| Lil Lil |
04-08-2003 05:16 PM |
Quote:
Originally posted by Skunk:
<font color="#C0C0C0">
NAJAF,
In Sanawa,
...without food or water for several days, complained that the US troops in some sections of the city have not been allowing people to move to other districts. As a result, the river, a lifeline for the people, has not been accessible to the hungry.
At Najaf, the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society was supposed to be distributing food to the hungry masses. As Arab News approached, a Kuwaiti shouting in Arabic was heard. He was dressed in a US military uniform, and was ordering people to stand back.
He shouted: “If you step back from the fence, maybe we will start thinking of distributing food. If you do not behave, we will not distribute food.”
Angered further by the crowd eager to receive the humanitarian aid, he bellowed: “I have warned you enough times, so there will be no distribution today.”
The food distribution was stopped for at least 15 minutes. Then only women and those with aid permits were being allowed to take away packages.
Arab News asked what was involved in getting an aid permit, but none of the distributors nor the Iraqi civilians knew. Above him a soldier was pointing at the crowd ordering them away from the fence separating the food distributors from the hungry crowd. Every time the soldier passed an order on to the civilians or those arriving in vehicles, he aggressively pointed his 50-caliber truck-mounted machine gun at them, lowering his head to see as though taking aim.
Arab News approached the soldier and asked why he was pointing his machine gun at unarmed civilians here to receive humanitarian aid.
“Any of these people could be suicide bombers,” was his reply.
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I am going to have to jump in and call this BS propaganda as well...in the Cent Comm briefing this morning, Brig. Gen Brooks showed video tape of members of the 82nd Airborn handing out food packages to people in Najaf...mostly men and young boys as a matter of fact. There were also shots of the people giving thumbsup, men shaking hands with U.S. soldiers, people smiling, waving, and appearing to be very happy everywhere the camera looked.
People in Sanawa are also getting food, water and medical supplies as are the villages in between the Kuwaiti border and as far as Karbala as supply trucks are making their way across the country.
Iraqi dock workers are also back to work, helping to unload tons of food from ships carrying humanitarian aide...aide that is being given to the people of Iraq, not being put in warehouses in efforts to starve and terrorize the people, as was practice under the regime.
Yes, U.S. soldiers are coming under fire from pockets of resistance in those areas but their commitment to the safety of civilians remains a priority.
I think had I seen any reporters at the briefing asking about those Arab-reported atrocities, there may be some validity to the article, but from what I've seen, from what I have heard...the Arabs are making it out to be a lot worse than it actually is. |
