- The stated mission of Operation
Swarmer, launched late last week in an area just northeast of Samarra,
in Iraq, was to "break up a center of insurgent resistance" and
to disrupt "terrorist activity," according to the US military.
-
- Comprised of
over 1,500 US and Iraqi soldiers, 50 US attack and transport helicopters
airlifted the bold force into a flat area of farmland filled not with fighters
belonging to the "center of insurgent resistance," but with impoverished
farmers, cows, goats and women baking bread. The first drop of soldiers
onto the ground from this air-operation doubled the meager population of
1,500 souls living in the 50 square-mile area.
-
- US troops acted
bravely, snatching up 48 "suspected insurgents," then promptly
releasing 17 of them. They were precise in their operations, and did not
detain a single cow or goat.
-
- What did the
military say about why no resistance was met?
-
- "We believe
we achieved tactical surprise," said Lt. Col. Edward Loomis, the spokesman
for the 101st Airborne Division.
-
- Fallaciously
hailed as the largest air assault in Iraq since the Anglo-American invasion
three years ago, Lt. Col. Loomis said that two days into the operation
his forces "continue to move" through the area, and "tactical
interviews began immediately." According to Time magazine reporters:
-
- "Four Black
Hawk helicopters landed in a wheat field and dropped off a television crew,
three photographers, three print reporters and three Iraqi government officials
right into the middle of Operation Swarmer. Iraqi soldiers in newly painted
humvees, green and red Iraqi flags stenciled on the tailgates, had just
finished searching the farm populated by a half-dozen skinny cows and a
woman kneading freshly risen dough and slapping it to the walls of a mud
oven. But contrary to what many television networks erroneously reported,
the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start
of the war. ("Air Assault" is a military term that refers specifically
to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no air-strikes
and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical
military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What's more,
there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said
the US and Iraqi commanders."
-
- Of course, the
US military claimed that two local leaders of the group led by Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi were to have been in the area, but alas, they were not to be
caught up in Operation Swarmer or any of the "tactical interviews."
-
- Meanwhile on
Sunday, fresh from a relaxing weekend at Camp David, Mr. Bush said of Iraq,
"I'm encouraged by the progress," while talking to reporters
on the South Lawn of the White House.
-
- Bush, his comments
sticking to the talking points of his administration which surround this
three year anniversary of the launching of Operation Iraqi Freedom, nearly
mirrored those made recently by General Peter Pace. Pace, as you recall,
when asked on "Meet the Press" about Iraq, said things were "going
very, very well from everything you look at."
-
- Operation Swarm
of Lies is part of yet another Cheney administration media blitz to put
a happy face on this horrendously failed misadventure in Iraq. All too
aware of the plummeting US public support for the war effort, and with
approval ratings for the so-called president at an all time low, Bush had
been sent out on the campaign trail to apply fresh gloss to the tattered
sheen of the US occupation of Iraq. Sticking with their talking points
of having Iraqi forces take over security responsibilities, the primary
purpose of Operation Swarm of Lies was obviously to send the message to
Americans that the US military are allowing Iraqis to "take the fight
to the enemy."
-
- But this operation
of mass distraction has served other purposes as well.
-
- Operation Swarm
of Lies served well in diverting media attention in the US from US/UK covert
operations in Iran last Friday.
-
- Even the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation reported that Iran's national police chief, Ismail
Ahmadi Moghaddamm, accused US and British agents of playing a role in the
deaths of 21 people in southeastern Iran. Moghaddamm accused the intelligence
services of both the US and UK of encouraging attacks by Iranian rebel
groups against civilians.
-
- Operation Swarm
of Lies also effectively distracted media attention from the arrest of
an American "security contractor" in Tikrit last week. According
to the Joint Coordination Center between the US and Iraqi military in Tikrit,
"the man is described as a security contractor working for a private
company," and he "possessed explosives which were found in his
car" when he was arrested last Tuesday.
-
- This incident
was also reported on al-Sharqiyah Television on March 14th , where they
added that the man was arrested during an imposed curfew, and "he
had explosives in his car, noting that contacts are being held between
officials in Salah al-Din Governorate and US Army officials regarding the
incident."
-
- Meanwhile back
in the Motherland, "Vice" President Cheney said this past weekend
that Iraq is not in a civil war, but that terrorists there were involved
in desperate tactics to stop Iraq's move towards democracy.
-
- "What we've
seen is a serious effort by them to foment a civil war," Cheney said
during an interview on the CBS program "Face the Nation" recently,
"But I don't think they've been successful."
-
- He's right -
the Iraqi people have thus far managed, miraculously, to thwart the ongoing
attempts by the occupiers to "foment civil war."
