The Common Ills: The Mosul bombing

Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Mosul bombing

Victims of coalition airstrikes buried in mass graves in #Mosul. What a tragedy. @akhbar

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In August of 2014, the US government began bombing Iraq daily to 'liberate' it. These daily bombings continue to this day.

Maybe now that Donald Trump's president, we can all care?

Since we were too busy ignoring reality when Barack was over the killings, now we can pay attention?

Martin Chulov and Emma Graham-Harrison (GUARDIAN/OBSERVER) write of "international outrage." But we're not led to believe this is US outrage.

They also note:

Civil defence workers say they have pulled more than 140 bodies from the ruins of three buildings in Mosul Jadida and believe that dozens more remain under the rubble of one building, a large home with a once cavernous basement, in which up to 100 people had hidden last Friday morning.
Local people at the site told the Observer that the enormous damage inflicted on the homes and much of the surrounding area had been caused by airstrikes, which battered the neighbourhood in the middle of a pitched battle with Isis members, who were under attack from Iraqi forces.

The UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande, said: “We are stunned by this terrible loss of life.”

Sinan Salaheddin (AP) reports, "An airstrike targeting Islamic State militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul that witnesses say killed at least 100 people was in fact launched by the U.S. military, American officials said Saturday." CNN's Barbara Starr, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Joe Sterling and Ghazi Balkiz add:

Also Saturday, Iraq's Ministry of Defense opened an investigation into an "aerial bombardment incident" that took place in the same area of the city on March 22 and 23, said Col. Laith Al-Nuaimi, a ministry spokesman.

Bashar al Kiki, chairman of the Nineveh Provincial Council, told CNN Saturday that as many as 200 people were killed those days in "indiscriminate airstrikes" he blamed on Iraqi and coalition air forces in the western Mosul neighborhoods of al Jadidah, al Amel and al Yarmouk.

The US Central Command report doesn't mention strikes on March 22 or 23.

Iraqi Vice President Osama al-Nujafi posted the following to his website:

وجه السيد أسامة عبد العزيز النجيفي نائب رئيس الجمهورية يوم السبت 25 آذار 2017 مجموعة رسائل إلى السادة :

الدكتور حيدر العبادي رئيس مجلس الوزراء
الدكتور سليم الجبوري رئيس مجلس النواب
السيد انطونيو كوتيريش الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة
السيد عرفان محمود الحيالي وزير الدفاع
السيد قاسم الأعرجي وزير الداخلية

حول الكارثة الإنسانية في الموصل باستشهاد مئات المواطنين الأبرياء بالقصف الجوي لطائرات التحالف الدولي فضلا عن الاستخدام المفرط للقوة النارية عبر المدفعية والصواريخ من قبل قوات الشرطة الاتحادية .

وأشار السيد النجيفي في رسائله إلى التغيير الحاصل في قواعد الاشتباك قياسا إلى القواعد التي اتبعت في تحرير الساحل الأيسر من المدينة ، حيث نتج عن القواعد الجديدة استشهاد المئات من المواطنين دفنوا تحت أنقاض بيوتهم وما يزال بعضهم تحت الأنقاض دون أية مساعدة أو انقاذ .

ودعا السيد النجيفي في رسائله إلى اجراء تحقيقات سريعة وحماية أرواح المواطنين وكرامتهم ، كما دعا إلى عقد جلسة طارئة لمجلس النواب لمناقشة هذه الكارثة وفتح تحقيق برلماني بها .

كما طالب في رسائله إلى العمل الفوري من أجل إعادة النظر في الاستعجال الذي تم ودفع ثمنه المواطنون لأنه سيولد وضعا معقدا يصعب الاحاطة بتأثيراته السلبية ..

كما أجرى السيد النجيفي اتصالا بالسيد وزير الدفاع الذي أكد أنه سيتابع الأمر بكل جدية وسيذهب للاطلاع ميدانيا على الوضع

al-Nujafi is calling the murder of civilians "a human catastrophe" and calling for a full investigation and a change in the rules of engagement. He sent out a series of letters on this matter to the following: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Efran al-Hiyali (Iraq's Minister of Defense), Qaassim Mohammed al-Alaraji (Iraq's Minister of the Interior), Hayder al-Abadi (Iraq's Prime Minister) and Salim al-Jubouri (Speaker of Iraq's Parliament). He also notes that he spoke with the Minister of Defense.

ALSUMARIA reports that the Minister of Defense has opened an investigation into the bombing and that the Speaker of Parliament has called an emergency session of Parliament for this coming Tuesday to address the bombing.

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