Rohan Pearce
On January 12, US-based Human Rights Watch criticised house demolitions carried out by US forces occupying Iraq. According to HRW, at least four houses have been demolished by US forces over the past two months to punish relatives of suspected resistance fighters. Collective punishment is banned under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
In n letter to US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, HRW stated that, according to press reports: "US forces operating in or near Samarra destroyed the home of Talab Saleh... Saleh is suspected of orchestrating attacks against US forces. However, there was no indication in the report that the house was being used in carrying out an attack at the time it was demolished. AP also reported that troops arrested Saleh's wife and brother, saying they would only be released when Saleh surrenders."
In December, US troops partially destroyed the house of an elderly couple in Hawija. The soldiers threatened to bulldoze the house unless the couple provided information. After one of them did, she was taken into custody. The US commander responded by telling her: "Okay, I'm not going to destroy the house... Just the front, as a show of force."
In another case, US troops imprisoned the wife and daughter of a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime to try to force him to surrender.
The HRW letter can be viewed at <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/12/usint6921.htm>.
From Green Left Weekly, January 21, 2004.
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