Iraq wife "to sue US"

[Briar]

Perhaps this will smoke the truth out...

IRAQ WIFE 'TO SUE U.S'
Exclusive By Andy Lines And Kevin Maguire

THE widow of an al-Jazeera journalist killed in Iraq by an American attack is considering suing the US Government.

Kuwaiti-born Tariq Ayyoub, 35, died when the station's Baghdad office was bombed in April 2003.

Now his wife Dima may take legal action. On Tuesday the Daily Mirror reported that George Bush planned to attack al-Jazeera's HQ in Doha, capital of Qatar.

Dima said: "The report proves the cold-blooded murder of my husband.

...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16407582%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=iraq%2dwife%2d%2dto%2dsue%2du%2ds%2d%2d-name_page.html

[Lowell]

1. Of course they always go after

the leakers and not the criminals. Lets hope something comes of all this and it is not swept under the rug like the DSM.

[raysr]

2. They should ALL sue us.

[Charles19]

3. According to traditional Islamic law

In war (or any other time obviously) one cannot kill women or children. The US used a lot of weapons when fighting people in Iraq that were so devastating they killed a lot of women and children too. Probably killed a lot of normal Iraqi men who were just sitting at home but I won't get into that for this discussion.

Anyway in traditional Islamic law one cannot kill women or children in a war and if they do, they must pay for their actions. I won't get into all the details of what pay is, whether monetary, punishment, etc. because it is not important for the point I want to make. The point being the U.S. after having used some weapons that they shouldn't have, and causing more devastation than they should have could score a lot of points in the Iraqi's hearts and minds by paying retributions to families who have had people killed that were not combatants.

It is the right thing to do and the only thing that could start to sway family members away from revenge. Every person I have talked to from the region or articles of people knowledgeable of the region say when an Iraqi is harmed his whole family is going to go for revenge against the person or group who harmed them. Most cultures would do this but it is always emphasized the Iraqi's REALLY REALLY do this.

So after such nonsense as using white phosphorus (http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=10683), the top US priority should be to get these hearts and minds on the US side and not looking for revenge. The best way to do this would be for reparations to families and communities and to publicize it to the people of the region that this is being done. It will show that the US is concerned with righting wrongs and that the US cares about Justice.

[lostnfound]

4. I have her husband's picture on the wall behind my computer

Mr. Ayyoub was the father of a toddler when he was killed. I heard his story on DemocracyNow right after it happened.
His colleagues said that he always wore a helmet and bulletproof vest in Iraq, because he had promised his wife he would stay safe, and come home to her and to their child.

His little girl is about the same age as my little boy.
She was only 14 months old at the time. Seems like an age where you might say "well, she hardly even knew him". Unless you had one of your own. At fourteen months, half of her known world was taken from her.

I put the picture up on my wall as a reminder of the great personal costs and the individual stories behind every single death over there.

[Peace Patriot]

5. There is an excellent documentary on Al-Jazeera called "Control Room."

You can get it from Netflix. It made me envious and nostalgic for the time when we, too, had energetic, idealistic, rambunctious, young news organizations, and journalists who were intellectually curious, and innately distrustful of power, and would take risks to get a story. Our news organizations and journalists have grown cynical and overly controlled, by comparison--wholly owned subsidiaries of War, Inc.--and the only one of them with any independence or commitment to the truth in Iraq is Knight-Ridder, which is currently being subjected to a hostile takeover by rightwing investors.

I remember when Tariq Ayyoub's husband was killed. And it's in the film. The news company had notified the U.S. forces of the coordinates of their news offices in Baghdad, to protect their people--and instead the U.S. military used the coordinates to bomb it--in a direct reflection of the lack of honor demonstrated by Bush, Cheney, Rove and their junta on all matters. These are vile men running our country--the sort of men who would shoot a soldier waving a white flag, if they ever found themselves on a battlefield. Of course they did that in Gulf War I--bombed and strafed columns of retreating Iraqi soldiers, leaving miles of carnage along the road. And the only positive outcome that they may leave in their wake--if we can ever rid ourselves of them--is that they ripped the veil off the monstrous global corporate predators who have taken over our nation.

Tariz Ayyoub is exactly right. They murdered her husband--as they have done other journalists. I wish her well. I wonder if she and Cindy Sheehan know each other and could join forces.