 |
12-9-05,9:14am
Ali Ismaeel Abbas, aged 12, was sleeping when a missile completely destroyed his house and killed most of his family, leaving him orphan, with terrible burns and without arms.
According to Reuters Agency, Alí told the attacks were made with missiles over his house, located in the Diala bridge district, East side of Baghdad, they killed his father and mother. She was pregnant, but there was also one brother, an aunt and three cousins and other family members, all killed during the night.
The event took place two years ago but the terrible tragedy experienced today by Iraqi children continues to be the same, they are the main war victims, Ali’s sad story with more or less tragic nuances is repeated in thousands of infants who have smiled no more, who have witnessed their families to disappear and an infancy never once more recovered.
In the midst of November of this year, Reuters New Agency, reported another painful image where there was a boy killed by a Yankee patrol at Baquiba city. The little one was under two years old, he was traveling together with his parents in a microbus which was indiscriminately shot, because according to the North American authorities, the vehicle tried to pass a military caravan. The deed only serves to illustrate the killing unleashed since three years ago, which has not been halted. Every day, new infant victims join thousands who have already perished in the military conflict.
Just a few days ago, a photo of a child burnt by white phosphorous toured the world. From his father’s arms, one could see the little one’s suffering. Fallujah, a vivid city of the cruel massacre, today unveils napalm use to the world.
Trying to justify the use of weapons forbidden by international conventions, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace, said to the press that the goal was “ to have the right tool applied in the right moment, so that it would be possible to kill the greater quantity of bad boys and do the less collateral damage.”
Such words do not deserve any comments. During Fallujah’s intense bombardments, some 50 thousand of its 300 thousand inhabitants remained. How many girls and boys, innocent people would be included in the classification of “bad boys” and would have died burnt due to white phosphorous?
If in other times, soldiers were the main war victims, in the last decade, the scenario changed to irreparably harm the defenseless, estimations of 1,5 millions of children, boys and girls have died in armed conflicts.
Just one figure would be enough to frighten any human being. However, tragedy goes farther. Revealing numbers report other 4 millions have been left disable, blind, or have suffered brain lesions. Furthermore, some 5 millions have turned into refugees and 12 millions more have experienced uprooting from their communities. All this without taking into account the serious problems caused due to health deterioration, nutrition and education.
Since the very first moments, attacks were a threat for civil Iraqis and families with their respective children. Terrible tree bombs fell like grapes either in a hospital, a market or an apartment complex.
Stories narrated on the Al Hilla hospital, one of the punished sites, showed how awful this crime was. Dead and alive children who were taken to the hospital, had their bodies with shrapnel spread by tree bombs. Some reporters present in the scene, said images showed children’s bodies cut in two pieces and their extremities were burst due to the explosions.
Tree bombs were launched by the North American forces from planes BLU97 A,
over the Al Hilla civil region. Experts say every one of these devices contains 202 small bombs, with the size of a refreshment can, which spreads over a surface as big as a football field.
Where is respect for International Human Right, for the Geneva Convention and its respective protocols? Where is respect to the Children’s Rights Convention, which says all affected by armed conflicts have the right to receive protection and special cares?
It is obvious, that the United States and the forces taking part of the conflict have violated the established norms for the International Human Right. In its brutal aggression, it ignored the so called immediate cease of the use of tree bombs, also any other weapon which by its own nature causes an indiscriminate effect.
With a full despise to what has been agreed, they made their unilateral, hegemonic and imperial policy, prevail. Under the pretext of taking “freedom and democracy” to Iraq, they have caused death and pain to thousands of infants, they have caused mourning and suffering to thousands and thousands of families. Every boy or girl killed by their bombs or by the use of white phosphorous is a pending subject, for which the self called Human Rights’ champion will have to respond to the world
|
|
