Iraq Invasion

Although I considered myself pretty knowledgeable regarding the injustices and human rights abuses in the invasion of Iraq, attendind the talk by Dr Salam Ismael (representative of Doctors for Iraq) was eye-opening and horrifying. He worked in Falluja during the invasion as a doctor and as such has first hand accounts and footage of what really happened. He told how his fellow surgeon was shot in the head by a US soldier, how the hospitals with maimed civilians were bombed, invaded with machine guns, electricity and water cut off. Injured civilians were shot to death on their hospital beds. I saw footage of children (including one 3 year old) who had to have leg amputations because of an American cluster bomb. I saw videos of Napalm victims (skin burned away but clothes in tact. ) Dr Salam Ismael told how he had to amputate a leg using only local anesthetic and the wrong surgical equipment as surgical supplies had been destroyed and American convoys were blocking aid supplies from entering the city. I saw ambulances with more than ten bullet holes in the front windscreen. I saw footage of a girl with her leg blown off (about 7yrs old) who’s 17 family members had been killed by a bomb. Over 100, 000 Iraqi citizens have been killed in the so called ‘war on terrror’. If I came face to face with George Bush or John Howard today, I would say, who is the real terrorist?