This video has received a lot of attention. As of right now, it is showing well over a half a million hits since it was posted on March 1. It is also controversial. Many Obama supporters have claimed to debunk the video by pointing out that the events were not comparable. They argue that the event in Anbar province that President Bush attended in September 2007 was informal. The Camp Lejune event that President Obama attended, on the other hand, was more formal. They point out that it is not fair to compare two events in which the Marines are subject to different rules of behavior.

In fairness, they are correct. The events were different in many ways and the Marines present were subject to different behavioral expectations. There is, however, more to this video than that. If the content of this video were that easily debunked it would not still be drawing tens of thousands of hits per day. The different degrees of formality aside, this video is quite revealing.

In the video, the Marines exhibit obvious love and respect for President Bush. His visit was not an event that followed closely on the heels of 9/11. This video was taken after the worst days of the war and after the surge created major progress in the region. The President is visiting the troops in Anbar Province, the home of the infamous Falluja and Ar Ramadi killing grounds. This visit took place after the province had been pacified. In other words, the Marines showed their love of Mr. Bush even after the darkest days of the war.

The Lejune video, on the other hand, shows Obama entering with all the pomp and circumstance of a royal visit to the peasants. Hail to the Chief plays in the background; something that President Bush didn’t allow during his military visits. Obama knows that keeping the Marines locked at the position of attention means that no comparison can ever be made to the loving reception President Bush regularly received from the troops. Obama knows how the Marines feel and will always treat them exactly like the rabble he sees.

This is the real truth of the video and why it is so popular. It warms the heart of Bush supporters to see President Bush receive the love, gratitude and respect of these warriors. It angers Obama supporters because they also see the love President Bush receives and they know their man will never see anything similar from the troops. They know that these warriors loved the last president and will never give similar respect to this one.

A good YouTube video stirs the emotions and this one does that. It elicits different emotions in different people but the underlying truth that is the catalyst for the emotional response is the same for everyone. The Marines loved President Bush in a way they will never love Obama.

http://therealrevo.com/blog/

Fatima Ahmed, born after the assault in Fallujah, has deformities that include two heads.

Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities

Fallujah, an Iraqi city forever marked by the U.S. assault there, is dealing with another claim to infamy—infant deformities running up to 15 times higher than normal and a spike in cases of early-life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials from the fighting.  —JCL

• Martin Chulov in Falluja
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 November 2009 19.24 GMT

Doctors in Iraq’s war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja’s over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems – are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

A group of Iraqi and British officials, including the former Iraqi minister for women’s affairs, Dr Nawal Majeed a-Sammarai, and the British doctors David Halpin and Chris Burns-Cox, have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war – including the six years since Saddam Hussein was ousted.

“We are seeing a very significant increase in central nervous system anomalies,” said Falluja general hospital’s director and senior specialist, Dr Ayman Qais. “Before 2003 [the start of the war] I was seeing sporadic numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has increased dramatically.”

The rise in frequency is stark – from two admissions a fortnight a year ago to two a day now. “Most are in the head and spinal cord, but there are also many deficiencies in lower limbs,” he said. “There is also a very marked increase in the number of cases of less than two years [old] with brain tumours. This is now a focus area of multiple tumours.”

After several years of speculation and anecdotal evidence, a picture of a highly disturbing phenomenon in one of Iraq’s most battered areas has now taken shape. Previously all miscarried babies, including those with birth defects or infants who were not given ongoing care, were not listed as abnormal cases.

The Guardian asked a paediatrician, Samira Abdul Ghani, to keep precise records over a three-week period. Her records reveal that 37 babies with anomalies, many of them neural tube defects, were born during that period at Falluja general hospital alone.

Dr Bassam Allah, the head of the hospital’s children’s ward, this week urged international experts to take soil samples across Falluja and for scientists to mount an investigation into the causes of so many ailments, most of which he said had been “acquired” by mothers before or during pregnancy.

Other health officials are also starting to focus on possible reasons, chief among them potential chemical or radiation poisonings. Abnormal clusters of infant tumours have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf – areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.

Falluja’s frontline doctors are reluctant to draw a direct link with the fighting. They instead cite multiple factors that could be contributors.

“These include air pollution, radiation, chemicals, drug use during pregnancy, malnutrition, or the psychological status of the mother,” said Dr Qais. “We simply don’t have the answers yet.”

The anomalies are evident all through Falluja’s newly opened general hospital and in centres for disabled people across the city. On 2 November alone, there were four cases of neuro-tube defects in the neo-natal ward and several more were in the intensive care ward and an outpatient clinic.

Falluja was the scene of the only two setpiece battles that followed the US-led invasion. Twice in 2004, US marines and infantry units were engaged in heavy fighting with Sunni militia groups who had aligned with former Ba’athists and Iraqi army elements.

The first battle was fought to find those responsible for the deaths of four Blackwater private security contractors working for the US. The city was bombarded heavily by American artillery and fighter jets. Controversial weaponry was used, including white phosphorus, which the US government admitted deploying.

Statistics on infant tumours are not considered as reliable as new data about nervous system anomalies, which are usually evident immediately after birth. Dr Abdul Wahid Salah, a neurosurgeon, said: “With neuro-tube defects, their heads are often larger than normal, they can have deficiencies in hearts and eyes and their lower limbs are often listless. There has been no orderly registration here in the period after the war and we have suffered from that. But [in relation to the rise in tumours] I can say with certainty that we have noticed a sharp rise in malignancy of the blood and this is not a congenital anomaly – it is an acquired disease.”

Despite fully funding the construction of the new hospital, a well-equipped facility that opened in August, Iraq’s health ministry remains largely disfunctional and unable to co-ordinate a response to the city’s pressing needs.

The government’s lack of capacity has led Falluja officials, who have historically been wary of foreign intervention, to ask for help from the international community. “Even in the scientific field, there has been a reluctance to reach out to the exterior countries,” said Dr Salah. “But we have passed that point now. I am doing multiple surgeries every day. I have one assistant and I am obliged to do everything myself.”

Additional reporting: Enas Ibrahim.

(Roger’s Note: We read about Falluja [Fallujah] when it was big news, we read about the US military destroying a city and terrorizing its residents in order to bring them Democracy.  Then we forgot about Falluja.  Now it comes back to haunt, not to haunt us but rather the ungrateful Iraqi residents of Falluja, sort of a gift that keeps on giving.  The amount of human suffering and damage caused by the US invasion and occupation of Iraq is probably beyond our comprehension, we think about it when it is brought to attention in articles like that I have posted above.   My point: make no mistake about it, the Iraq holocuast was not a “mistake” or a political miscalculation; it is a criminal act of the highest order, and if there were justice the entire Bush neo-Fascist cabal would be tried and convicted.)

di Paolo Steffan

IN ITALIA DEL NORD – In una domenica mattina – giorno del Signore per i cattolici – (come quella in cui sto mettendo assieme queste parole), mentre una ottantenne sta pregando in chiesa che i suoi nipoti vengano assolti dai numerosi loro peccati; mentre un ultrasessantenne sta leggendo, sulla panchina della misera area verde davanti al suo condomio, il giornale zeppo di berlusconate e inciuci democratici coi trans (problemi sociali?); mentre un cinquantenne è comodamente affondato nella pelle del suo sofà a consumare le ultime mezzore di poltrimento davanti alla tivù; mentre un quarantenne va a vetrine con la sua consorte dalle vesti succinte e dai tacchi vertiginosi; mentre un trentenne spende il primo stipendio cliccando annoiato siti porno a pagamento; mentre un diciottenne riempie di carburante di provenienza iraqena il serbatoio della sua nuova 8 cilindri fiammante; mentre un bambino di 4 anni si gode i rumori del su secondo videogioco; mentre una neonata vive le sue prime ore di perfetta salute in un salubre istituto ospedaliero privato della Lombardia…

A FALLUJA – NASCONO UN MOSTRO, UN INFELICE, UN EMARGINATO!

Ecco la colpa che si nasconde dietro i sorrisi dei nostri capi di stato: quel 2004 è più che mai quest'oggi: in Iraq come in Italia. Ho pensato che questo accostamento possa ben illustrare il mio intento di smuovere le coscienze di anche un solo lettore! A sinistra una morte per fosforo bianco a Falluja, a destra l'allora e ancora alleato degli USA in Iraq.

Non amo fare della retorica, né cliccare sui facili sentimenti delle masse, a mo’ di studioaperto. Ma qui è giusto farlo, perché la mia sensibilità di essere umano non mi consente di stoppare le lacrime di fronte a certe cose, né la rabbia di fronte al loro essere taciute!

Non ho particolare simpatia per la lingua inglese, né la conosco bene: eppure stamani – pubblicato da poche ore con data 13/11 – ho letto quasi d’un fiato, aiutandomi con un vecchio vocabolario, un articolo del Guardian, quotidiano inglese, dal titolo Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja. Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities.

Un numero “fuori dalla norma” di nati con diverse forme tumorali e disfunzioni al sistema nervoso: 2 AL GIORNO: “a very marked increase in the number of cases of less than two years [old] with brain tumours”, così recita il Guardian. E dove? In quella stessa Falluja martoriata da misteriosi bombardamenti al fosforo bianco, visto da molti nostalgici simbolisti come il colore dell’innocenza: e così la colpa è ancora impunita, i morti del 2004 sciolti non solo fisicamente ma anche dalla memoria di noi occidentali.

Ma queste “nascite” sofferte di esserini malformati, malati già nell’utero delle proprie madri, senza speranza per sé e per il futuro del loro paese, devastato dalla storia contemporanea e dall’avidità neocapitalista delle potenze democratiche, ebbene, queste “nascite” assumono il valore della memoria aspra e senza fine di un crimine contro l’umanità di cui anche la mia coscienza sente il peso.

Gli sghignazzi dei due amiconi proprio mentre il fosforo imbiancava Falluja, staccando la pelle dalla carne dei bambini iracheni, nella più atroce delle morti, che ancora oggi lascia la scia nei neonati del 2009!

Non voglio fare di questa tragedia una questione spicciola di politichetta italiana: però voglio ricordare le facce ridenti del nostro premier di allora ALLEATO E AMICO INTIMO di colui che incarna la colpa di questa carneficina. E la maggior parte degli italiani hanno avuto il “coraggio”, oltre che di sostenere allora l’appoggio berlusconiano al bushismo senza mai rinnegarlo né ammettendone le atrocità, il “coraggio” di rieleggere la medesima persona, che continua a tenerci nascoste queste verità o, se costretto, a liftarle e farne notizie acchiappa-audience.