-
- Because the recent
incident in Tikrit is but one example of many which have shown who the
real terrorists are in Iraq. Even just last September, two undercover British
SAS soldiers were detained by Iraqi police in Basra. The Brits were dressed
as Iraqis, traveling in an unmarked civilian car, and "Iraqi security
officials ... accused the two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi
forces or trying to plant explosives. Photographs of the two men in custody
showed them in civilian clothes."
-
- According the
same article by the Washington Post, the British military promptly razed
the Iraqi jail in order to free their two soldiers. In response, Mohammed
Walli, the governor of the province, told news agencies that the British
assault was "barbaric, savage and irresponsible."
-
- Barbaric, savage
and irresponsible are words that can also be used to describe the true
nature of Operation Swarm of Lies.
-
- Just this past
Sunday, the Director of the Monitoring Net of Human Rights in Iraq (MHRI),
Muhamad al-Deraji, issued an appeal to the UN mission in Baghdad regarding
violations committed by the US military operation near Samarra.
-
- "We have
received information from citizens and human rights activists in Samarra
stating that the region, under American and Iraqi military operation ...
is witnessing dangerous human rights violations, which is confirmed by
the following:
-
- 1 - The Red Crescent
aiding missions are not allowed to enter the region.
-
- 2 - [Independent]
Press and media are, as well, forbidden from entering the region.
-
- 3 - Women and
children are not allowed to leave the region of military operations.
-
- 4 - Receipt of
news indicates presence of violations and assault for citizens aiming to
terrorize them and forces them to emigrate from this region, through arresting
the men and forcing women and their horrified children to escape later,
on and leave the region aiming to build a military base there."
-
- Most importantly,
however, is the human tragedy which Operation Swarm of Lies has both generated
as well as diverted attention from.
-
- The UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, via the Integrated Regional
Information Networks (IRIN) reported on Sunday, "Hundreds of families
displaced due to major offensive."
-
- The report says
"hundreds of families have fled the city of Samarra" as the result
of Operation Swarmer. Barakat Muhammad, a resident and father of five who
lives in Samarra told IRIN, "When they started to hit our city I didn't
take anything. I just took my family and ran like hell. We don't have anything
to eat or wear."
-
- Despite claims
by the US military that no shots were fired, obviously bombs were dropped
on civilians.
-
- The IRIN report
adds that "local doctors say that at least 35 civilians, including
women and children, have been treated at the local hospital with injuries
caused by the air strikes. In addition, 18 bodies had been taken to the
hospital since 17 March."
-
- Yet there have
been ongoing air strikes north/northeast of Baghdad since at least last
Wednesday.
-
- According to
the aforementioned Iraqi NGO MHRI, as well as AP reporters, "eleven
people - most of them women and children - have been killed after US forces
bombed a house during a raid north of Baghdad." The US military acknowledged
the raid which occurred near Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, but
said only four people were killed - a man, two women and a child.
-
- Relatives, however,
said 11 bodies wrapped in blankets were driven in the back of three pickup
trucks to the Tikrit General Hospital, about 40 miles north of where the
air strike occurred.
-
- As usual, reality
contradicted the claims by the US military of only four dead, when AP photographs
showed the bodies of two men, five children and four other covered figures
arriving at the hospital accompanied by grief-stricken relatives.
-
- Even a police
captain from nearby Samarra, Laith Mohammed, said that American warplanes
and armor were used in the strike which flatted the house, killing all
11 people inside.
-
- An AP reporter
at the scene of the bombing in the rural area of Isahaqi said "the
roof of the house collapsed, three cars were destroyed and two cows killed."
-
- Riyadh Majid,
the nephew of the head of the family who was killed, told the AP that US
forces landed in helicopters and raided the home early last Wednesday.
Ahmed Khalaf, the brother of the deceased head of the household, said nine
of the victims were family members who lived at the house and two were
visitors.
-
- "The killed
family was not part of the resistance, they were women and children,"
said Khalaf, "The Americans have promised us a better life, but we
get only death."
-
- As per their
now standard operating procedure, the US military claimed the strike targeted
an individual "suspected" of supporting al-Qaida. And as usual,
the military claimed they were under attack from the house.
-
- "Troops
were engaged by enemy fire as they approached the building," according
to Tech. Sgt. Stacy Simon, "Coalition forces returned fire utilizing
both air and ground assets."
-
- And the al-Qaida
suspects killed by this particular air strike were of the younger variety
this time around, again as usual for the US military in Iraq.
-
- But of course,
all of this was effectively overshadowed by Operation Swarm of Lies.
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- http://dahrjamailiraq.com
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