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In Iraq, the US does eliminate those who dare to count the dead
Naomi Klein
4/12/04 "The Guardian " --
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David T Johnson,
Acting ambassador,
US Embassy, London
Dear Mr Johnson, On November 26, your press counsellor sent a letter to the Guardian taking strong exception to a
sentence in my column of the same day. The sentence read: "In Iraq, US forces and their Iraqi surrogates are no longer bothering to conceal attacks on
civilian targets and are openly eliminating anyone - doctors, clerics, journalists - who dares to count the bodies." Of
particular concern was the word "eliminating".
The letter suggested that my charge was "baseless" and asked the Guardian either to withdraw it, or provide "evidence of
this extremely grave accusation". It is quite rare for US embassy officials to openly involve themselves in the free
press of a foreign country, so I took the letter extremely seriously. But while I agree that the accusation is grave, I
have no intention of withdrawing it. Here, instead, is the evidence you requested.
In April, US forces laid siege to Falluja in retaliation for the gruesome killings of four Blackwater employees. The
operation was a failure, with US troops eventually handing the city back to resistance forces. The reason for the
withdrawal was that the siege had sparked uprisings across the country, triggered by reports that hundreds of civilians
had been killed. This information came from three main sources: 1) Doctors. USA Today reported on April 11 that
"Statistics and names of the dead were gathered from four main clinics around the city and from Falluja general
hospital". 2) Arab TV journalists. While doctors reported the numbers of dead, it was al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya that put
a human face on those statistics. With unembedded camera crews in Falluja, both networks beamed footage of mutilated
women and children throughout Iraq and the Arab-speaking world. 3) Clerics. The reports of high civilian casualties
coming from journalists and doctors were seized upon by prominent clerics in Iraq. Many delivered fiery sermons
condemning the attack, turning their congregants against US forces and igniting the uprising that forced US troops to
withdraw.
…. Snip…
Mr Ambassador, I believe that your government and its Iraqi surrogates are waging two wars in Iraq. One war is against
the Iraqi people, and it has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives. The other is a war on witnesses.
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