Io non nascondo di essere stato illuso a suo tempo, ancora 14/15enne, che la guerra in Iraq fosse una cosa quasi buona: ME NE VERGOGNO! Ma crescendo, leggendo, soprattutto vedendo (ciò che i media nascondevano), non ho potuto che sempre più condannare (e condannarmi)!

Con questo articolo, che ha innanzitutto il volere di rimandarvi a quello abbastanza esaustivo del Guardian (e a quelli più vecchi degli anni scorsi circa la vicenda), intendo cercare di innescare la stessa apertura d’occhi (avvenuta in me durante l’adolescenza) in chi mi legge e ancora ha dei dubbi o peggio dei “non m’interessa”! Perché, da esseri umani, solo se si è ciechi si può ignorare e far finta di niente. Oppure bisogna essere dei mostri, ma dentro, non fuori, come quei poverini cui la vita non farà in tempo neppure a manifestarsi, causa i ludi del traballante impero americano e dei suoi alleati, che, sotto la nuova faccia di un – non si sa ancora per cosa – nobel per la pace – che stimo molto, non mi si fraintenda – pare aver dimenticato troppe cose! Obama – all’interno di una politica perlopiù positiva – deve prendersi la responsabilità di far chiarezza ora più che mai su questi fatti, che contano molto di più di quell’hulahoop della sua dolce first lady, così tanto messo per più giorni tra i titoli anche dei migliori telegiornali!

© Paolo Steffan 2009

This story in The Guardian details the horrifc consequences of the use by the US government of white phospherous in Falluja;

Doctors in Iraq’s war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers

Although doctors say the source of the deformities is unknown they uniformly report a dramatic rise since the start of the 2003 war. They are urging the UN to take soil samples and fully investigate the causes of these defects. Of course, there has to be a question mark over whether the United States will be particularly keen on such an investigation. Meanwhile the news yesterday was full of stories about the possibilities of alleged abuses by the British Army and that there will be no public inquiry into the fresh allegations.

Today a poll showing 71% supporting the phased withdrawal of British troops within a year; a further indication that the tide of public opinion has turned decisively against the war has been published by the Independent on Sunday. Nearly 50% (47%) thought that our presence in Afghanistan increased the threat of a terrorist attack on Britain; 44% disagreed but this still represents a general shift against the idea that the mission in Afghanistan actually protects British interests. It is a shame ComRes phrased that particular question that way as it would be fascinating to also see how many accept the argument that it is beneficial to Britain’s security interests. It would also have been interesting to see how British people view the Afghan regime since not only is it corrupt the evidence is stacking-up that it is also failing to improve the lives of Afghani’s.

These failing’s, along with our continued military presence, exacerbate and give the Taliban succour;

Mostly poor people’s rights have been violated. Poverty is extreme in Afghanistan. My own children have been deprived of the right to education. We are in need of food. There are no jobs for our young generation. There is no life for them. If people are jobless, they will commit crimes like kidnapping, killing. They become suicide bombers, and destroy our country.

It is not just poor people; women also are suffering under the Karzai government. If asked if British troops should be laying down their lives to defend a government like this then I am quite confident a majority of people would say no and agree that their lives are spent for no good reason.

However, if you looked on the Liberal Democrat website you would struggle to know any of this was going on; even if you listened to Nick Clegg the other night on Radio 5 Live. So, the simple question is why do we have nothing to say on any of this?

Falluja, Irak, 28 april 2003, enkele weken nadat Amerikaanse en Britse troepen Bagdad veroverden, Saddam Hoessein verdreven en Irak tot een bezet land maakten.  Amerikaanse soldaten openden het vuur op demonstranten die eisten dat een school in die stad niet langer gebruikt werd om Amerikaanse bezettingstroepen te huisvesten. Resultaat: 13 doden, en volgens medisch personeel 70 gewonden – op een totaal van 200 demonstranten.

Falluja, Irak, 31 maart 2004. Irakezen sleepten vierlichamen van hurlingen van het bedrijf Blackwater door de straten. Ze waren in een hinderlaag van guerrilla’s gelopen.

Falluja, Irak, 7 april 2004. Amerikaanse mariniers schieten raketten af richting moskee. Getuigen melden 40 doden.

Falluja, Irak, 12 april 2004. Inmiddels 600 Iraakse doden bij het Amerikaanse beleg van de stad. Voor 95 procent mannen van’militaire leeftijd, volgens een Amerikaans officier. Voornamelijk vrouwen, kinderen en ouderen, volgens een ziekenhuisdirecteur in de stad.

Falluja, 20 april 2004. “Er zijn zoveel bewoners van Falluja door Amerikaanse mariniers gedood dat bewoners massagraven moesten graven. Het voetbalstadion van de stad bevat nu meer dan 200 graven.” Begraven moet volgens een arts snel gebeuren, want Amerikaanse militairen openen snel het vuur terwijl mensen graven delven en lijken bergen.

Falluja, Irak, 16 november 2004. “Minstens 800 burgers zijn gedood tijdens het Amerikaanse beleg van Falluja, zo schat een functionaris van het Rode Kruis.” Amerikaanse militairen hadden eerder die maand een grootschalige aanval op de stad geopend, de tweede binnen een jaar.

Fallujah, Irak, november 2004. De VS heeft bij haar aanval op Fallujah witte fosforgranaten gebruikt. Dat geeft het Pentagon een jaar later eindelijk toe. Witte fosfor mag volgens internationaal recht gebruikt worden als rookgordijn, maar niet tegen personen, het geeft intense brandwonden als dit laatste toch gebeurt, net als het in Vietnam berucht geworden napalm. Officieel is het geen chemisch wapen, maar in de praktijk komt het daar min of meer wel op neer.

Fallujah, Irak, 15 november 2009. “Dokters in de door oorlog geteisterde enclave van Falluja hebben te maken met een toename van tot 15 keer het aantal chronische misvormingen bij  kleine kinderen, en een toename in kankers op jonge leeftijd die te maken kan hebben met giftige materialen die overgebleven zijn na de strijd.” Dat bericht The Guardian vandaag.

“We zien een een zeer belangroijke toename van afwijkingen in het centrale zenuwstelsel (…) Voor 2003 (…) zag ik sporadische afwijkingen bij babies. Nu is de frrequentie van misvormingen dramatisch toegenomen”. Dat zegt een arts in de stad. Hij is voorzichtig over de factoren die hieraan bijgedragen kunnen hebben. “Die omvatten luchtvervuiling, straling, chemicaliën, medicijn- of druggebruik,  (in de Engelse tekst wordt het woord ‘drugs’ gebruikt, hetgeen beiden kan betekenen, PS) ondervoeding, of de psychologische toestand van de moeder”, zegt hij.

Tsja, en waarom zou er in Fallujah straling, ondervoeding, luchtvervuiling en chemicaliën zijn?  Waarom toch?

In Iraq, le autorità sanitarie hanno evidenziato la moltiplicazione di casi di bambini nati con gravi deformazioni o malati ti cancro; il numero continua ad aumentare e attualmente si stima che l’’incremento è fra le cinque e le dieci volte, rispetto al periodo precedente la Guerra del Golfo.

Attualmente il 50% dei malati di cancro, sono bambini che hanno meno di 5 anni di età: Ahmed Uraibi, un medico pediatra che opera a Falluja, ha dichiarato  che nell’ultimo anno il numero di bambini nato con gravi deformazioni è molto aumentato. A settembre 2009 nell’ospedale di Falluja sono nati 170 bambini di cui il 24% sono morti entro pochi giorni e il 75% sono nati con gravi deformazioni. Questo dato è stato confrontato con i nati nel mese di agosto del 2002, quando nello stesso ospedale nacquero 530 bambini: sei sono morti entro una settimana e solo uno presentava deformazioni. Un altro medico recentemente intervistato da Sky News ha dichiarato che le malformazioni dei bambini che nascono nella zona di Falluja sono sicuramente da mettere in relazione con i bombardamenti con armi chimiche impiegate dagli Stati Uniti.

“I can tell you we killed hundreds of people in that city, hundreds of insurgents. They were lying all over the place,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Malay, the battalion commander for the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines when talking about the number of combatants in the battle for Fallujah. Three weeks after the start of the battle this insurgent skull lies decomposing in a home.

With the dead body of an Iraqi Army soldier in the foreground, bottom left, Marines with the second platoon of India Company look at a room where the two dead militants had ambushed them. A Marine with the Iraqi Army soldier was wounded in the leg but was able to withdraw from the ambush under a hail of automatic weapons fire.

A Marine rocket team blast a home where a Marine was wounded by grenade and rifle fire. The home was also hit with main tank rounds.

Credit goes to Max Becherer for these photographs taken in Falluja during November 2004

Why I Threw the Shoe

I am no hero. I just acted as an Iraqi who witnessed the pain and bloodshed of too many innocents

By Muntazer al-Zaidi

September 19, 2009

I am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the symbolic act. But, simply, I answer: what compelled me to act is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot.

Over recent years, more than a million martyrs have fallen by the bullets of the occupation and Iraq is now filled with more than five million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed. Many millions are homeless inside and outside the country.

We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shia would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ. This despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than a decade.

Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression. But the invasion divided brother from brother, neighbour from neighbour. It turned our homes into funeral tents.

I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, pushing me towards the path of confrontation. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Falluja, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.

As soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies, while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the blood that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.

The opportunity came, and I took it.

I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.

I say to those who reproach me: do you know how many broken homes that shoe which I threw had entered? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.

When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.

If I have wronged journalism without intention, because of the professional embarrassment I caused the establishment, I apologise. All that I meant to do was express with a living conscience the feelings of a citizen who sees his homeland desecrated every day. The professionalism mourned by some under the auspices of the occupation should not have a voice louder than the voice of patriotism. And if patriotism needs to speak out, then professionalism should be allied with it.

I didn’t do this so my name would enter history or for material gains. All I wanted was to defend my country.

Source

Population of Iraq in 2008  28,221,181

No one can say  Bush and company wanted a war for any reason other then oil and gas.

The US should pay retribution to Iraq for all the damage that has been done in the name of theft, greed, control and profiteering.

The homeless need homes, the orphans need care. The maimed need support. The list goes on and on.

For the million who have died. And those who were tortured.

Prison is where Bush and company should be.

Over a million have died, that is a Crime against humanity.

That is genocide.

That is a war crime.

The war is illegal based on lies, propaganda and fraud. There were no weapons of mass destruction.

Just the WMD the US used on the Iraqis.  They used things like White Phosphorus, Napalm, 240,000 cluster bombs, 10,000  unguided munitions, 20.000  precision bombs and missiles were dropped and I am pretty sure they also used Bunker Busters (type of nuclear bomb),  all by May 1, 2003.

