Gorilla’s Guides

Mohammed Ibn Laith

The American invasion of Irak has failed. It was doomed to failure from the start. The failure was not only predictable but was widely predicted. Those of us who predicted its failure were excoriated, and in some cases subjected to professional and personal attacks which we will neither forgive nor forget. In this the third part of our collaborative posting I outline the magnitude of that failure and set the scene for the remaining postings in the series.

“The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it.” Source: What’s an Iraqi Life Worth?

“But this is America, the so-called guardian of humanity, and killing people for them is like drinking water. I shall go after them until I avenge the blood of my son.”

“A Well Known Military Tactic Engaged In Exclusively By Losers”

Actions have consequences, unpleasant actions typically have unpleasant consequences, brutal and barbaric actions typically have brutal and barbaric consequences.  The failure of the American invasion of Irak was inevitable. The magnitude of that failure has been exacerbated by a consistent pattern of brutality and of lawless behaviour by American troops and their commanders.

Nothing short of complete withdrawal of all invading troops from Iraki soil will even begin to rectify the situation in Irak. And the inevitable result of American policies and tactics in Irak mean that that withdrawal will be both accompanied and followed by extreme violence. 

In this part of a collaborative multipart posting parts 1 and 2 of which are here. I discuss recent events in Irak and lay the groundwork for putting them into a framework to help those of our readers who unfamiliar with Irak and unfamiliar with military doctrine understand what is going on Irak. While it has been clear for a long period that that the American invasion and subsequent occupation of Irak is a failure it can be helpful for lay readers to have a watershed event to use as a starting point or point of reference. The Al-Sadriya market bombing was just such an event.

markfromireland

The Al-Sadriya Market Bombing

The truck bomb that detonated in the street market of Baghdad’s Sadriya district killing more than 130 people and wounding more than 300 were was just such an event. That particular market has repeatedly been targeted by bombers. Three bombs in December of 2006 killed 51 for example. On February 10th Mohammed Ibn Laith wrote about the most recent major bombing. In that posting he cited several other examples of marketplace bombings all of which either I or one of my colleagues have written about, here, here, here, here, and here.

About Al-Sadriya Market

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“When I said I did not know their whereabouts, the four soldiers led me to another house and raped me,”

My husband and brothers are all detained and only women are left in the house

As I reported in this posting several other rape cases are coming to light. To refresh you memory here is what I wrote two days ago:

Rape Cases:

The Iraqi Accord called upon the government to protect the human rights of women during arrest and search operations by its troops. At a press conference today Abdel Nasser al-Janabi called for female detainees to be released and said that the rape incident involving Ms. al-Janabi was not the only such that had occurred, that similar cases. not declared had taken place on Palestine Street and Haifa Street amongst other areas.

As I also wrote in that posting:

I am disgusted even at the thought of an Iraki sinking to the level of an American soldier. They will be dealt with and they know it. Your puppet Maliki will be also be dealt with.

I am reproducing below the “more” link and without comment the entire text of a feature published by the independent Iraki news agency Aswat Al Iraq. The text was been published both in Arabic and in English. The Arabic language article received wide attention. I would advise our western readers to handle with care reports in the western Media of how Iraki media are reporting this. In the west it is being reported as a strictly sectarian issue. In large measure they are relying upon translations of articles in Iraki newspapers, American spokesmen, and American “experts” such as Professor Cole, a man who has never lived in Irak and who when he appears on Al Jazeerah speaks in English not Arabic.

What these western “experts” are not telling you but I will is that when you read something, particularly an editorial, or a “comment and analysis” piece from Irak  you need to know who it is who owns the newspaper or TV station, or magazine, in question, and which political party or faction they support. Aswat Al Iraq and Al Sabah Al Jadeed are independent which is why concentrate on reports from them.

What I will also tell is that reports of what is being said in the large and important Mosques can be very misleading. This is why we rarely report the sermons from the large mosques. Far more indicative of Iraki public opinion is what is said in the small neighbourhood mosques, and the mosques in the Qadhas. What is being said there by Sunni and Shia alike is that the rape of any Iraki woman is a crime that calls for vengance and the blame is being laid squarely where it belongs, at the feet of the American people whose government and army has repeatedly raped our land and its people.

Do you think it is an accident that we call your army “the rapist army?” Do you think that rape of Abeer was the only such committed by your troops? Do you think that the rapes being committed by the puppet army of your puppet government are the only such? 

