Looters ransack Baghdad / UN accuses USA, UK of violating Geneva Convention (merged)

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Whats more precious?

**Amnesty Says Iraq Oil Better Protected Than People **

LONDON (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty International accused U.S.-led forces on Tuesday of being better prepared for the defense of Iraq’s oil wells than of its people and infrastructure.

“There seems to have been more preparation to protect the oil wells than to protect hospitals, water systems or civilians,” Irene Khan, secretary-general of the British-based group, told a news conference in London.

“And the first taste of the coalition’s approach to law and order will not have inspired confidence in the Iraqi people.”

Washington and London deny suggestions that the invasion of Iraq was linked to its large oil reserves, and have vowed to make sure any oil profits are collected by Iraqis.

But since the fall of Saddam Hussein last week, water shortages and looting in parts of Iraq have proved awkward counterpoints to the widely televised popular celebrations.

Khan acknowledged that guarding oil wells and protecting people were two very different tasks, but she said the focus among U.S. and British commanders on their liberating role in Iraq made the people’s welfare an even larger issue for them.

“Protecting people should be a primary responsibility of any power that expects to enter a country and justifies its intervention on the basis of liberating the people or protecting their rights,” she said.

On Iraq’s future, Amnesty objected to leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) taking part in a new government because of alleged rights violations during a civil war in the mid-1990s.

Amnesty said the groups, which have shared control of northern Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, were responsible for many civilian deaths and widespread torture.

Amnesty repeated calls for a U.N. commission to investigate human rights abuses both before and during the conflict, similar to the United Nations’ role after war in the former Yugoslavia.

Khan said U.S. and British soldiers were subject to international law on occupying forces, and obliged to protect Iraqi human rights while they were there.

With Iraq’s city police forces being rebuilt, Khan called for strong vetting procedures to make sure no one accused of rights abuses was reinstated as a policeman.

As for reform of the broader criminal justice system, that was a job for the U.N. or an elected Iraqi government, she said.

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I was just about to post that :biggthumb

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First things first (first priority always wins).

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Priorities, priorities. Oil before blood. Why am i not surprised?

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Wherever the American’s go seem to be followed by destruction…

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Human rights group Amnesty International accused U.S.-led forces on Tuesday of being better prepared for the defense of Iraq's oil wells than of its people and infrastructure.

How ironic, but so true...

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Yes, those crazy Anglo Saxon invaders have surely given the Iraqis some secret and hypocritical potion that turns them into pillaging marauders. It even causes "religous" mobs to stab and shoot thier holy leaders in mad frenzies.

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^ IF only they were Christian preferably Southern Baptist, none of this would have happened....well hope they can be saved by blah blah's purse

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Seminole: *
...
[/QUOTE]

The US is to busy killing Iraqi demonstrators these days to be concentrating on stopping acts of looting etc...

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Looters rape hospital patients, 17 April 2003

Some patients in a Baghdad psychiatric hospital were raped as looters ransacked the building over a three-day spree, the international Red Cross was told today.

The director of the Al-Rashad hospital in eastern Baghdad told representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross that the rapes took place as looters stripped the hospital – burning what they could not take – between April 9 and 11.

All 1,050 patients fled the hospital, the ICRC said.

“Only 300 patients have so far returned but their living conditions are dire. The hospital lacks sufficient water, it has no water for washing or cleaning, meaning it is extremely dirty, and only very limited food is available for patients,” the Red Cross.

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Dear God, that is absolutely terrible. Iraq has descended into anarchy and terror of barbaric proportions - is this what people call “liberation”?

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This morning on CNN I heard that three of Pres. Bush's Cultural advisors have resigned, protesting over the apathy of US forces to protect cultural treasures of Iraq. They accused the military of prioritizing security of oil fields over protection of hospitals and cultural centers.

Also heard that UNESCO is proporsing a ban on all Iraqi exports and sales of historical artifacts, to try and capture the looted artifacts.

Don't know how effective all this will be, but more importantly it highlights the fact that many high-level officials and organizations are not buying the US story that US was unable to protect the looting of hospitals and museum/libraries cz it was in a combat operation trying to secure areas of Baghdad.

