Iraq: Outrage Spreads Over New Images
by Dahr Jamail
antiwar: New footage of British soldiers beating up young Iraqi men in Amarah in 2003 and the release of more photographs of atrocities by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison have spread outrage across Iraq.
The timing of the new images is potent, in the wake of violence spreading through Iraq and much of the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad carried by a Danish newspaper and then other European publications.
"We in Basra have decided not to cooperate in any way with the British troops," 43-year-old food merchant Ali Shehab Najim told IPS. "These occupiers of Basra are invaders, and we will not sell them any of their requirements."
Najim added, "None of us will work with them any longer, either. My cousin used to work with them inside their base, but not anymore. He refuses to go to work, and we have decided to show our contempt for them in every way possible."
Najim said people are particularly angry over the Danish military presence in Iraq.
He said he had first accepted the presence of occupation forces, but now "I think it's about time to tell them we do not respect them since they are behaving in a very bad way."
After footage of British troops beating young Iraqis with fists and batons was aired earlier, the governorate of Basra announced it had severed ties to the British military. This included cancellation of joint security patrols.
"We condemn any of those actions by British and American troops in torturing our young people," former head city councilor of Basra governorate Qasim Atta al-Joubori told IPS.
"Iraqis suffered a lot during the past 35 years, but now they are tortured by foreigners who invaded our country," said al-Joubori, who was a city councilor in Basra for 40 years. "We can't accept having them any more." Read more
antiwar: New footage of British soldiers beating up young Iraqi men in Amarah in 2003 and the release of more photographs of atrocities by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison have spread outrage across Iraq.
The timing of the new images is potent, in the wake of violence spreading through Iraq and much of the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad carried by a Danish newspaper and then other European publications.
"We in Basra have decided not to cooperate in any way with the British troops," 43-year-old food merchant Ali Shehab Najim told IPS. "These occupiers of Basra are invaders, and we will not sell them any of their requirements."
Najim added, "None of us will work with them any longer, either. My cousin used to work with them inside their base, but not anymore. He refuses to go to work, and we have decided to show our contempt for them in every way possible."
Najim said people are particularly angry over the Danish military presence in Iraq.
He said he had first accepted the presence of occupation forces, but now "I think it's about time to tell them we do not respect them since they are behaving in a very bad way."
After footage of British troops beating young Iraqis with fists and batons was aired earlier, the governorate of Basra announced it had severed ties to the British military. This included cancellation of joint security patrols.
"We condemn any of those actions by British and American troops in torturing our young people," former head city councilor of Basra governorate Qasim Atta al-Joubori told IPS.
"Iraqis suffered a lot during the past 35 years, but now they are tortured by foreigners who invaded our country," said al-Joubori, who was a city councilor in Basra for 40 years. "We can't accept having them any more." Read more
posted by exoplanet at 2:48 PM
<< Home