Enjoy your surge - your puppet government will not last long now. The choice was yours, you chose to invade, you chose to permit your soldiers behave infinitely worse than Saddam ever did, you chose to set up a rigged election, when even that did not work for you you got rid of your first puppet Al Jaafari, and demanded that Al Maliki be put in his stead.

Enjoy your surge. It will not be long now. As for me, I shall content myself with repeating what my young colleague Mohammed the son of Laith the Imam says:

Predators can become prey.

I am looking forward to going hunting, it will be quite like the old days.

Saba Ali Ihsaan,
Baghdad,
Irak.
 

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These two children are Ahmed Qassim Hamza and Mohammed Qassim Hamza.

Ahmed is the boy on the left has the age of 9. His brother Mohammed is 11. They are not much older than the children I teach in our school in the refugee camp that I and my children live in.

They are not much older than my children.

These two children all that is left of the the family of Iraki 14 year old girl Abeer who was raped and murdered in Mahmoudiya by 5 US soldiers. The 5 American animals in uniform did this because they wanted to and because they could for no other reason. And now your dirty American rapist soldiers the ones who got caught are crying like bad children who have been caught doing something wrong. This is what your “brave American soldiers” did to the family of these two children:

1. Their father Qasim Hamza Raheem’s head was “smashed” by bullets.
2. Their mother Fakhriyah Taha Muhsin was murder by Americans shooting her in the head.
3. American soldiers shot their seven year old younger sister Hadeel Qasim Hamza dead. Maybe we should be grateful that they didn’t rape her too.
4. Their fourteen year old sister Abeer Qasim Hamza first raped then shot and her body burnt.

Their sister Abeer heard all of this being done as she was being raped by your brave American boys. Your brave American boys whose parents brought them up to believe that they could behave as they wish in other people’s homes. Your brave American boys who steal constantly when they smash in the doors to our homes to force their way in. . If you are the wife of an American soldier ask him which Iraki home he stole your new rings and earrings from. No do not bother he probably will not know. We all look the same to you don’t we?

I am not interested in hearing from Americans about forgiveness or justice or mercy. I give thanks to God that I am not an American. When you have sent your rapist invaders to an Iraki court to be tried and sentenced according to Iraki law then we can start talking about “mercy” and “forgiveness.”

The only reason these two boys are not dead is because they were away at school. When they came back from school they saw what your brave American boys had done to their family and to their home.

1. They could see their dead parents.
2. They could see and smell the blood of their murdered parents.
3. They could see their dead sister Hadeel.
4. They could see the flames in their home set on fire by the same American soldiers who had murdered and raped the people they loved.

Their cousin Abu Firas Janabi found them standing crying in front of the door to their home. the home that the brave American soldiers set on fire after murdering their family, and raping their sister, they could see the dead bodys of their parents and the dead body of their younger sister.

There is no excuse for what your American troops do. But there is a reason they did this because they were Americans and they wanted to do it so they did. They did it because they were badly brought up by bad parents in a bad country. Yes their parents are bad people If they were decent people who had done their job properly their sons would not be in my country preying upon Iraki children like mine and like the sister of these two boys.

Zeynab

I read this on Reuters and was so grateful I thought I should send you a postcard:

RAMADI, Iraq, Feb 22 (Reuters) - U.S. forces killed at least 12 insurgents and wounded three others in a six-hour gunbattle in Ramadi involving heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and air strikes, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Residents in Ramadi said three buildings were destroyed in the clashes. A civil defence official and an ambulance driver, both of whom declined to be identified, said as many as 26 people were killed, including some women and children.

A Reuters photographer saw the bodies of an infant and a young boy who had been pulled from the rubble of one of the demolished buildings. At least one other body, which appeared to be that of an adult, was wrapped in a blanket.

“We have no reports of civilian casualties and there were no coalition casualties,” said Lieutenant Shawn Mercer, a spokesman for U.S. Marines operating in western Iraq.

“The firefight lasted approximately six hours, and resulted in at least 12 AIF (anti-Iraqi forces) killed and three wounded.”

He said the battle started on Wednesday evening when gunmen attacked U.S. forces in the east of Ramadi, the capital of restive Anbar province and a volatile Sunni insurgent stronghold that U.S. forces have always battled to control.

“The scale of the fight eventually led to coalition forces using precision-guided munitions (air strikes) and causing damage to a number of structures,” Mercer said in an email response to questions

Source: Reuters AlertNet - U.S. says 12 militants killed in Iraq gunfight

Mohammed Ibn Laith