Ambulance hit as US planes pound Falluja

[Aidoneus]

Who will now defend this cowardly "terrorism"?

-------------

Ambulance hit as US planes pound Falluja
Monday 13 September 2004

US forces have launched air strikes on the Iraqi town of Falluja, killing up to 18 people, including women, children and an ambulance driver.

Up to 29 others have been injured in the strikes which began at 0100 GMT on different parts of the city, just west of Baghdad.

Seven people, including the driver of an ambulance, were killed when US aircraft fired a missile at the vehicle while it was transporting casualties near the northern gate of the city.

"Every time we send out an ambulance, it gets targeted," Dr Rafia al-Isawi, director of Falluja hospital, told Aljazeera.

"How are we going to transfer casualties? This is unreasonable. The US army has no ethics.

"Shame on our government that cannot protect the people," he added.

Three homes were destroyed in al-Shurta neighbourhood, according to the doctor. "Women and men have died," he said.

Witnesses said US warplanes swooped low over the city and some of the shelling appeared to be coming from American artillery units deployed on Falluja's outskirts.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/19287CF7-A5CE-4D8F-988B-F3CB37B6F1FF.htm

[RevCheesehead]

1. that's just sickening

Targeting ambulances?

"Every time we send out an ambulance, it gets targeted," Dr Rafia al-Isawi, director of Falluja hospital, told Aljazeera.


what now? kill them BEFORE they get to Abu Ghraib?

[alittlelark]

2. Targeting ambulances?

Isn't that an Israeli tactic? I guess we're learning something from our friends.

[The Magistrate]

7. Honestly, Ms. Lark

Are you of the view that no one ever shot at an ambulance before it was done by an Israeli soldier?

They are not supposed to be shot at, but they always are, and the reason they are shot at is precisely because they are not supposed to be engaged; this suggests to clever minds that they could be safely used for other purposes than transport of casualties....

"The Fascists routinely shot at our ambulances, as we did at theirs. No one scrupled to use an ambulance to transport ammunition."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. does Mexican Red Cross count

War on drugs, shoot out, my students loaded an ARMED Second LT into their rig... we got on scene, I disarmed the LT and transfred to my Rig, they took partying shots on the way out... we no longer had any neutrality. I cuold not scream or say a thing... oh and this rarely makes it to the press, Mexican or otherwise.

By the way, iirc the israelis did find bombs in one of the ambulances they took out... and the ICRC came down HARD on the Red Crescent.

I tend to follow those things, kind of a profesional hazard.

[The Magistrate]

11. Yes, They Did, Ma'am

All that excited my ire was the attempt to portray the doing as something uniquely Israeli by Ms. Lark above; it is, as you are clearly aware, a far more general practice among those at war.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Journeyman]

15. The car bomb which drove the UN from Baghdad. . .

in the Summer of 2003 was in an ambulance. The guards just waved it through, expecting it was only transporting the injured.

Edited for spelling.

[riverwalker]

29. naw, it's just that no one does it as well

according to a (WHO) World Health Organisation report:
"Emergency medical services, such as those run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society and a number of health NGOs have been particularly targeted. There have been 234 attacks on ambulances (around 11 every month), of which 109 ambulances have been damaged and 27 totally destroyed. 773 violations of and restrictions on ambulance access to Palestinians in need of emergency medical attention have been recorded during the current crisis.
In addition, there have been 270 separate incidents where hospitals have come under Israeli military attack, including shelling and firing. The Israeli military has also temporarily occupied health clinics, and searched and detained staff. Vandalism and looting of health property and infrastructure has also occurred."

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:z0MoFMb9WHIJ:www.who.int/disasters/repo/9087.doc+number+of+Israeli+attacks+upon+ambulances&hl=en

[Radius]

12. or vice versa

http://goldwater.mideastreality.com/2004/may/28_01.html

Full video, which is not linked, shows armed man using ambulance as transport.

Not saying that this is the case here, but using medical vehicles to transport troops removes their status as protected.

Another occasion where gun camera footage would be helpful.

[DrWeird]

3. Are they saying it was a terrorist ambulance?

That was the general excuse everytime they blew up an ambulance earlier in the war.

[The Magistrate]

4. Clearly, My Friend

The resistance to the occupation is in the ascendancy; there is a stink of desperation about the current news....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BAASTARDS!"

[Buck2004]

5. wow................can you believe this?

At least 37 people were killed in Baghdad alone. Many of them died when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis swarmed around it, cheering, throwing stones and waving the black and yellow sunburst banner of Iraq's most-feared terror organization.

It's about time we did something.

[The Magistrate]

10. What Is The Name Of That Group, Fellow?

"Don't pet him, he'll expect it from us."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. A good question

because a Google search for "black and yellow sunburst" (or "yellow and black sunburst") turns up squat. Suddenly these reporters think we're all so familiar with the symbols of Iraqi resistance that they just have to describe the flag colours? Or are they making it up on the spot?

[Career Prole]

16. Say what?!

Oh...never mind, tombstone head. You can't answer anyway. Buh-bye! :hi:

[jayfish]

22. Wow, can You Watch This?

Click on the "Video" button to the right of the text.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3648786.stm

BTW: Your subject line looks like the SPAM I get at my public e-mail account. Not very subtle are you?