That is definitely overkill. Excessive use of force against a country that had been under sanctions for about a decade. The US loves to attack the defenseless and weak.

Since then the killing has continued. The war wasn’t over as Bush declared, again he lied.  Bush is a criminal.

For that the criminals should be held responsible, to do less would be a crime against all of us.

• Genocide
• War crimes
• Crimes against humanity
  
• Crimes of aggression

The rest of the world cannot sit by and allow anything this horrendous to go unpunished.

It’s time for the US and other forces to get the hell out of their country.

Spanish judge resumes torture case against six senior Bush lawyers

“Rispetto a quello che gli iracheni avrebbero fatto a noi, ciò che abbiamo fatto era niente. Quando queste cose succedevano, loro ci decapitavano, bruciavano i corpi, trascinavano i cadaveri per le strade o li appendevano ai ponti” queste le parole usate durante un’intervista alla Bbc da Lynndie England, la soldatessa diventata tristemente famosa per essere una delle protagoniste delle fotografie uscire dal carcere degli orrori di Abu Ghraib. Sono passati cinque anni da quei giorni in cui la donna si faceva immortalare durante abusi fisici sui detenuti del carcere. Tre degli ultimi cinque anni la donna li ha passati in carcere e sembra di non essere pentita per ciò che ha fatto in passato. “Le umiliazioni sessuali avvengono anche nei college in Usa e se servono a ottenere informazioni allora sono pratiche accettabili”. La giornalista ha incalzato più volte la England con domande ficcanti. “Non le sembra perverso e assurdo ciò che accadeva?” è stato chiesto. “Certo era un po’ strano – ha risposto la soldatessa Usa – ma quelle erano cose che succedevano lì. I superiori ci dicevano che andava tutto bene e che dovevamo continuare”.
La donna dice di sentirsi molo sola e oggi ha paura che qualcuno la possa uccidere. Fa uso di antidepressivi e racconta che anche la madre ha subito minacce per colpa sua.

I don’t care who you are or what your cause is: if you belong to an organization that can do this to a child, you don’t just deserve to die, you need to die:

Like many young boys, Khidir loves playing with toy cars and wants to be a policeman like his father when he grows up. But it was his father’s very job that caused the tiny child to suffer the unimaginable.

Khidir was just 6 years old when he was savagely ripped away from his family, kidnapped by al Qaeda operatives in Iraq.

“They beat me with a shovel, they pulled my teeth out with pliers, they would go like this and pull it,” said Khidir, now 8, demonstrating with his hands. “And they would make me work on the farm gathering carrots.”

What followed was even more horrific, an ordeal that would last for two years in captivity. Khidir and his father spoke to CNN recently, more than half a year after his rescue by Iraqi police.

“This is where they hammered a nail into my leg and then they pulled it out,” he says, lifting up his pant leg to show a tiny wound.

He says his captors also pulled out each of his tiny fingernails, broke both his arms, and beat him repeatedly on the side of the head with a shovel. He still suffers chronic headaches. He remembers them laughing as they inflicted the pain.

“I would think about my mommy and daddy,” he replies, when asked how he managed to get through the agony.

Excuse me while I go get sick.

LINKS: Michael Yon provides more examples of al-Qaeda’s barbarity: Bless the beasts and the children.

i spent last week at summer camp. my dear friend at ibdaa cultural center in deheishe refugee camp has been organizing and planning for this all year. we’ve done these trips before when we take children under age 16, who do not yet have their identity cards, to their original villages in 1948 palestine. we spent the previous couple of weeks mapping the villages so as to have an idea where they were. deheishe refugee camp is unusual in that it has more villages represented in it than any other camp. there are over 46 villages represented in the camp today, although at one time it was 52. the villages are spread out, too, all the way from gaza to haifa (with respect to original palestinian districts and borders). we had 37 youth join the summer camp, broken down into three groups, and we spent the week with them touring their villages and conducting workshops on life before an nakba, the right of return, and how to use rap music as a form of resistance. each night before we closed down we had a huge reflection circle where the kids would share their thoughts about visiting their own villages and those of their friends. and, of course, it wouldn’t be a summer camp without kids running through the hallways playing soccer and drumming on the tabla into all hours of the night. it reminded me of abu mujahed’s summer camp i attended in lebanon for the kids from shatila refugee camp who were so happy to have a wide open space in which to play and exist in ba’albek a couple of years ago.

when we took kids to their villages before it was just one day and we had a small group on one bus. we didn’t hit nearly as many villages and it was just a one-time experience. this project is the beginning of a year-long project that will now begin the process of collecting oral history from the kids’ families as well as teaching them about their right of return. the hope is to help the youth feel connected to their history and to various forms of resistance that will facilitate the right of return. there is a fear that this generation is more attached to their refugee camp than to their villages and this project is one way of intervening in that. and i have hope that this will work. the week before camp friends of mine who had kids coming with us told us stories of how they came home excited from our meetings asking all sorts of questions, doing research on the internet about their villages, reading, and learning about where they come from. one friend of mine from zakariya told me that his son talked to his grandmother about their village and that he learned things from his mother he had not known before either. so it became a family enterprise, one that i hope and expect will continue throughout the year and then some. i had my own group in the camp that i took around in a car to cut down on costs. we went to the villages furthest away from the church that hosted us in 1948 palestine for the week. below is a series of photographs that i took in the villages and some brief reflections and context on the villages.

day one

we got a late start on our first day, partially because not only did i drive my own car, but i was also responsible for smuggling older youth and friends organizing the camp out of deheishe. i made several trips and we were all elated when we managed to get everyone out (in zionist terrorist colonist terms we were “infiltrators”). we also had a bit of a delay with the baker making manaqeesh for our lunch. after we finally got everyone into 1948 palestine we broke down into our groups and went to the villages. we used walid khalidi’s book all that remains and palestine remembered as our guides, as well as salman abu sitta’s the return journey: a guide to depopulated and present palestinian towns and villages and holy sites. these are great resources historically speaking, and each child received a folder with materials including copies of the related pages to their village. however, these are not great resources–except for abu sitta’s book–with respect to finding the remnants of the village which can be an enormous task. oftentimes you have to use these resources to find the zionist terrorist colony built on top of the ruins of the palestinian village, though this doesn’t work so well when the zionist terrorist colonists planted a forest over the village (with the help of americans, canadians, and the british). with that in mind we purchased gps systems for each group to mark the villages and the things we found in them. i am going to upload that information into google earth later this week or next week so we can begin to map palestinian villages on the map and aid other people wanting to find their villages.

our first village was قسطينة (qastina), which is in gaza. there is not much left of the village today. khalidi’s book, which was originally published in the early 1990s, shows an image of some rubble of former houses, but we were unable to find any. instead we found a number of zionist terrorist colonies on the land and a number of olive trees and cacti, though the olive trees were relatively new. in a number of villages last week i was awestruck by the ways in which the zionist terrorist colonists destroyed plants and trees only to replant them again later with the assistance of diaspora zionists. qastina used to have wheat, barley, sesame, beehives, and vineyards, but we found none of this. the depopulation of qastina is described by khalidi:

Qastina was occupied around 9 July 1948, shortly after teh end of the first truce, by the Giv’ati Brigade, when it advanced southwards into Egyptian-controlled territory. During the ten-day period between the two truces (8-18 July), the Brigade succeeded in seizing an area comprising at least sixteen villages, all of whose inhabitants were displaced. The residents of Qastina, like those of nearby al-Masmiyya, were probably driven south towards Gaza, rather than east to the Hebron area. Operational orders issued by Brigade commander Shim’on Avidan had called for civilians to be expelled; however, the inhabitants of this area fled almost as soon as the operation began, according to a later Israeli army report. The village had earlier been mentioned in Plan Dalet as one of the villages to be occupied by the Giv’ati Brigade. (131)

qastina, palestine

stones of qastina, palestine

our second village was تل الترمس (tall al-tarmus), which is essentially across the street from qastina and suffered the same fate. we found a zionist terrorist colonist university as we entered the settlement and then a vast agricultural space which was filled with grapes and plums for the zionists’ agribusiness. we saw trucks of asian migrant workers, who have, in recent years, replaced the palestinian workers who have for the last few decades farmed their own land stolen by the zionists for just a few shekels a day. the vineyards and orchards were also new trees here, too. but we spent time here–as in all the villages–picking fruit, collecting stones and soil, to take home to older family members who are not allowed to visit their villages. khalidi on tall al-tarmus’ depopulation:

As the first truce of the war was winding down, Israeli forces on the southern front were planning a major push south of al-Ramla towards the Negev, which they called Operation An-Far (see Bil’in, Gaza District). Tall al-Tarmus probably fell early in this operation, around 9-10 July 1948, to the First Battalion of the Giv’ati Brigade. During this operation the villagers of Tall al-Tarmous may have been among a minority who were driven over an Israeli-held strip towards Gaza, rather than eastwards towards Hebron. (138)

zionist terrorist colonist university on the land of tell al-tarmus, palestine

asian migrant workers picking grapes in occupied tall al-tarmous, palestine

the final village for our first day was قطرة (qatra). khalidi says that there was a school that remained and a few deserted houses, but the area that likely had those buildings before seems to no longer be there. we saw an area that we believed held such places before, but the ground was blackened and there were only piles of stones and tiles of palestinian flooring around it, and, of course, lots of cacti. on this first day i had younger kids with me and it seemed to me that they had a very distorted sense of space as a result of growing up in the refugee camp. their sense of area and space is compact and crowded. when i drove around to give the kids an idea of the vast area each of their villages covered they had a hard time conceptualizing it. in qatra there was a hill we climbed up where we could see a view of the land belonging to qatra and the girl from this village found it almost impossible to imagine that such a large area belonged to her village as did the other kids with respect to their villages. here is the story of qatra’s ethnic cleansing from khalidi:

The earliest report of Haganah military activity at Qatra was on 13 March 1948, when the Palestinian newspaper Filastin reported a shooting incident involving Arab fruit-pickers working in an orchard that left five workers wounded. A month later, a New York Times story indicated that Haganah squads moved into the police fortress at Qatra on 17 April, after its evacuation by the British.

