Baghdad, 20 Mar (Xinhua) -- In the past 20 years, the scars have never faded -- the wounds of the Iraq war are deeply in the hearts of Iraqis
Xinhua News Agency reporters Dong Yalei Chen Mengyang Fan Shuai Shuai
On 20 March 2003, the United States and its Western allies brazenly launched the Iraq War on the grounds that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and despite the strong opposition of the international community.
Before the war, the United States claimed to "liberate the Iraqi people" and "help Iraqis build a united, stable and free country." However, the fact is that the coalition led by the US military wantonly shot, detained and abused innocent civilians, bombed residential areas indiscriminately, and even used a large number of white phosphorus bombs and depleted uranium bombs. The war resulted in the deaths of an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 civilians, including more than 16,000 directly killed by U.S. forces.
Twenty years later, the scars of war are still deeply etched in the hearts of Iraqis and have never receded.
Loved ones killed and families broken
"It was the most painful day of my life and that of my children." Sonduce Rami, a mother of five, choked up memories. In the early hours of 18 October 2003, U.S. military broke into her home and shot and killed her husband, Amir, without any questioning.
On February 14, in the town of Zuluye in Salahuddin province in northern Iraq, Sunduth Lamy shows her and her husband Amir. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Khalil Dawood)
After Amir was shot and fell to the ground, the family knelt on the ground and begged the US military for help. The U.S. military was indifferent, and the phrase "he died" caused the family to collapse in an instant.
Amir was an officer in the former Iraqi government, and after the U.S. occupation of Iraq, he was given a document issued by the U.S. military attesting to his willingness to cooperate with coalition forces. After Amir was killed, U.S. forces found the document during a search. After indifferently dropping a "I'm sorry, ma'am," they turned to leave.
"Where are the human rights that Americans speak of?" Sondusi asked. For 20 years, she and her children have trembled whenever they saw a weapon or heard a gunshot. Every time she looked at her husband's relics, she couldn't help but cry.
On March 6, in the town of Zuluyeh in Salahuddin province in northern Iraq, Abdullah Mahmoud Ibrahim showed photographs of his home after it was blown up by U.S. forces. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen
Abdullah Mahmoud Ibrahim, 52, had a similar experience with Sondoth. On a cold winter night in December 2005, he was reuniting with his family at his home when a U.S. missile hit his home, killing his wife, 12-year-old daughter and a relative. After 15 days in hospital, Ibrahim woke up from a coma, but two vertebrae were broken, leaving him paralyzed for life.
"My wife and daughter were killed, I was left disabled, and they just said 'I'm sorry.'" Ibrahim repeatedly demanded compensation from the U.S. military, but the U.S. military did not respond. Unable to walk, he travels on electric tricycles with a urine bag and sells live poultry with his young son.
"Every time I came home, great sadness came to my heart, and I lost my family and my life." Ibrahim said angrily, "The United States claims to bring human rights and freedoms to Iraqis, but the opposite is true, because because of them, I will spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair!" ”
Incarceration of innocent inhuman abuse
Twenty years ago, Alaa Karim Ahmed drove to report to university. After the car stopped, the US military next to it was suddenly bombed. Without any evidence, the U.S. military arrested Alla, and his college life came to an abrupt end before he could begin.
On 17 February, in the town of Zuluye in Salah al-Din province in northern Iraq, Alaa Karim Ahmed displays an identification bracelet with a photograph and information printed on his personal photograph while in detention. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Khalil Dawood)
Alla has been held in various prisons, including Abu Ghraib prison, and subjected to various forms of torture. The Americans handcuffed his feet with iron chains, tied his hands behind his back, and hung them upside down to torture; The U.S. military forced them to strip naked, or beat them, or shocked sensitive parts, or intimidated them with military dogs, or insulted their religious beliefs...
After two and a half years in detention, Alla was released. Recalling the nightmarish encounter, Alla complained, "I was subjected to inhuman abuse and lost my studies and freedom."
The "Cost of War" study of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University pointed out that after 9/11, the United States detained hundreds of thousands of people at different times, more than 100,000 in Iraq alone. After the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal was exposed in 2004, the world was in an uproar, and the US military's methods of torture of prisoners were shocking.
This is the exterior view of Abu Ghraib prison taken on March 5 in the western suburbs of Baghdad, Iraq. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen
In March 2005, while passing a checkpoint in the city of Samarra, United States soldiers arrested him on the street for attacking coalition forces and imprisoned him in a confinement cell in Camp Cropper prison in Baghdad.
On February 17, in the town of Zuluyeh in Salahuddin province in northern Iraq, Les Kamal recounted the inhuman abuses he experienced while in U.S. military custody. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Khalil Dawood)
"The confinement room is only one square meter, there is no sunlight all day long, and there is a 10-centimeter-wide hole in the door for delivering food." Les recalled. During his detention, Rice experienced inhuman abuse. During his trial, he was stripped naked and tested on a lie detector, and a man next to him threatened to send him to the gallows if he did not confess; Beaten or electrocuted at every turn... Recalling the inhuman torture, Les cried.
Environmental degradation will lead to endless consequences
After the US invasion of Iraq, Fallujah in Anbar Province became one of the important strongholds of anti-American forces. In 2004, U.S. forces launched a full-scale siege of Fallujah. Days of air strikes almost razed Fallujah, causing heavy casualties.
On February 26, in Fallujah, Anbar Province, Iraq, local doctor Saadi Zehaiba recounted his experience. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Khalil Dawood)
"That encounter is the heaviest memory of my life." Local doctor Saadi Zehaiba described his trauma this way.
Due to the US military blockade, the citizens of the Eastern District could not reach the Fallujah Hospital in the Western End, so Saadi and several doctors opened a simple hospital in the Eastern End, performing 400 surgeries in a month. Due to the lack of medicines, the limbs of the injured sometimes had to be amputated without anesthesia.
One day, the improvised hospital with the striking Red Crescent flag was hit by a U.S. airstrike, killing two staff members and leaving Saadi avoided.
What is even more appalling is that the US military-led coalition forces have used a large number of depleted uranium bombs and white phosphorus bombs in Fallujah and other places, causing catastrophic damage to the local ecological environment and people's health. Saadi said childhood malformations and cancer rates have remained high for many years.
Suwad Naji Azavi, an expert on radioactive contamination in Iraq, has pointed out that from 2003 to 2004, the US military used 181,000 depleted uranium bombs in various parts of Iraq, especially in Fallujah, especially in 2004.
University of Michigan scholar Muzgan Savabias Farhani reported in 2012 that the weapons and ammunition used by the US military in the Iraq War contained toxic lead and mercury, resulting in an increase in child malformations in Iraq.
"Because of the United States, my hometown is plagued by radiation and strange diseases." Saadi said indignantly, "I used to think that the United States was a liberal and democratic country, and I was completely wrong!" The United States is an aggressor who seeks to dominate the world. ”