Jay

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I will repeat myself once again

the ICRC needs to get involved pronto and find out what the hell is going on?

If that ambulance transported any combatants who were armed, whether the crew did it willingly or not, they lost their neutrality status. As a former Red Cross Worker that happened to me ONCE, and I got shot at... my students faced the music.

If the ambulance was just shot at, again the ICRC needs to get involved

We need an investigation and we need to find PRONTO what is going on, and let the chips fall where they may.

I know, I know this is a more nuanced response to this.

[Malva Zebrina]

18. Surely we need as good as investigation as that re Abu Ghraib

Investigation? You are kidding, right? How is it that these things happen all the time according to some posts here, and NEVER has there been an "investigation ". There is no honor in war--and lately barbarism has overtaken the way we wage war. Let us just accept that pre-emptive strikes against ambulances are the norm--whether they carry four children with their guts hanging out or whether they carry some RPG's. The safest thing to assume is that they carry munitions and get it done with with no investigation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Ok another insight

the ICRC, usually, does not go public with their investigations, the work is far more "in the background." The fact that tehy went public at Abu Ghraib means that thigns were far worst than we were told.

A little kowneledge of how the red cross works and ammases data IN EVERY WAR on war crimes would help here.

[hatrack]

8. Well, that didn't take long

Funny, I was just on this board posting about ambulances, what, two hours ago?

[leftchick]

13. Here is what is left of the ambulance....

I saw footage of this massacre this morning on BBc America. They reported the driver and 6 CIVILIAN wounded who were headed to the hospital were Killed. I never believe the US version of events. The reporter ended the piece by saying every incident like this just creates more resovle among Iraqis to defy the US.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. In cases like this I don't believe either side

and I know we need the ICRC on the ground to investigate and let the chips fall where they may

Something as simople as the crew loading a casualty with a riffle is enough to strip you of your neutrality... I know, personally, this to be a fact.

If the crew does this by force (Yep some SOBs will aim guns at you thank you,) or stupidity, (my students forgot their lesson plan on International Humanitarian Law and yes were forced to stay for extra study time after that particular one), or willingly is immaterial.

If they loaded anybody into that ambulance who was armed, they have lost their neutrality.

by the way, if they happened to load a US Soldier who is armed they have lost their neutrality as well, and are free targets for the other side.

[leftchick]

17. You know if you actually looked at the video footage ,

went through the photos taken by AP,AFP and Reuters and saw when the Reporter was shot as I have, you would have noticed before the helicopter came, No one was carrying a weapon. If there had been "enemy fighters" there, they were long gone by the tme the US started killing. Are you also discounting the women and children reported killed by the Iraq Ministry of Interior?

As far as the ICRC goes, altthough it is a great idea I agree with, they left not that long ago because of the lack of security. Why the hell would they come back in even worse conditions?

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. I am not discountng ANYTHING

just taht from experience I know how footage is taken, and how it is edited in warzones... not discounting that our troops have done horrible things... they have, but a little DIRECT knowledge goes a long way in the skeptic department when it comes to shooting at ambulances.

As to the ICRC, they are still in, just not in such an obvious manner and it is their job... believe it or not,anybody who dons that uniform knows the risks.

They pulled out a large part of their legation, but if you believe they completely pulled out, who is visiting Abu Graib then? The ICRC is.

[Nordic]

21. hm, you seem to be forgetting the rules of war

you don't target hospitals or ambulances.

That's why they're labelled clearly as such.

Duh.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. I know the rules of war

I used to teach the rules of war, and I KNOW that if you load an armed patient into yoru ambulance, EITHER SIDE, or bring them ARMED into a hosptial, they loose neutrality status.

And this is far easier than you think.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. I know the rules of war

I used to teach the rules of war, and I KNOW that if you load an armed patient into yoru ambulance, EITHER SIDE, or bring them ARMED into a hosptial, they loose neutrality status.

And this is far easier than you think.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. I know the rules of war

I used to teach the rules of war, and I KNOW that if you load an armed patient into yoru ambulance, EITHER SIDE, or bring them ARMED into a hosptial, they loose neutrality status.

And this is far easier than you think.

[daa]

23. Who's in charge????? eom

[papau]

24. 15 killed in US strike on Iraqi hotspot of Fallujah

15 killed in US strike on Iraqi hotspot of Fallujah


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&nc...

15 killed in US strike on Iraqi hotspot of Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - Fifteen people died when US jets spearheaded yet another assault on alleged Al-Qaeda fighters in Fallujah while Iraq's premier warned that key elections may be delayed in areas of unrest.

Amid the country's relentless hostage crisis and desperate efforts by Paris and Rome to secure the release of four kidnapped nationals, militants said they had seized two Australian and two East Asian security contractors.
<snip>

"So far we received 15 bodies. Among them is an ambulance driver and two nurses, plus five wounded who were in the ambulance when it was bombed," said undertaker Falah Abdullah. <snip>

"They target peaceful families every day and every night. Then they say it's Zarqawi, weapons of mass destruction or terrorists they are after. Stop this destruction," said Sheikh Hamid Jaddoua.

[leftchick]

28. Good lord... the reports get worse and worse...

The US Terrorists. I hope you are proud of yourself aWol*... :grr:

[JSJ]

31. us snipers targeted and fired on ambulances, women, children...

...in an attack on Falluja earlier this year. Go troops.