Israeli historian Benny Morris states that unites of the Giv’ati Brigade surrounded the village on 6 May and demanded that the villagers hand over all their weapons. After that, Morris reports the following sequence of events: several dozen armed men tried to break out of the village but were stopped by the Haganah. The villagers handed over several rifles to the Giv’ati Brigade troops, who nevertheless proceeded to move into the village. After that, the soldiers began looting the village and one of them was shot dead by a villager. The Haganah arrested several villagers, and according to Morris, “within a few days, either intimidated the rest of the villagers into leaving or ordered them to leave.” The official Haganah account agrees that Qatra was occupied around this time, but cites the Alexandroni Brigade (probably erroneously) as the occupying force). (404)

zionist terrorist colony of qidron on the land of qatra, palestine

playground for zionist terrorist colonist children in occupied qatra, palestine

day two

day two of camp was a bit of a deviation from visiting villages. we spent the morning in القدس (al quds) and the afternoon in يافا (yaffa). ideally we wanted to do this on the final day of camp, but we needed to take such a trip when we wouldn’t be confronted by lots of zionist terrorist colonists in the old city or at the beach and so we had to do it on the second day. anyone who has ever been to al quds can attest to the fact that keeping 37 youth together in the old city is quite a challenge. next year i want to buy them all neon orange shirts so we can keep track of them. the most difficult part was going to al aqsa because my friend who is a refugee, but who lives in the old city, guided us around and he didn’t know the kids. none of the other adults could go with him inside the mosque because our leaders from the camp were there illegally and zionist terrorist colonists have checkpoints surrounding the mosque and one cannot get in without passing through it with your id card. and our international volunteers could not get in because it happened to be prayer time. but i managed to get in, which is good because my friend needed help keeping the kids together, which was a challenge with only two adults (and this even though not all the kids wanted to go in for some odd reason).

the kids and leaders who waited outside the mosque for us stumbled upon the african community society which had its own summer camp in progress. they were singing and drumming and when we came out of the mosque we joined them. their website seems to be down for the moment, but here is what their brochure says about their work:

The African Community Society, AFS, is a Palestinian non-governmental non-profit society founded by the Afro-Palestinian community in Jerusalem in 1983. It is an offshoot of the Sudanese Welfare Club which was active between 1935-1967, the year when Israel occupied Jerusalem. It is also a revival of the African Youth Club, established in 1978 but forced to close in the mid-eighties due to financial difficulties.

african community society, old city, al quds, palestine

zionist terrorist colonist private security in the old city, al quds, palestine

just as my friend took us around al quds and gave the kids some historical context so too did another friend take us around yaffa, though this historical portion was a bit shorter as one of the reason for the trip was also to let the kids enjoy the beach for the day since they are forbidden from swimming in their own sea. the man who took us around is someone who i was put in touch with a couple of years ago. he is a history teacher and he knows a lot about refugees from yaffa and also about where various families’ homes are or were. he talked to us about the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the area, which was visible to us, particularly along the beach, as the zionist terrorist colonists were making way for a beach park. he told us that since 2007 497 palestinian families have had their homes demolished in yaffa. a report on this was released by the arab association for human rights in 1948 palestine detailing this practice and which reads in part:

“The war that began in 1948 to purge Jaffa of its Arab residents has never ended and continues to this day. In 1948 it was waged by force, and today they use legal and economic means. The state claims that these are the rules of the market, in full knowledge that they will work against the Arab population.” — Attorney Hisham Shabaita, a social activist and Jaffa resident

On 19 March 2007, Amidar Israel National Housing Company (Amidar) published a document entitled “A Review of the Stock of Squatted Properties in Jaffa — Interior Committee, Israel Knesset.” The document reviewed properties managed by the company in the Jaffa-Tel Aviv area. Section 5 noted that “the project includes a total of 497 squatters, constituting 16.8 percent of the total properties managed by Amidar.”

Section 5 of the document relates, in fact, to 497 orders received over the past 18 months by Palestinian families living in the Ajami and Jabaliya neighborhoods in Jaffa to vacate their homes or businesses. These homes are owned by the state and managed by Amidar in its name. The grounds for eviction range from “squatting” in the property to “building additions” to properties undertaken by the Palestinian tenants of these properties without approval from Amidar and without obtaining a permit from the planning and building authorities.

By law, eviction is permitted in such circumstances. Accordingly, the eviction orders may ostensibly seem to be a legitimate and lawful move by Amidar in response to legal violations by the tenants. Israeli law empowers a landlord letting his property to another — a status that applies to the relationship between the Palestinian tenants and Amidar — to demand the eviction of a tenant who has violated the law or the rental contract with the landlord. Squatting or building additions to the property without the approval of the landlord or the planning authorities are considered violations justifying the eviction of the tenant.

According to the Palestinian residents, however, the issuing of these orders actually reflects a desire to evict them from the neighborhood, which in recent years has become a magnet for wealthy Jewish buyers. They believe that the issuing of the eviction orders cannot be divorced from a process terms the “development of Jaffa” by the Tel Aviv Municipality. This process, which is currently at its peak, actually amounts to a plan to “judaize” Jaffa, i.e. to attract as many Jewish residents as possible to the area, which is currently perceived by the Jewish public as an “Arab” city — despite the fact that, in statistical terms, this is inaccurate.

as we walked from the city to the beach we walked along a rocky shore. but the rocks seemed to want to tell a story. if you look at my photograph below you will see an image of these rocks. many of them are little bits that have been molded together to form a larger rock. but those pieces making up that rock look like pieces from the rubble of people’s houses. too, we found a number of pieces of the famous palestinian painted tile floors among the rocks, which have been softened by the salt water. you can see one of them in the photograph below too–it is on the left and in shades of purple. but while i was contemplating this and listening to our guide share stories about what life is like when you try to teach palestinian history to youth in 1948 palestine, the kids were enjoying themselves swimming, playing in the sand, and running around on the beach. the day gave the kids an opportunity to be normal kids who can run around freely outside, something sorely missing in their lives and yet another reason to fight for the right of return. for whether these kids choose to live in their villages or not they have the right to go to the beach when they want or move freely throughout their country without risking jail for doing so.

after the evening’s reflections i made another trip to deheishe to do another smuggling run. this time a friend and her two small children. i did not get back to the church until 3 am for a number of reasons, but suffice it to say we managed to get yet another crew out.

wanna-be zionist terrorist colonists from the u.s. in occupied yaffa, palestine

destruction of palestinian homes in occupied yaffa, palestine

destroying palestinian land for a beach park in occupied yaffa, palestine

if rocks could tell stories...notice the stone that used to be a tile in a palestinian home, yaffa beach, palestine

day three

i slept in a bit on day three since i returned so late, but the friend who i brought back did not have that luxury as she had to do a workshop that morning on life before an nakba. she’s a drama teacher and did several interactive activities with the kids including getting them to act out life before an nakba and resistance to the zionist take over of their land. it was great as all the kids were highly engaged and had a great time drawing and acting. at the end they all wrote letters to their children and grandchildren about this history.

drawing from the life in palestine before an nakba workshop

former palestinian school in occupied zakariya, palestine

ruins of the palestinian village of beit jibrin

after the morning workshop i headed with my group back towards gaza. we drove past zakariya and beit jibrin on the way (see above photos), which is good as it gave the kids an idea of what villages look like when there are obvious structures from the road that show you it is a palestinian vilage. the first village was الفالوجة (falluja). when we did a test run of this village we had a difficult time figuring out where to look for remnants of it given that a huge zionist terrorist colonist army base occupies a huge chunk of the land today. but there was also a forest which i figured logically would have something from the village in it. but forests are difficult to navigate when looking for ruins. as we drove through we saw a tent in the distance. the kids thought it was a bunch of settlers camping, but as we drove closer we realized it was more of a permanent tent. and as luck would have it, we found it inhabited by a bedouin man from naqab. he got into the car with us and took us to the ruins of the mosque and a sheikh’s tomb next to it, which is a bit hard to make out. khalidi has quite a bit on the operation aimed at cleansing the village of its palestinian inhabitants, but here is a particularly revealing part of it:

Foreign Minister Moshe Sharrett personally reprimanded the Israeli army’s chief of staff for acts committed by the Israeli soldiers against the population. Sharrett said that in addition to overt violence, the Israeli army was busy conducting

a “whispering propaganda” campaign among the Arabs, threatening them with attacks and acts of vengeance by the army, which the civilian authorities will be powerless to prevent. There is no doubt that there is a calculated action aimed at increasing the number of those going to the Hebron Hills as if of their own free will, and if possible, to bring about the evacuation of the whole civilian population of [the pocket].

Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that the decision to cause the exodus of the “Faluja pocket” population was probably approved by the Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion. Subsequently Israeli officials feigned outrage at what had happened and misled the international community about Israeli actions. The director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Walter Eytan, told U.S. Ambassador James McDonald that Israel had broadcast “repeated reassuring notices” to the inhabitants to stay put; however, they acted “as if they smelled a rat” and abandoned their homes. (97)

entrance to the former palestinian village of falluja

ruins of a palestinian mosque in falluja

after falluja we drove west towards المجدل (al majdal), a major palestinian city. one of the young little boys (i had young kids again this day) is from this city. the kids in this group were kind of quiet, likely because they were enough exhausted at this point that they slept in between villages and cities in the car. we arrived in al majdal and it was as overwhelming as a forest. this city of buildings, as opposed to the trees of villages like beit itab (below) made it extremely difficult to find anything. but i knew from ilan pappe’s the ethnic cleansing of palestine that at least a palestinian mosque still existed and it was now a bar/restaurant. we drove around for about 30-40 minutes searching for it. we were in and out of suburbs where we saw children the same age skateboarding carefree in the streets on this city’s stolen land. we saw children playing in the water on the beach while the little boy i had with me looked on in anger. this sweet little boy (who is the best tabla player i’ve ever heard) did not say one word while we drove through his city. the only sound i heard from him was that of a stone against a wall once we finally found the old city.

but i needed help finding the old city so i broke down and went into an american hotel in occupied majdal. the holiday inn there (coincidentally owned and operated by lev leviev’s africa-israel corporation that traffics in blood diamonds and is famous for building illegal settlements) happened to have a map of “ashkelon” on which there was an icon of the mosque in the city’s “art district” (zionist terrorist colonists like to make stolen palestinian buildings into artistic spaces, which i find a bit odd given that they are all about destruction and art is supposed to be about creation). it only took us a few minutes at that point to drive to theodor herzl street where the mosque is located (actually it’s at the intersection of theodor herzl and anne frank streets). there was not only a mosque (turned into a restaurant/bar as well as a museum of “ashkelon’s history”) but also a number of palestinian homes in varying states of destruction and decay. although the buildings in al majdal have not completely erased palestinian traces in this city, the map’s idea of a historical narrative has. here is how they mythologize the history of al majdal:

The old and the new meet in Ashkelon, one of the oldest cities in the world. For 4,000 years it played an important role in the ancient history of the East. Due to its location on the “Sea road” which runs along the coast from Egypt to Syria, the city’s history is filled with construction alternating with destruction as foreign conquests succeeded one another. The first mention of Ashkelon is in Egyptian writings from the 19th Century B.C.E. At the end of 13th Century B.C.E. it was conquered by the Philistines who arrived from the islands, and was considered one of their five principle cities. After the Israelites returned from Egypt, Ashkelon was to go to the tribe of Dan, but the Israelites were unable to conquer it from the Philistines…. In 734 B.C.E. Ashkelon surrendered to Assyrian rule, and during the Hellenistic period was an important center for Greek culture. Jews lived in Ashkelon during the Roman and Byzantine periods as well as during the period of Arab conquest. The community was annihilated in 1153 following the crusader conquest of the city. Ashkelon fell to Saladin in 1187 and was finally destroyed by Sultan Baibars in 1270, after which it was not reconstructed. The history of modern Ashkelon begins with the liberation of the town of Majdal by the Israel Defence Forces during the War of Independence.

notice how they fail to mention the foreign conquest that is the zionist entity. notice how they say the “israelites returned.” they really give irony a new meaning when they concoct their sense of history–they invert everything and the so-called “Arab conquest” is a case in point. their complete erasure between 1270 and 1948 is a glaring example as well. al majdal is not in khalidi’s book as he only covers 410 destroyed palestinian villages and there were 531. but there is a bit on the city’s history in marim shahin and george azar’s palestine: a guide. here is how their tourist book explains the more recent history of al majdal:

Majdal was founded in the 14th century during the rule of Baibars, who put an end to the wars over Askalan by destroying it and starting fresh with this inland city. Majdal served as a substitute for the people of Askalan. It was famous for producing cloth and clothing: its advanced weaving industry served much of southern Palestine, including Gaza and the Negev.

About 75 years ago Majdal was described as a “thriving town of some 8,000 souls, pleasantly surrounded by orchards and a well-stocked bazaar with several small factories, which wove cotton materials.” Today the city center is called “downtown” and the main attraction of Arab Majdal, the area around the mosque, has been turned into a flea market. The mosque itself has been turned into a museum, in which a few archeological finds from the city are housed. An interesting selection of photographs from the 1930s and early 1940s shows life in Arab Majdal, which was clearly different from what it is today.

Majdal had 11,000 homes when it was bombed by the Israelis in July 1948. By the time the military campaign was over, only 1,500 people were left in the city. They were herded into three city districts and by 1951 they had been evicted through a series of military and administrative security measures. Most of the refugees and their descendants live in the Gaza Strip refugee camps to this day. Majdal itself is a quarter in the Israeli city of Ashqelon. (405-406)

obviously, some of the refugees are in deheishe. and my little friend comes from one of those families. it was hard to get a sense of what he was thinking and feeling. but i learned that night that the previous day, while enjoying himself on the beach in yaffa, he was asked how he felt about being in yaffa. he was happy and expressed how much he enjoyed being there. and then he was asked if he would like to live in yaffa. and he was adamant: no. he wants to live in majdal. even at that point he had never seen majdal, but he knew in his soul that this is the place for him. and, of course, this is his right. his right of return. but watching him, in particular, out of the kids i was with reminded me of the various psychological ups and downs of this particular camp–from the joy of playing and being free on the beach or at the church to the realization of your own history and the struggle for your rights. this experience makes all of this tangible, but also possibly traumatizing. fortunately we have a great team of mental health workers at ibdaa who can help us deal with follow up issues to try to channel whatever trauma may come up into productive energy of the ongoing work we want to do.

palestinian mosaic floor in occupied al majdal, palestine

theodor herzl street with palestinian mosque in background in occupied al majdal

destroyed palestinian home, al majdal

palestinian mosque in al majdal used as restaurant/bar and museum

zionist terrorist colonist museum in a palestinian mosque in al majdal

destroyed palestinian home in al majdal

day four

since we did not have time to cover all the villages prior to camp, a group of us woke up extra early this fourth day of camp to check out more precise locations and input them into the gps system. we spent two hours driving around to discover where عرتوف (artuf), عسلين (islin), إشوع (ishwa), صرعة (sara’a), بيت محسير (beit mahsir) might be located today. of course we had not counted on the fact that some of these villages had settlements on them which were occupied by zionist terrorist colonists who were also religious jews. as we drove around the colonies looking for traces of palestinian life not destroyed, we were chased out of beit mahsir, for example, because jews don’t drive on saturdays if they are religious. given that these are gated settlements with security, much like colonies in the west bank, we drove quickly out of the settlement because we had one palestinian with us who we had smuggled into 1948 palestine.

we returned back just in time to leave for the day’s trips. i had only made it to two villages the prior day because it took so much time to drive and then to look for the mosque in majdal. i felt so bad that the little boy from khulda did not get to see his village that day so i promised him i would take him first and i did just that.

خُلدة (khulda) is in the north in the ramla district and today is the hulda forest run by the jewish national fund. there are two palestinian houses on the land, one of which is used as a “herzl house” museum of sorts. it was closed so we could not see what was inside. when we arrived we were greeted with more myth making on the part of the zionist terrorist colonists who have stolen this land. there are also a settlement on the village land. here are some of the lies that the brochure by the jnf says about the site:

Following Herzl’s death in 1904 KKL-JNF initiated an Olive Tree Fund to raise monies for the purchase of land and the planting of olive trees. The lands of Hulda were placed at KKL-JNF’s disposal for the planting of groves in Herzl’s memory.

In 1909, an olive plantation was established at the site and a large residence built and named for Herzl…. During World War I, however, most of the workers fled or were evicted and farming died down. Those that stayed on faced both a severe water shortage and a locust plague that wreaked havoc on the plantation. After the war, groups of pioneers settled at Hulda, bringing with them the idea of forest cover for a barren land: “We’ll afforest, revive and settle the hills.”

…In the summer of 5689 (1929) bloody riots swept through the country, including the isolated farm. On the night of 28 of Av (3 September), Hulda’s residents came under heavy attack from local Arabs. Efrayim Chizhik, who had arrived at the site to help defend it, fell in battle. His sacrifice and dedication, like that of his sister, Sarah, were typical of the handful of pioneers who made possible the settlement enterprise in Eretz Israel.

Sarah Chizhik fell in the defense of Tel Hai in northern Israel–a battle that came to symbolize the stand of a few against many. Efrayim reached Hulda with former Shomer (Guard) Yaacov Abramson to find 16 young men, two women and two children there, and were later joined by some 20 members of the pre-state Jewish Haganah defense organization who set about fortifying the place.

But they could not withstand the thousands of rioters from nearby villages who attacked Hulda, surrounding the courtyard and setting fire to the large granary. As the defenders crawled back to Herzl House, Chizhik, who led the retreat, suffered a mortal wound. The farmhouse ws now under siege and, during the night, a contingent of British soldiers arrived and demanded that the Hulda occupants evacuate. There was no other choice. The farm was destroyed and the forest went up in flame. Once more, the farm was deserted and lay in ruins, this time for two years.

just like herzl is where zionism all began, so too the “forest” that bears his name on the land of what was once khulda. this above fabricated history, not unlike the one about al majdal, completely erases palestinians who had lived on the land of khulda for centuries. in contradistinction, here is what khalidi says about life before 1948 and the depopulation of the village:

The village was situated on a flat hilltop and overlooked wide areas on all four sides. Khulda lay close to a highway that connected Gaza with the al-Ramla-Jerusalem highway, and was linked by a network of secondary roads to al-Ramla and a number of major highways. It is identified with a locality that the Crusaders called Huldre. In 1596, Khulda was a village in the nahiya of Ramla (liwa‘ of Gaza) with a population of sixty-six. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat and barley, as well as on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives. [Edward] Robinson passed by the village in 1838; he described it as “large.” In the late nineteenth century, Khulda was described as a large village built of stone and mud and situated on the side of a hill. The village had a masonry well to the west. All of the people of Khulda were Muslims and maintained their own mosque. They drew water for domestic use from two wells, northeast of the village. They worked primarily in animal husbandry and rainfed agriculture, growing grain and small amounts of vegetables. In 1944/45 a total of 8,994 dunums was allotted to cereals; 9 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

On 6 April 1948, at the start of Operation Nachshon (see Bayt Naqquba, Jerusalem District), a Haganah battalion occupied Khulda along with neighboring Dayr Muhaysin. Khulda was systematically levelled with bulldozers on 20 April, two weeks after its capture. The History of the Haganah says only that the village was taken “without fighting.” Battles continued to rage around the village in later weeks, however, especiall yin the last week of May when an engagement around al-Latrun spread to the Khulda area, becoming what the press called “the biggest single clash of the war to date.” (389)

notice that even the reference to the haganah version of events doesn’t jive with the zionist jnf mythologizing. in any case, like many other villages we did not find too many old palestinian trees, but the kids found plenty of fruit to pack into bags to take home. this village was a bit tricky at first as when we arrived there were zionist terrorist soldiers in between the two palestinian houses. at first i wasn’t sure what was going on, but then i saw they were on a stage and they must have been acting, though that doesn’t mean they are not also soldiers since every zionist colonist is a terrorist in their terrorist forces for life. but they didn’t disturb us and we were able to look around the palestinian houses a bit.

theodor herzl house/national park (otherwise known as the palestinian village of khulda)

palestinian house occupied by a theodor herzl museum in kulda, palestine

zionist terrorist soldiers in occupied khulda, apparently acting

the next village, also in the ramla district, صرفند العمار (sarafand al amar) i knew would be a bit more tricky. we had tested out this village previously, but after talking to some palestinians in ramla we learned that all was to be found there was one of the zionist terrorist regime’s largest military bases and a hospital. however, khalidi promises there are around six houses. we found at least one of them, or at least that is what he girl from the village believes. i just didn’t see the palestinian architectural style in the building so i’m not sure. but whatever we found it was on her land and it was fenced off as old palestinian homes often are. there were also a number of orange trees and other fruit trees that the kids collected fruit from. and let’s not forget the ford motor company and the mcdonald’s on her land with respect to the boycott campaign.

the story of the ethnic cleansing of sarafand al-amar is told by khalidi as follows:

On the morning of 2 January 1948, Arab workers at the large British army camp in Sarafand discovered twelve timed charges set to explode at noon, a time when they would have been lined up to collect their weekly wages. The Palestinian newspaper Filastin noted that none of the Jewish workers in the camp had reported to work that day, implying that they had been warned by Zionist groups responsible for the attack.

