10 people were killed, the majority was families. For four days, they shoot any one who leaves his house. Water and electricity were cut. When they entered Haditha, they began raiding houses, hitting old people, breaking things, destroying, house and shops and exploding them
They raided Sheikh Subhi's house after he criticized them in the Friday prayer speech. They insisted that he puts his official Islamic dress and turban, when he did they humiliated him in front of all the people, and hit him very badly. Every now and then they come back and hurt the people. This has been a routine procedure. You have heard what happened in the Dam area today.
What is the Dam area?
"It is the area where the employees' families of the Dam and the energy station live, around 1000 families, a residential complex; most of them are from other parts of Iraq, not from Haditha. It is called al-wastta (the middle), many people are killed in it, all civilians. Civilian houses are occupied, families are kept in one room, and soldiers occupy the whole house to be used by snipers. Some families leave their houses in such situation. They (the American) are using this area to prevent people from approaching the military base in the Dam which is 3 kilometers to the west. This area has been under siege for months. When they shoot they do not differentiate between civilians and fighters, men and women, old and children…etc. And if they look for some one, all his family and tribe are suspects.
Attalla's house was exploded and burnt
Hajj Attalla, 80, is a retired guard in an irrigation project. He has five sons living with him in the same house; four are married and each has 5-6 children, 25 persons live in his house. The sons work for daily payments in different petty jobs. On May 28, about 20 American soldiers raided the house, searched it, asked many question and left saying "thank you" after sharing Attalla his cookies, but not his water. They even gave 5 dollars to Farooq, a mentally retarded son of Attalla, who was happy with the visit. He was happier that the soldiers told him that "if any other troops came tell them that the house was already searched".
Alas,
Half an hour later another group of 30 American and Iraqi soldiers raided the house again. They were not friendly this time. They broke the furniture, used bad words with the women. Attalla tried to explain something to an Iraqi soldier but he told him "shut up". They did not find any thing in the house. They asked about one of the sons. He was at work; they arrested his brother who is still in Al-Baghdadi military base. They threatened the women that if the wanted son did not show up in 3 days they would come back for the others.
They asked every one to leave the house, not allowing them to take any thing: the documents, the money, the food, the clothes…nothing, not even the Holy Book. Few minutes later; they blew out the house from the inside and set it on fire. The soldiers prevented any body from trying to put out the fire. They remained until the house was a heap of ash, then they left. (We heard this kind of crime many times and saw many houses exploded in this way).
Attalla the Iraqi…
"I want to know why" Hajj Attalla said crying painfully, "we are innocent and poor, in this house there are 4 families. My house is burnt, my family is scattered, my son is in jail, we have nothing now, and they did not find anything in the house. Do you think if I go to the American or the Iraqi government they would listen? Where do you think I should complain? There is no authority here" Hajj Attalla asked sincerely.
His food ration paper was burnt, the pension ID, the house document. Surprisingly enough one phrase was left of the document saying "Attalla the Iraqi…". One of the daughters in law hid 500.000 ID ( $325) in the flour sac for fear of thieves, it was burnt. Eye witnesses say that the explosion was so strong that the roofs of the house flew in the air, and then every thing was on fire in one second. The news satellite channels which covered the event told Attalla and his sons to say that the house was air bombed, not exploded and burnt, as a condition to put the news on TV. The poor family did so, but a report was shown for few seconds, not mentioning any details of Attalla story.
Sheikh Ismael was shot inside his house
Sheikh Ismael al-Zawi, 60, is one of the best known personalities in Haditha. He is the Imam and Mo'athin of the Seif mosque. On May 24, at 4.20 am, he was leaving his house to the mosque to call for prayer. He was 2 meters outside the inner door when a sniper on the opposite house shot him in the head. The bullet entered the right side of his head, went out of the left side and made a whole on the wall inside the house. Sheikh Ismael had nothing to do with the fighting, had no gun, not even a bullet in his house. When a neighbor heard the noise and came to see what happened, he was shot by the same sniper, but the injury was not fatal. The bullet hole is still in the garden door. The same dawn two women (Shakiba Mish'an Motlag, 45, and Madiha Fayadh Salim, 35) and an eight year boy were killed in the same street, obviously by the same sniper(s).