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Reminds me when everyone was cheering Taliban when they destroyed Buddhas. Now all of a sudden ancient art has value. Lucky for them advisors they were not working for Saddam, else they will be hung in the museum God bless freedom to resign.

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It's accurate that three Bush advisors, Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, all resigned in protest of the US military's passive stance vis-a-vis the lootings. What does it say about us when three adults resign over the looting of 2500-year old Sumerian pottery, yet no one speaks out when patients at a hospital are raped by looters? Where were the brave American and British "boys" then when Iraqi women were being raped? oh sorry, i forgot.... probably standing guard over the more precious oil wells.

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Were the women rapped by the Sunnis or the Shia Iraqis? Yeah, bloody Kafirs boys standing and watching such brutality.

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NYA, you can save your wit for other things but don't trivialize a rape. Who the he** cares if they were Shias or Sunnis? They were bloody raped.

i never realized that to be raped, meant to be liberated. i am sure those Iraqi women are rejoicing in their new-found liberation courtesy of the American and British troops, who were supposed to protect them. Maybe if the hospitals had been located closer to an oil well, then they might have got some protection afterall.

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Nadia, but how does it make the Soldiers guilty (did they force the people to rap women??). They are not the ones who were rapping? Do you see what I am saying? Why don’t you blame the rapists, but no. You wont. Caz the US has to be blamed for everything. Well, you can keep doing that. And the US will keep doing what it has to. Caz, the commentators voices do not stop from the Americans for doing what is right. Were you happy when the butcher was rapping the whole nation? Oh yeah, you wanted the sanctions to be lifted, so he could keep doing what he did best.

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NYA by that account we should be apathetic to any crimes committed in NY cuz hey.. the police can do so much .. whoever is unlucky to be violated in Central Park should just find comfort in the fact that it was a fellow countryman.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
It's accurate that three Bush advisors, Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, all resigned in protest of the US military's passive stance vis-a-vis the lootings. What does it say about us when three adults resign over the looting of 2500-year old Sumerian pottery, yet no one speaks out when patients at a hospital are raped by looters? Where were the brave American and British "boys" then when Iraqi women were being raped? oh sorry, i forgot.... probably standing guard over the more precious oil wells.
[/QUOTE]

You've got to love this thought process. When an Iraqi rapes an Iraqi, it has got to be an American's fault. When an Iraqi steals pottery from an Iraqi museum, it has got to be an American's fault. There is clearly something in the mentality of these Iraqis that raping and pillaging (not to mention chopping clerics up with machettes) is acceptable behaviour. Do you think maybe the only way that the basest instincts of the Iraqi people can be controlled is through oppressive, dictatorial rule by a tyrant like Saddam?

I saw a story today where Iraqis who had looted various items returned them to a mosque after the cleric told them that conduct was wrong. Quite asking where the Americans are. They're still pretty busy catching bullets in various places in Iraq, finding $320 million in cash stowed away in one of Saddam's guest houses, searching for bad guys, and providing enough security to try to get humanitarian relief to the people. Where are the Imans? Where are the teachers? Even the Iman who got people to bring stuff back said something to the effect, "while looting is bad and against the Koran, it is understandable."

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NYA, your reply makes no sense whatsoever. i'll give you one wild guess who the occupying powers are right now in Iraq - US and UK. You know the stipulations of the Geneva Conventions as well as i do - occupying powers are legally responsible for ensuring the protection of the citizens within their jurisdiction. Not just protection, but their fundamental rights (right to access medicines, potable water, etc.). Answer my question - how is it that all of Iraq's oil wells can be so easily and rapidly secured, yet hospitals are apparently so difficult? How much American/British resources would it take to park a tank outside a hospital armed with 15 soldiers? Is that so hard?

MyVoice,
>>still pretty busy catching bullets in various places in Iraq<<
Sorry, i have no sympathies right now. They wouldn't have to catch any bullets if they hadn't placed themselves squarely in Iraq in the first place. You go there, you face the consequences.

As for the Iraqi women who were raped - shame on all of you for being apologists for this sickest of crimes.