A party of Haganah sappers carried out a raid on Sarafand on 15 April 1948. The attackers penetrated “deep in Arab territory,” according to a New York Times report, and demolished a three-storey building. The British authorities stated that 16 people were killed and 12 wounded int he ruins of the building. A statement by the attackers charged that the building was used by militia forces led by Shaykh Hasan Salama, the Palestinian guerrilla commander of the Jaffa district, and that 39 people were killed in the raid.

As the British army evacuated Palestine in mid-May, it allowed Arab forces to take over the army camp, which covered about 500 acres. Israeli foreign minister Moshe Shertok (Sharett) was quoted by the New York Times as saying that Jewish institutions had purchased the camp, but that is was handed over to the Arabs nevertheless. According to the History of the War of Independence, the army outpost was handed over to Arab forces on 14 May. The “small, semi-regular” Arab unit positioned there was driven out five days later by a two-pronged attack from the southeast and north; the Arab unit’s defensive formation had been prepared only for an attack from the adjacent settlement of Rishon le-Tziyyon (to the west). The account adds that “the outpost fell into our hands without any casualties.” The Associated Press quoted unnamed Zionist sources as saying that they had made a profit of $2.5 million by capturing it. That was the sum they had reportedly offered (but never paid) for the former British camp. The same sources said that they were hoping to take advantage of the camps’ facilities to house 20,000 new Jewish immigrants.

Sarafand al-’Amar was probably occupied during the night of 19-20 May 1948 by the Second Battalion of the Israeli army’s Giv’ati Brigade. That places the occupation ofthe village within the scope of Operation Barak, Giv’ati’s May offensive in the al-Ramla area (see al-Batani al-Gharbi, Gaza District). The residents of the village probably fled or were evicted at teh same time. (411-412)

ford motor company in occupied sarafand al 'amar, palestine

zionist terrorist colonist army and air force base in occupied sarafand al 'amar, palestine

the next village, one we also checked out last week, was one we couldn’t see evidence of either as it was in a jnf forest. but rather than go in the side we tested last week i drove around to the other side, which was a good thing. خربة القبيبه (khirbat al-qubeiba) didn’t have a ton of information on it on palestine remembered or in khalidi’s book which made things challenging. but the map was clear in abu sitta’s book. we heard somewhere that there might be an old palestinian home in or as a restaurant now so we pulled into a parking lot on the other side of the forest. we didn’t notice anything in the restaurant, but on our way there, on the top of the hill, we saw houses and we hiked up a hill to reach that area. the area we reached had a number of destroyed or partially destroyed palestinian homes. and a ton of old trees mixed in with the jnf planted trees in their attempt to cover up their crimes. it was an amazing discovery and the young boy from the village was pleased with what he found and with the bits of carob he collected from the village trees.

destroyed palestinian home in khirbat al qubeiba

destroyed palestinian home in khirbat al qubeiba

the final village of the day was really far north in the district of haifa. صبارين (sabbarin) has two settlements on his land and vast fertile farmland. there is very little left to see here, however. what we found in this village were modern zionist terrorist colonist houses built in part with stones from old palestinian houses. there is no information in khalidi about the ethnic cleansing of the village, but pappe has a reference to it in relation to the area more generally:

Here, too, the Irgun contributed its share of the continued destruction of Palestine’s countryside. They completed the vengeful attack on the remaining villages in Marj Ibn Amir, while the British Mandate troops were still there: Sabbarin, Sindiyana, Barieka, Khubbeiza, and Umm al-Shauf. Some of the people in these villages fled under the heavy mortar fire of the attacking forces, while others who waved white flags signaling surrender were instantly exiled. In Sabbarin, the Irgun bandits, angered by the fact that they encountered some armed resistance, as punishment kept the women, old men and children confined for a few days within barbed wire–very much like the cages in which Palestinians today are kept for hours at checkpoints in the West Bank when they fail to present the right permits. Seven young Palestinian men found carrying arms were executed on the spot by Jewish troops, who then expelled the rest of the villagers to Umm al-Fahm, then not yet in Jewish hands. (108)

we found a number of fruit and vegetable orchards as well as olive groves on the land, some which seemed like they were the original trees. but it was disappointing to see so little remaining among the farms and settlements on the stolen land of sabbarin, especially after discovering the homes in khirbat al qubeiba. since these four villages took us so long and we were so far north we went to a felafel restaurant in the wadi ara’a area before heading back to the church.

zionist terrorist colonist house in occupied sabbarin, palestine

zionist terrorist colonist house using the stones from old palestinian homes in occupied sabbarin

occupied sabbarin, palestine

i had to head back to deheishe to buy some more food (as i had to do a few nights that week so as not to buy food from zionist terrorist colonists). as we drove in through the checkpoint we noticed that on the 1948 side of the checkpoint that zionist terrorist army jeeps were pulling people over near al qabu and looking at papers as they were at the checkpoint. we decided to wait for a few hours before smuggling the next person in. we managed to get through, however, we were stopped by the police somewhere near beit natif, as were all the cars, for some sort of routine car check. amazingly we didn’t get caught there as they only wanted my papers. i had seen such a checkpoint outside zakariya when i came back at 3 am a couple of nights before, but i didn’t realize what it was at the time. one of our buses got pulled over with the kids at one point this week for the same thing. thank god no one got caught.

when we arrived back at the camp the kids were having a carnival of sorts. they started off with a palestinian trivia game about refugees and camps in the region. it was boys against girls (though i do not recall who won). there were also a number of camp games and what i think was the world’s first laban eating contest. there was lots of drumming and singing and i think it was a great way to end our last full night at the camp.

day five

the last day of camp had us setting off to see the villages rather early in the morning as we had afternoon workshops we had to get back for. we rearranged some of the villages after noticing some were occupied by orthodox jewish settlements and we didn’t want buses full of kids going in there on a saturday. so that meant i had to go back to two of those villages on the last day.

i started with بيت محسير (beit mahsir) which is not only huge, but also encompasses a forest, mountains, and a settlement. anyone who has ever driven on highway 1 from yaffa to al quds has seen two beit mahsir houses on the right-hand side of the road right after you pass by latrun (across from a gas station). but there are others on the top of the mountain inside the settlement. we tried first to drive into a forest from the highway to see if that is how to reach those houses on the highway, but we had no luck. so we went up to the colony and drove inside. there we saw palestinian houses mixed in with those built by zionist terrorist colonists. there were some we saw at a glance as the orthodox jews were still out and about on sunday and walked towards us as we tried to reach one area where we saw palestinian homes. on the way back to the next village we managed to see the homes from across the road, though i still do not know how to get behind them so as to get closer on foot.

there is quite an extensive history of beit mahsir in several sources, including khalidi, who says of the depopulation of the village:

Although the village was targeted for occupation during Operation Nachson (see Bayt Naqquba, Jerusalem District), in early April 1948, it was not taken until the first half of May. In the wake of Nachson, the Haganah launched a series of attacks in an attempt to widen their corridor to Jerusalem and capture the strategic al-Latrun salient. Bayt Mahsir fell during Operation Makkabi (see Khirbat Bayt Far, al-Ramla District) to the newly-formed Hare’el Brigade of the Palmach. The History of the Hagannah states that “this village was not occupied easily; but was attacked by Palmach troops for three nights, and it was not occupied until the morning of 11 May.” The account states merely that the occupiers found booty taken from Haganah military convoys ambushed in the area; no mention is made of the fate of the villagers. The New York Times reported that two commando battalions of the Palmach were involved in the thirty-six hour battle. After “tentative thrusts” on 9 May, the Sixth Palmach Battalion (some 400 to 500 men) seized strong points around the village at 11:00 PM that night. The Arab forces withdrew; that night, they launched a counterattack that lasted for two days. On 12 May, they claimed to have recaptured Bayt Mahsir, but their hold ont he village apparently was not firm.

The Arab Liberation Army’s (ALA) Qadisiyya Battalion was defending the village, and ALA commander Fawzi al-Qawuqji described the situation from the Arab side. On 9 May, he reported that they had “replled a violent Jewish attack on Bayt Mahsir aimed at opening the Jerusalem road.” The following day, the commanding officer at Bayt Mahsir, Lt. Col. Mahdi Salih, cabled to say that the situation was “critical.” Qawuqji sent one of two reserve battalions to the area, which helped to encircle a large detachment of Jewish forces in the area. On 11 May, these forces were said to be withdrawing and ALA units had captured the woods near the village. But on 12 May, Qawuqji informed the High Command that “Jewish forces coming from Jerusalem and outskirts succeeded in entering Bayt Mahsir thanks to the large reinforcements with all kinds of equipment which arrived constantly.” He indicates that the village was recovered the same day through artillery bombardment and a frontal attack. However, the recovery of the village ws probably short-lived. Soon afterwards, Bayt Mahsir was captured and systematically levelled after occupation, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris.

In late March, the New York Times reported that the village had been occupied briefly by British army units. Together with Ishwa’ and ‘Artuf, Bayt Mahsir had withstood a British assault following an Arab attack on the Jewish settlement of Hartuv nearby. (276-277)

entrance to the zionist terrorist colony of beit me'ir on the land of beit mahsir, palestine

palestinian home in occupied beit mahsir

old palestinian home in occupied beit mahsir, palestine

it is unfortunate, but for those youth whose villages are largely occupied by zionist terrorist colonists now spending much of the village trip is safer in a car than by foot. this was true with beit mahsir and also artuf, the next village we went to. عرتوف (artuf) was similar to beit mahsir in the sense that there are palestinian homes mixed in with the zionist terrorist colonist houses. but at the front gate of the settlement there is also a palestinian home which has a zionist terrorist colonist house annexed to the front of it.

here is what khalidi says about the ethnic cleansing of artuf:

It was not until mid-July that ‘Artuf (and a number of other villages in the Jerusalem area) was actually depopulated. It was occupied during the second phase of Operation Dani (see Abu al-Fadl, Al-Ramla District) by the Fourth Battalion of the Har’el Brigade. According to the History of the War of Independence and Israeli historian Benny Morris, this occurred during the night of 17-18 July 1948. The offensive is described by Morris as follows: “Much of the population of these villages…had left the area previously. Most of the remaining population fled with the approach of the Har’el columns and with the start of mortar brigades. The handful of people who remained at each site when the Israelis entered were expelled.” The Second Platoon of B Company (of the Fourth Battalion), armed with mortars and machine guns, first pushed out the inhabitants of nearby Ishwa’ and ‘Islin; then they moved toward ‘Artuf. Aiming their mortars at the police station west of ‘Artuf, they lobbed explosives at both the station and the village. This night time bombardment convinced the villagers to flee. This night-time bombardment convinced the villagers to flee. Most of them walked three miles up the slopes toward the village of Dayr al-Hawa, to the south east. The first Israeli troops to tenter the village, ont he day after its depopulation,w ere members of a platoon commanded by Rafael Eytan. (260)

entrance to zionist terrorist colony of nacham on the land of artuf, palestine

zionist terrorist colonist's house built onto a palestinian house in artuf

البريج (al burayj) was even more difficult in some ways than the other villages with settlements on the land. this one had not only a colony, but also an enormous military base. we could see a watch tower in the distance (in one of the images below). just as there is not a great deal of evidence of palestinian life in al burayj, there is also not a lot of detail with respect to its depopulation. here is what khalidi says about it:

Al-Burayj was probably captured during the first phase of Operation ha-Har (see ‘Allar, Jerusalem District). The village fell some time between 19 and 24 October 1948, as Israeli forces moved to occupy a number of village in the southern part of the Jerusalem corridor. (282)

while there wasn’t too much of palestinian life there was an amazing orchard full of plums that we filled bags up with for the boy from burayj to take home and share with his family. but a number of the trees, for instance the olive trees, were newly planted and not palestinian olive trees, yet another example of how the zionist terrorist colonists constantly seek to destroy all forms of life.

zionist terrorist military base on the land of al burayj, palestine

they destroy olive trees too, here in al burayj (and then replant them with the help of diaspora zionists)

the last village we visited on the trip i messed up big time. i read the map incorrectly. it seemed to me at the time that بيت عطاب (beit itab) was across the street from deir al-hawa. i studied the map again last night and realized that this was incorrect. where we were, it was still deir al-hawa. but these are the villages that were destroyed to make room for the american independence park that i wrote last week before i left for camp (see post below) so it is a bit challenging to figure out where the borders are. there is a settlement, nes harim on part of the village land, but this is only a small part of it. if i had gone a kilometer more and into the settlement we would have been in the right place. we would have seen a crusader castle and almond, carob, and olive trees, as well as cacti. there was already a group who visited beit itab, but one of the older youth leaders who i smuggled in illegally to 1948 palestine was from this village and he was with me on the day they went to his village so i wanted to take him. because it was so difficult to get him out i cannot stop kicking myself for fucking this up so royally. i was so excited that we had found a house and two wells that i guess i had hoped and imagined that we were in the right place. so the photos below are of دير الهوا (deir al hawa) instead.

in any case, here is what khalidi has to say about the ethnic cleansing of bayt itab:

Bayt ‘Itab was one of a string of villages in the Jerusalem corridor that was captured following the second truce of the war. Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that it was occupied on 21 October 1948, during Operation ha-Har (see ‘Allar, Jerusalem District). The operation was complimentary to Operation Yo’av (see Barbara, Gaza District), a simultaneous offensive o the southern front htat aimed at thrusting southwards into the Negev. (275)

palestinian home in deir al hawa (what i mistakenly thought was beit itab)

palestinian well in deir al hawa

entrance to deir al hawa, palestine

we returned to camp for our final workshops–one on the legal issues related to the right of return and another on how to use hip hop as a method of communicating these narratives of an nakba and the right of return that the rap group dam conducted. then it was time for cleaning up the church, packing, and heading home, again in shifts, as i had to do separate smuggling trips. we all made it back safely, and have been catching up on sleep. but now we have a meeting in a bit for the next phase of the project.

right of return workshop

dam workshop

haq al awda!

Konami

L’azienda giapponese di videogame Konami ha annunciato che non sarà messo in commercio il gioco sulla guerra in Iraq, che sarebbe dovuto uscire il prossimo anno. Il gioco era ambientato durante i giorni della sanguinosa battaglia di Falluja del novembre 2004, ma le proteste suscitate alla notizia della sua uscita hanno convinto l’azienda a cancellare la pubblicazione. La software house è stata infatti letteralmente sommersa dalle proteste di chi sosteneva che non si poteva fare un videogame su un episodio così triste della storia contemporanea. Il videogame, chiamato Six days in Fallujah, era stato sviluppato dalla società americana Atomic Games e la storia si basava sulla ricostruzione dell’operazione militare condotta dall’esercito americano nella città irachena, dove, secondo le stime, hanno perso la vita almeno 2.000 persone. Un portavoce della Konami ha dichiarato: “Dopo aver visto la reazione del pubblico durante l’anteprima tenuta negli Stati Uniti abbiamo deciso di rinunciare alla vendita del titolo. Intendevamo solamente riproporre la realtà delle battaglie in modo che i giocatori potessero immedesimarsi nell’azione e provare la sensazione di essere lì”.

Dispacci. Il giornalista del New York Times ha appena vinto il Pulitzer, dopo nove anni come inviato in Afghanistan e Iraq. Le sue cronache dal fronte raccontano l’ambiguità del conflitto tra occidente e fondamentalismo islamico: talebani voltagabbana, suicidi di Al Qaeda comandati a distanza, e un’umanità sempre più mutilata, anzi cyberpunk.

La grande guerra di Monicelli compie 50 anni. È il racconto degli italiani ingenui e sprovveduti (persi tra i tanti dialetti) di fronte al grande macello del primo conflitto mondiale. Una lunga e costosa (650 mila morti) guerra di trincea. Ma la guerra è per sempre, e ognuno la racconta di volta in volta come può. Nel 1924 l’anarco pacifista tedesco Ernst Friedrich pubblicò un testo allineando una serie di fotografie shock, da incubo irreversibile. Mise insieme i cadaveri provenienti dal fronte, da fucilazioni, stragi e bombardamenti, e i volti e i corpi delle guerra, quelli sfigurati e mutilati dei reduci, rimontati senza grazia dalla chirurgia estetica. Il cyberpunk 70 anni prima, come la calotta di metallo di Stroheim immortalata nella Grande illusione di Renoir. Ma a Friedrich quelle foto non bastavano. Mise delle brevi didascalie in tre lingue, aveva bisogno di un segno scritto che denunciasse quanto tutto fosse insensato e tuttavia destinato a ripetersi. Citazioni come «L’eroismo è menzogna, l’orrore è realtà». Un segno necessario.

E oggi? La guerra si racconta da tempo attraverso i video e le foto d’agenzia, la Magnum e la Contrasto realizzano dei reportage interi visibili sul web, come fa anche Mediastorm di Brian Storm. Ma anche i giornali non sono da meno. Sul sito del New York Times è stato appena pubblicato un reportage, che unisce immagini e voci in presa diretta, An Ambush and a Comrade Lost: un plotone di marines sorpreso in un agguato in Afghanistan. Quest’anno il New York Times si è aggiudicato cinque premi Pulitzer. Tra questi proprio quello relativo alla categoria reportage internazionali, per la copertura dei conflitti in Afghanistan e Pakistan. Sono reportage raccontati dalla prima linea, scritti attraverso taccuini, pc e palmari. Tra i giornalisti che hanno firmato i reportage premiati c’è Dexter Filkins, per anni inviato in Afghanistan e Iraq.

Anche per Filkins guerra è per sempre, come recita il titolo della sua raccolta di cronache di guerra che Bruno Mondadori ha appena pubblicato. Nove anni di servizio, un veterano che spesso si è sentito spaesato, un cane nello spazio: «Quando ero in Iraq avrebbe potuto essere la stessa cosa che essere in orbita intorno alla terra in una navicella spaziale. Come Laika a borbo dello Sputnik, che mandava segnali alla base, priva di ormeggi, e senza tenere traccia del tempo». Filkins è in Afghanistan per la prima volta come corrispondente del L.A. Times dal 1998 fino al 2000. Per il New York Times è reporter a Ground zero. Poi ritorna in Afghanistan fino al 2002. Nel marzo 2003 è nell’ Iraq invaso dagli americani, ci resta fino al 2006, per poi tornare l’anno dopo. Guerra per sempre è il frutto di 561 taccuini. E di ricordi, fotografie, traduzioni di documenti. Tutto per documentare la guerra al fondamentalismo islamico, l’ascesa dei talebani, l’11 settembre, l’Iraq.

La guerra di Filkins è una guerra umana. E dai suoi resoconti emerge tutta l’ambiguità dell’umanità. Così come ambigue si mostrano le posizioni in conflitto tra occidente e Islam, culture unificate dalla globalizzazione, come le donne arabe in burqa e scarpe firmate che aspettano di imbarcarsi all’aeroporto di Kabul: «Il burqa di ordinanza le copriva dalla testa ai piedi, rendendole invisibili, ma le scarpe sbucavano da sotto. E che scarpe: alla moda, costose, con i tacchi alti, bassi o mocassini, modelli italiani. Forse Ferragamo. Parlavano arabo con accento saudita. -Potrei fare shopping a Parigi e invece sono in questo luogo orrendo- disse una di loro a un’altra attraverso la fessura del velo. L’altra annuì. – Già, mio marito deve fare il prode guerriero che combatte per l’Islam- sbottò una. -Pensa che questo lo avvicini a Dio, e così eccomi qui- Siamo bloccate in questo posto maledetto- disse una terza. Tutti i burqa annuirono».

Una guerra iper tecnologica ma fatta ancora dagli uomini, dove i corpi continuano essere mutilati. Per esempio da quella che Filkins chiama l’archeologia di mine: quelle dei sovietici, dei mujaheddin, dei talebani, e ancora dei mujaheddin: «C’è stato un tempo che a Kabul 25 persone al giorno saltavano in aria su una mina e nel frattempo i signori della guerra si davano da fare per minare altri campi più in fretta che potevano. L’Afghanistan era come una cavia da laboratorio». Mine che non risparmiano nessuno, neanche i protagonisti. Da Baghdad: «il giorno seguente, lo Sheraton era ancora in piedi. La hall era distrutta: tutte le finestre erano in frantumi. Un paio di piedi, esangui e verdi, facevano bella mostra sul marciapiede. Gli americani dicevano che erano dell’autista della betoniera. E c’era un midollo spinale sul marciapiede. E un dito, verde e nero». A Kabul: «I vecchi capi talebani erano degli sfasciacarrozze ambulanti. Pieni di buchi e cicatrici, camminavano con gambe di legno e braccia artificiali inadatte e quando si lasciavano cadere sulle loro sedie sembrava di vedere la carrozzeria di una vecchia auto che si accartocciava. Versavano il tè sul piattino e lo sorbivano rumorosamente perché faceva più elegante. Come fai ad ammazzarli? Sono di un altro mondo, hanno sconfitto l’Unione Sovietica».

