- 5 January 2004 US Coalition forces Above the Law, According
to the CPA
-
- On Saturday a car was sprayed with gunfire from US soldiers
while trying to pass a US convoy in Tikrit. According to Agence France
Presse,
-
- "Police in Tikrit and Salahaddin province, along
with the car's sole survivor, have insisted a US convoy opened fire on
a blue Chevrolet Caprice as it tried to pass, riddling it with bullets
and killing the driver, a second man, a woman and her nine-year-old child."
-
- One month ago a tank drove over a prominent Shiite Muslim
cleric in the Sadr City, a suburb of Baghdad and killed him. The CPA described
this as a 'traffic accident.'
-
- 40 Iraqi demonstrators throughout Iraq were shot dead
by US soldiers during the aftermath following the capture of Saddam Hussein.
-
- During the Anglo-American Invasion of Iraq, on April
7th Americans killed the al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad. On the same
day, the Reuters television bureau in Baghdad was attacked and its cameraman
was killed, along with a cameraman from Spainís Tele 5 channel.
-
- How have the Coalition Forces in Iraq been getting away
with killing Iraqi civilians, religious leaders, demonstrators, and foreign
journalists? It almost appears as though they are above the law.
-
- According to CPA Order Number 17, which deals with the
status of the coalition personnel, they appear to be just that - above
the law.
-
- According to section 2 of this document, subheading number
four, "All Coalition personnel shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction
of their Parent States and, they shall be immune from local criminal, civil,
and administrative jurisdiction and from any form of arrest or detention."
-
- Just in case Coalition personnel commit an act for which
there are no criminal sanctions in their Parent State, subheading five
states, "the CPA may request from the Parent State waiver of jurisdiction
to try such act or acts under Iraqi law. In such cases, no Legal Process
shall be commenced without the written permission of the Administrator
of the CPA." (Paul Bremer)
-
- How convenient.
-
- For the record, Coalition Contractors and Sub-Contractors
enjoy many of these same 'immunity' benefits as well. Later in said document,
-
- "In respect of acts or omissions of Coalition contractors
and sub-contractors as well as their employees not normally resident in
Iraq - no Iraqi or CPA Legal Process shall be commenced without the written
permission of the Administrator of the CPA." (Paul Bremer)
-
- Again, quite convenient.
-
- So, if an Iraqi civilian, religious leader, demonstrator
or foreign journalist is killed, one would assume there would at least
be the option of their family and/or loved ones being able to file a claim
for damages, yes?
-
- Well, section 6 of said document, pertaining to claims,
states,
-
- "Third party claims including those for property
loss or damage and for personal injury, illness or death or in respect
of any other matter arising from or attributed to Coalition personnel or
any persons employed by them, whether normally resident in Iraq or not
and that do not arise in connection with military combat operations, shall
be submitted and dealt with by the Parent State whose Coalition personnel,
property, activities or other assets are alleged to have caused the claimed
damage, in a manner consistent with the national laws of the Parent State."
-
- The inherent 'grey area' of whether a death is related
to a military combat operation or not is always in question as well.
-
- I don't enjoy reading legalese any more than the next
person, but I read this as saying if an Iraqi suffers damages from Coalition
personnel, or anyone working for the Coalition, then the claim must be
taken up by their 'Parent State.'
-
- This is Iraqis 'Parent State', being that we are in Iraq.
-
- Yet the document says that Coalition personnel and people
working for the Coalition are immune to Iraqi law.
-
- So where are Iraqis to file their claim?
-
- As I've heard countless Iraqis say, as well as seen painted
on so many walls throughout Baghdad,
-
- "Where are our human rights?"
|
