Press Action ::: U.S. War Crimes in Fallujah Attack

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

U.S. War Crimes in Fallujah Attack

By Abu Spinoza

The U.S.-led attack on the city of Fallujah is another war crime. The Anglo-American occupation forces have been conducting indiscriminate air attacks against the city. In its recent offensive the U.S. bombed a hospital under various pretexts.

The New York Times reports that U.S. officials say the hospital “has been a haven for insurgents in what has been a ‘no-go’ zone for American forces for months. And they have made little secret of their irritation with what they contend are inflated civilian casualty figures that regularly flow from the hospital - propaganda, they believe, for the Falluja insurgents, whom they blame for much of the car bombings, beheadings and other acts of terror in Iraq.”

The Geneva Conventions explicitly rule out attacks on hospitals. It states:

"Art. 18. Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict. Art. 19. The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may, however, cease only after due warning has been given, naming, in all appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit and after such warning has remained unheeded. The fact that sick or wounded members of the armed forces are nursed in these hospitals, or the presence of small arms and ammunition taken from such combatants and not yet been handed to the proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the enemy."

It is very clear from news reports that the U.S forces never issued any warning, let alone set a time limit before launching an attack on the hospital. How many Iraqis in Fallujah will die to the lack of access to a hospital and any healthcare? Who will protest against these war crimes?

Abu Spinoza is an international economist.

More from Abu Spinoza