Tutti i congegni di guerra possono incepparsi, ma non tradiscono mai, gli uomini di sicuro sì, è una delle ambiguità più dinamiche. Se ne accorge Filkins: «In Afghanistan avevano combattuto così a lungo -23 anni- che quando erano arrivati gli americani avevano elaborato una serie di regole per salvare quanti più combattenti fosse possibile. La guerra poteva così proseguire per sempre. Gli uomini combattevano, passavano al nemico, combattevano di nuovo. La guerra sembrava una gara tra amici. Martedì puoi far parte di un temibile reggimento talebano che corre in un campo minato. Mercoledì potresti essere di guardia in un checkpoint di una fazione dell’Alleanza del Nord. Giovedì potresti ritornare con i talebani, imbracciare un kalashinikov e combattere l’eterna guerra santa. La guerra era una faccenda seria ma non troppo, faceva parte della vita quotidiana. Era un lavoro». Le sole persone che prendevano sul serio i combattimenti erano gli stranieri, scrive Filkins, ovvero gli americani e gli uomini di Al Qaeda: «loro erano venuti per uccidere».

Una guerra dove la parola eroe fatica a coincidere con i protagonisti. Da una parte i giovanissimi marines americani in missione, di cui Filkins segue il mirino che punta le finestre, mettendosi al riparo mentre escono da una palazzina a Falluja sotto una pioggia di proiettili, o appiattendosi sul tetto minacciato dai cecchini: «Non aveva senso inquadrarli in una luce romantica, erano ragazzi in grado di colpire un uomo a cinquecento metri o di tagliarli la gola da un orecchio all’altro. Avevano fede, facevano quello che gli veniva detto di fare e ammazzavano la gente. Avrei voluto che facessero più domande. Ma le cose erano complicate a Keezletown e a Punxsutawney come qui. A Falluja nelle strade ero contento che fossero davanti a me. Saranno stati anche ragazzi ma erano più agili e più forti di quelli rimasti a Manhattan o a Santa Monica. I tre comandanti di plotone della compagnia Bravo, ognuno responsabile della vita di 50 uomini, avevano 23 e 24 anni».

Dall’altra i suicidi della jjhad di Al Qaeda, comandati a distanza, perché la fede non sempre era incrollabile: «Talvolta la polizia trovava le mani dell’attentatore ammanettate al voltante dell’automobile. Altre volte ritrovavano il piede destro bloccato sull’acceleratore con il nastro isolante». Una violenza spietata a cui si affianca un desiderio d’ordine, etico e schizofrenico. Se ne accorge Jacob Yusef, preside del Baghdad college, l’antica scuola superiore dei gesuiti alla periferia nord della capitale. A cui rapirono il fratello Saadi. Arrestato per attività sospette. «Il corpo di Saadi era nel vano frigorifero di autocarro usato per distribuire prodotti agricoli. L’uomo mi disse- lei è fortunato, alla maggior parte delle persone il corpo non viene restituito. Dovrebbe esserci molto riconoscente- aspettava che lo ringraziassi e così feci. E poi mi disse, non posso restituire il corpo perché deve pagare i proiettili che sono stati usati per ucciderlo. E li ho pagati, 150 dinari e l’uomo mi ha dato una ricevuta».

O i talebani che nello stadio di Kabul scendono dai Toyota Hilux per punire un prigioniero, un borsaiolo, mentre la legge del Corano ammonisce dall’altoparlante: «I cappucci verdi sembravano molto indaffarati, e uno di loro si alzò. Sollevò la mano destra recisa per mostrarla alla folla. La teneva per il dito medio, descrivendo un semicerchio perché la gente potesse vedere. I mutilati e le donne, poi si tolse il cappuccio e mostrando il volto inspirò. Gettò la mano nell’erba e scrollò leggermente le spalle».
Se le ragioni della guerra stanno nella testa, anche la guerra raccontata da Filkins sopravviverà a se stessa, 75 anni dopo le foto di Friedrich: «La cosa più assurda degli attentatori suicidi era la testa che spesso rimaneva intatta dopo l’esplosizione. La potenza dell’esplosione stacca la testa dell’attentatore e la scaglia lontano con tale velocità che l’esplosione stessa non riesce a distruggerla». E si continua allora a fare la guerra

OXCGN Discusses – Six Days In Fallujah: Now We All Can Go To Hell

Can War Games Aiming For Realism Be Edu-tainment?

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton:- 2IC Sub-E (OXCGN’s own resident historian)

Update: 27th April 2009:

It seems Konami have dumped Atomic Games’ controversial title, bowing to pressure by releasing their rights to the game’s coming publication in 2010.  Atomic Games will be hoping that a braver (crazier?) publisher grabs publication rights.

I have to admit I am a bit of a contradiction. I tend towards being against violence, wars and killing but love my shooter games.  As someone with a history background I also tend to like historical accuracy in games like the World War II shooters.  But ever since they started to get more serious about their content with games like Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway and Call Of Duty: World At War, no longer just focusing on the big battles, brotherhood of soldiers, and glory, I have wondered if this is where games meant to provide entertainment and fun should head.

• Six Days In Fallujah Interview with Peter Tamte President Atomic Games

done

• Plus 3 new screens to check out

• UPDATE: More info on the game here at OXCGN’s Six Days In Fallujah page

No big deal though; after all those wars were long ago and we can feel far removed from those experiences of hell, right?

They make movies about it, songs about it, but games . . . ?! What is the difference . . . !?

But now we have Konami announcing their new third-person tactical shooter Six Days In Fallujah, which chronicles the real life experiences of several U.S. Marines during the fighting in November 2004 in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.  The game will be released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC next year (2010). Apparently this battle saw 38 U.S. troops die and an estimated 1,200 insurgents also perish.  Not only that, the game will present the gamer with the same task the soldiers stationed in Iraq faced: identifying civilians from insurgents and not shooting innocents. Interestingly it seems it was the soldiers themselves who wanted the story to be told in video game form rather than a film.  According to the Los Angeles Times’ article, Mike Ergo, who was in a Marine infantry battalion during the battle in Fallujah, said:

Video games can communicate the intensity and the gravity of war to an audience who wouldn’t necessarily be watching the History Channel or reading about this in the classroom.  In an age when everyone’s always online or playing games, people’s imaginations aren’t what they were, sadly. For this group, books may not convey the same level of intensity and chaos of war that a game can.

In my previous article last year titled War Games: How Serious Is Too Serious? I wondered:

Is this trend toward realism an educational analysis of the nature of war in game form, or tasteless exploitation of it? Previous historical war shooter games tended toward the ridiculous but fun (Return To Wolfenstein) or tried to be authentic and dramatic but without too deep an emotional attachment (Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series). Today’s focus on modern or near-future shooters, like Call of Duty 4 or the Ghost Recon games, do not touch historical scenarios, instead making up plausible possibilities to fight in and so empathy with past reality is not called on.

Other 'games' honour those who gave their lives - so, can this!?

Look at war in the Middle East from the 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand perspective: no seriousness anywhere (or if there was I just laughed anyway).  The game was fun; you just couldn’t take it seriously.  It was gangsta fighting in the Middle East instead of LA. But can this game about such a recent war and continuing conflict be sensitive and educational? No, according to some.  Reg Keys, whose son Thomas was a Royal Marine killed in 2003, said in the Daily Mail

:

Considering the enormous loss of life in the Iraq War, glorifying it in a video game demonstrates very poor judgment and bad taste. These horrific events should be confined to the annals of history, not trivialised and rendered for thrill-seekers to play out. It’s entirely possible that Muslim families will buy the game, and for them it may prove particularly harrowing. Even worse, it could end up in the hands of a fanatical young Muslim and incite him to consider some form of retaliation or retribution. He could use it to get worked up and want to really “finish the game”

Is it possible for a game about war to not be stylised for entertainment and instead try to demonstrate real horrific events and elicit empathy? I still remember the sad story reported last year where Call Of Duty 4 was linked to the disappearance and later suicide of a traumatised U.S. Marine veteran who is said to have “experienced a flashback of some sort” of one of his combat experiences, which included “seeing his best friend decapitated at Fallujah”.

Many younger generations are sheltered from the 'realities of war'. Do they need to be exposed to them - or not?

The thing is that I don’t really know what it’s like out there in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Even if you don’t support the political and military decisions made there is still a respect that is demanded for those who have had to go through hell on all sides.  War hits the soldiers and the civilians both but we are safe over here watching the brief news on TV and then forgetting about it. So I would probably play this game, but I would play it with a different attitude than I would approach playing 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand, or even Call Of Duty 4.  If done well the game could indeed educate me as to the horrors I’m immune to here in my safe home and give me a better understanding of the difficulties everyone faces in wars today.  Or maybe it’d just shake me up a bit to realise that something close to what is being depicted happened in my world.

I could feel emotional, even if I’m just looking at polygons.

Would it be fun?  I’d like to think that I could enjoy it like I would enjoy watching Black Hawk Down…not with an idiotic gung-ho ‘kill all the bad Iraqis’ madness, but with a ‘how the hell do we survive this’ approach.  In Black Hawk Down the Somalis were not the point: it was the situation the soldiers found themselves in and the attempt to survive that interested me, not their enemies.  I might very well feel some exhiliration playing a game to survive overwhelming odds and trying not to kill innocents.

Eddie Garcia (left), a former U.S. Marine, and an unidentified former soldier consult at the Atomic Games studio in Raleigh. (N.C. Credit: Atomic Games) A game being designed, created and overseen by those who served and want to tell the story.

It wouldn’t be the same fun as blasting away a bunch of zombies in Left 4 Dead, but it may give me a different satisfaction- if the game is well done. Are there those who will see the game as a jingoistic exercise in vicarious patriotism or go around trying to kill civilians for kicks?  Maybe…but hopefully the majority of gamers are mature enough to play a game and get the point it is trying to make.  Sure the game is about entertainment and making money, but so are films about these topics.  The difference is interactivity and a closer identification with the protagonists you control. Atomic Games has a huge task ahead of it to portray a recent and ongoing conflict in a sensitive and realistic way and still make it fun.  The challenge will be to make the game a way to give those of us without the knowledge and experience an insight into what the war is like, without making it so unpleasant that it isn’t fun and without reducing it to a typically trivial shooter with standard spawning enemies. Or worse, making it a gung-ho patriotic propaganda recruitment piece. What do you think?  Is the war in Iraq too sensitive, too serious, or too political to touch in video gaming?  Can video games be mature enough or be effective edu-tainment?  Let us know in the comment box below.

More info HERE.

© 2009 David Hilton:- 2IC-Sub Editor

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