-If your father was so innocent, why do you think he was targeted? We asked the Sheikh's son
* It is an expression of wrath and disappointment. Killing the innocent is inexcusable. It is violation of all the meanings of human rights and freedom which they came in its name.
Sheikh Abdul Jabbar Mi'jil:
A call for The UN and HR organizations to help lifting this injustice
Sheikh Abdul Jabbar, a retired teacher and the head of the Moslem Scholars Association in Haditha complains of too many raids, thefts, insults, arrests, killings of civilians. He believes that calling a Moslem a terrorist is an insult "a Moslem can not be a terrorist".
"Destroying houses, destroying the only hospital in the town and the area, this is terrorism. MSA office was raided three times, and completely destroyed. Nothing was left. There is an area, it is called the death area, Sheikh Abdul Jabbar explains, It is located between Al-Haqlaniya fuel station and the Haditha train station. Any car there could be targeted, especially if it stops there for any reason, a breakdown or a puncture. Many families were killed there. A whole family coming from Rawa was killed, in another family, a child was sitting between his father and uncle was shot in the head, in a place called Al-Khasfa on the outskirts of Haditha. These people are civilians, not terrorists, not even resistance which is supposed to be legal. But the American do not listen. We had a meeting with them, we asked them to stay out of the town, so that they can evade attacks. But they keep on coming down. The siege was very cruel, they wanted to revenge against the attack near the hospital, for almost a week we could not even move a curtain in a house. After the siege, they left but the airplanes kept on flying. The killings continue, many houses are flattened to the ground. There is no authority here. All our rights are violated. We tell them this enough…thank you…you have done enough of killing and destroying … go away. We call upon the UN and the human rights organizations to help us lifting the hurt, the injustice in which we have no guilt"
Another Example: Ibrahim Khalil Family
Ibrahim Khalil is a poor man, a farm worker. As usual he has a big family of five sons, all married, all have many children, and all live in the same house. More than three months ago, at 2 am the house was raided by the American and the Iraqi troops. They were asking about some body called Isam. There was no one called Isam in the house.
The mother told them that they can come in and search without breaking the doors and the furniture. They would not listen. They broke the doors, the windows…etc. They stole 450.000 ID, a hand watch, a hunting gun of 65.000ID. They arrested all the sons, including one who is paralyzed from childhood and moves on a wheel chair. They were arrested in their bed rooms. The wife of the paralyzed one was 6 months pregnant, she was badly shocked and terrified. She kept on bleeding until she gave birth to a boy. Now she can not walk, her legs do not hold her.
The mother decided not to interfere in whatever the troops did. She was worried about the children, the daughters, the daughters in law and the old man who was shivering.
The sons were dragged from their beds on the ground, their eyes and hands tied. They were taken to the Dam military base, to spend the night there and to be moved to Al-Baghdadi base the next morning. They were taken in their sleeping dresses only. It was very cold.
The sons were badly beaten in both prisons. They were asked about terrorists, and especially about some body called Oqba, whom they did not know. In Al-Baghdadi they were tortured by crushing their fingers with the soldiers' boots, and wrapping the chest with a belt and pulling it very tightly until the ribs crack, pushing the back with the boots. One of the sons was hooded with 3 sacs, folded twice, making them six. The plastic hand cuffs were tied so tightly that they went into the flesh. The strange thing is that the American soldier told the Iraqi ones to remove the folded sacs and to loosen the cuffs.
Three weeks later, three of the sons were released, one is kept in jail. He is in Abu Greib now. The mother went there 5 times asking about him, she was given wrong numbers. She had to spend the nights in the open until she found his number. She visited him twice; he is arrested for almost four months now, without a charge, just for suspicion.
-But why he was kept while his brothers are released?
*"He has 3 of his fingers cut" one of the sons replied. "10 years ago he was a worker in the military industry when he injured himself and cut his fingers. They asked why his fingers were cut and accused him of terrorism"
-This is illogical !!
* What is logical !!
Thanks to Dirk Adriaensens, BRussells Tribunal
