IRAQ: US, Britain bomb civilian targets
IRAQ: US, Britain bomb civilian targets
United States and British warplanes attacked sites in northern Iraq on August 15. This followed heavy bombardment in southern Iraq on August 10-12.
The air strikes killed two civilians and injured more than 20 others. They also destroyed a train station, several homes and a food rations storage and distribution facility that warehoused food allowed into Iraq under the United Nations oil-for-food program.
The Pentagon claimed the jets were targeting anti-aircraft artillery sites.
In almost daily bombing raids, US-British manoeuvres have killed more than 200 Iraqi civilians and wounded more than 800 since December 1998. At that time, a torrent of Pentagon bombs rained on Iraq for four straight days.
The two imperialist powers claim to be enforcing so-called no-flight zones, which they imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. Baghdad has protested the no-flight zones, pointing out that the unilateral constraints violate Iraqi sovereignty.
The zones cover most of the northern and southern portions of the country, restricting Iraqis from flying over two-thirds of their own air space.
The latest bombings by the United States and Britain occurred in these zones: in the city of Samawa, approximately 200 kilometres south of Baghdad; and near Mosul, around 300 kilometres to the north-east of the Iraqi capital.
The Iraqi Air Defense Command reported in July that more than 21,600 US and British warplanes have flown into Iraq's air space since December 1998. An average of one bombing or missile attack occurs every three days; Pentagon bombs kill an average of one civilian every other day. The Pentagon admits to flying more than 280,000 sorties since imposing the no-flight zones.
BY GERY ARMSBY
[From Workers World newspaper, August 24.]