Who killed Margaret Hassan?After the grief, the astonishment, heartbreak, anger and fury over the apparent murder of such a good and saintly woman, that is the question her friends - and, quite possibly, the Iraqi insurgents - will be asking.
This Anglo-Irish woman held an Iraqi passport. She had lived in Iraq for 30 years, she had dedicated her life to the welfare of Iraqis in need. She hated the United Nations sanctions and opposed the Anglo-American invasion.
So who killed Margaret Hassan?
Of course, those of us who knew her will reflect on the appalling implications of the videotape (sent to Al Jazeera on Tuesday and apparently showing her execution). Her husband believes it is evidence of her death.
If Margaret Hassan can be kidnapped and murdered, how much further can we fall into the Iraqi pit? There are no barriers, no frontiers of immorality left. What price is innocence now worth in the anarchy that we have brought to Iraq? The answer is simple: nothing.
Robert Fisk | What price innocence in the anarchy of Iraq?
Kim Sengupta | Husband's hopes dashed by video of killing
Jason Burke | Obituary: Margaret Hassan
Kirsten Zaat | 'A beacon of hope to humanity'
And This Will Be Called Victory
Nothing in Iraq has so illumined the folly of this occupation as the now completed suppression of Fallujah. When Napoleon entered Moscow in 1812 after the Battle of Borodino, he was mystified. He too found a city emptied of people. He found buildings aflame on all sides. There was no enemy to admit defeat and no one to supply his troops. The Muscovites had simply melted away, taking their food and their pride with them. Napoleon had conquered not an empire but a desert, and that desert eventually consumed his army and forced its retreat. [...]
No statement about Iraq is more absurd than that “we must stay to finish the job”. What job? A dozen more Fallujahs? The thesis that leaving Iraq would plunge it into anarchy and warlordism defies the facts on the ground. Iraq south of Kurdistan is in a state of anarchy already, a land of suicide bombings, kidnapping, hijackings and gangland mayhem. There is no law or order, no public administration or police or proper banking. Its streets are Wild West. The occupying force is entombed in bases it can barely defend or supply. Occasional patrols are target practice for terrorists. Iraq is a desert in which the Americans and British rule nothing but their forts, like the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara.
Simon Jenkins | A wrecked nation, a desert, a ghost town. And this will be called victory
Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of U.S. military reprisal, a high-ranking official with the Red Cross in Baghdad told IPS that ”at least 800 civilians” have been killed in Fallujah so far. His estimate is based on reports from Red Crescent aid workers stationed around the embattled city, from residents within the city and from refugees, he said.
[Note: This is an horrific article detailing the 'total war' mentality informing the cold-blooded extermination of Fallujah's people. Link via Bruce.]
Dahr Jamail | 800 Civilians Feared Dead in Fallujah
