Coalition abuses in Iraq

There was that little incident where Saddams’ security forces shelled the Kurds with Chanel Number 5 when it was meant to be nerve gas. :roll:

It’s those nasty bloody Americans again !!!!

The sooner China wipes them off the map – the safer the world will be !!!!!!!!!!!!

It occurs to me that there hasn’t been an occupying army of any size in the history of the world that we could point to as flawless in its conduct. The difference lies in whether evil behaviour like this is sanctioned or investigated and prosecuted. We’ve already seen British soldiers facing courts martial for their behaviour as well as Americans. This indicates that the coalition forces belong to the latter camp.

As for the relative low rank of those prosecuted so far, including those taken to account over Abu Ghraib, well, it’s a well known law of anthropology that shit rolls down hill. In a liberal democracy like the United States or the United Kingdom, it is impossible to prosecute those to which no said faecal matter has attached itself. Perhaps it is an argument in favour of us adopting the kind of vicious, summary justice that is so prevalent across the Muslim world. But I don’t think so. I’m one of those old fashioned softy liberals who would rather guilty men go free than risk innocent men being punished unfairly.

The point, I think, is that this incident, however revolting and wicked, has nothing to do with the rights and wrongs of the occupation itself. If we were to follow that logic, we might easily point to the (equally revolting and, some might say, much worse) atrocities perpetuated by the insurgents as a justification for the whole enterprise.