By JERRY MORSE
Member of Veterans Against Nuclear Arms - Canada
Humanitarian Bombs
We protest the use of precision penetration bombs in the war against the Iraqi people and call for them to be classified under the Geneva Convention as "Tactical Atomic Munitions". Functioning as designed, these bombs have nose cones made of depleted uranium. When these bombs are used they not only penetrate the target, the following explosion atomizes the nose cones, producing clouds of deadly depleted uranium dust. Mr. Rumsfeld claimed that these bombs, because of their accuracy, to be just "humanitarian weapons."
We would suggest that Mr. Rumsfeld and all the TV and radio announcers that are mouthing this lie come to Baghdad and be at the spot where these precision "humanitarian weapons" are to explode. Then, they could appear at Radio and TV news conference and claim that these depleted uranium bombs are only "humanitarian".
British Soldiers Refuse To Kill
Three British soldiers have been arrested and sent home from Iraq in order to face a court martial for refusing to take part in the war, because it is killing innocent Iraqi civilians. The men are from the 16 Air Assault Brigade based in Colchester.
The first American reservist to defy conscription into this illegal war said: "this war is immoral because of the deception involved by US leaders." He faces a court martial and a military prison for his principled stand. These "refuseniks" said: "We know that we shall be punished, but we would rather take our punishment now than live with what we would have to do in Iraq for the rest of our lives."
US Military Police Censor Foreign Journalists
The American troops have put blanket restrictions on all reporters in Iraq who report to newspapers and TV media not agreed to by the Pentagon. These reporters are then shown only what the US wants them to see and are under command of the unit’s military commander.
The journalists said that the closer they got to Baghdad the more aggressive the American troops became towards the independent journalists and the more stories were being heard of innocent lives lost.
Western Journalists Beaten By Americans
"Arab News" has learned that Luis Castro and Victor Silva, both reporters for RTP Portuguese television, were held for four days in Iraq, had their equipment, vehicle and video tapes confiscated and were then escorted out of Iraq by the 101st Airborne Division.
"I have covered 10 wars in the past six years – Angola, Afghanistan, Zaire and East Timor, but I have never been subjected to such treatment or been physically beaten before as now at the hands of the Americans" Castro said in an exclusive interview by the Arab News. "We were handcuffed, and the US soldiers took our satellite phones to call their own families back home, but they would not allow us to call our own families over our phones as reporters. When I protested, the US soldiers knocked me down to the ground and kicked me in the ribs and legs.. I know why they beat us up, because we are not part of the reporters that Pentagon considers theirs, whom they control, and through them the military feeds its own version of the facts to the world. We as independent journalists and we are looked upon as a threat" said Luis Castro.
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