Fascist Bastards II

Fascist Bastards II

More from the Independant:

A Swedish journalist witnessed US soldiers beat an elderly religious man, Maad Ibrahim, almost to death. Mustapha Can, a correspondent for the Swedish evening newspaper Aftonbladet, was with a US patrol, which was hit by two mortar rounds.

He told The Independent: “Suddenly I saw the soldiers kick in a door and drag out an old man who screamed, ‘Me no shoot! please, please mister.’ The soldiers shouted, ‘Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!’

“They tied his hands behind his back and then, as he lay on the ground, one said: ‘Keep his head still.’ He slammed him on the head with his rifle butt again and again. Then the others kicked him. There was blood everywhere.” US officers later admitted they were probably wrong about the old man, but said “these things happen in the heat of the action”.

Aftonbladet isn’t available in English, my Swedish is feeble, and there doesn’t seem to be be a free translator on the web, so can’t pursue this one to its source. Mustapha Can is very definitely their Iraq correspondent though, and has excellent taste in music.

Diane, in comment to the previous Iraq story:

“I can’t help feeling that there is probably something in the Geneva Convention about not doing this sort of thing.”

Yep, there certainly is….

Fourth Geneva Convention –

Article 31: “No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against protected persons, in particular to obtain information from them or from third parties.”

Article 33: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”

Article 53: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging to private persons�is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations”.

I guess now we know why Bush wouldn’t sign up the US for the International Court of Justice.

My knowledge of international law is slight, but the US IS a signatory of the the Convention, so presumably there must be a court that can try them somewhere? Still, only a matter of time before Bush pulls out of the GC too.

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