In Iraq, More Bombing Creates New Enemies: "Baghdad - Now that the smoke has cleared and the rubble settled, residents of a group of bombed Iraqi villages see the raid as really a U.S. loss.
Many Iraqis view the attack Jan. 10 by bombers and F-16 jets on a cluster of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad as overkill.
'The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq,' Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy, a military researcher in Baghdad, told IPS. 'U.S. military and political tactics failed in this area, and that is why this massacre. This kind of bombing is usually used for much bigger targets than small villages full of civilians. This was savagery.'
The attack on Juboor and neighbouring villages just south of Baghdad had begun a week earlier with heavy artillery and tank bombardment. The attack followed strong resistance from members of the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Juboor tribe against groups that residents described as sectarian death squads.
'On Jan. 10, huge aircraft started bombing the villages,' Ahmad Alwan from a village near Juboor told IPS. 'We took our families and fled. We have never seen such bombardment since the 2003 American invasion. They were bombing everything and everybody.'
Residents said two B1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets dropped at least 40,000 pounds of explosives on the villages and plantations within a span of 10 minutes.
"The al-Qaeda name is used once more to destroy another Sunni area," Akram Naji, a lawyer in Baghdad who has relatives in Juboor told IPS. "Americans are still supporting Iranian influence in Iraq by cleansing Baghdad and surroundings of Sunnis."
Many Iraqis view the attack Jan. 10 by bombers and F-16 jets on a cluster of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad as overkill.
'The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq,' Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy, a military researcher in Baghdad, told IPS. 'U.S. military and political tactics failed in this area, and that is why this massacre. This kind of bombing is usually used for much bigger targets than small villages full of civilians. This was savagery.'
The attack on Juboor and neighbouring villages just south of Baghdad had begun a week earlier with heavy artillery and tank bombardment. The attack followed strong resistance from members of the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Juboor tribe against groups that residents described as sectarian death squads.
'On Jan. 10, huge aircraft started bombing the villages,' Ahmad Alwan from a village near Juboor told IPS. 'We took our families and fled. We have never seen such bombardment since the 2003 American invasion. They were bombing everything and everybody.'
Residents said two B1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets dropped at least 40,000 pounds of explosives on the villages and plantations within a span of 10 minutes.
"The al-Qaeda name is used once more to destroy another Sunni area," Akram Naji, a lawyer in Baghdad who has relatives in Juboor told IPS. "Americans are still supporting Iranian influence in Iraq by cleansing Baghdad and surroundings of Sunnis."
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