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"Even in Vietnam I didn't see anything like this. It's pathetic."

— Major Bob Nugent
Army intelligence officer

The Highway of Death

Photo © 1991 Kenneth Jarecke / Contact Press Images

From the WAR CRIMES Report
of the International War Crimes Tribunal
http://deoxy.org/wc/wc-index.htm:

[The above photo is of the] incinerated body of an Iraqi soldier on the "Highway of Death," a name the press has given to the road from Mutlaa, Kuwait, to Basra, Iraq. U.S. planes immobilized the convoy by disabling vehicles at its front and rear, then bombing and straffing the resulting traffic jam for hours. More than 2,000 vehicles and tens of thousands of charred and dismembered bodies littered the sixty miles of highway.

The clear rapid incineration of the human being [pictured above] suggests the use of napalm, phosphorus, or other incendiary bombs. These are anti-personnel weapons outlawed under the 1977 Geneva Protocols. This massive attack occurred after Saddam Hussein announced a complete troop withdrawl from Kuwait in compliance with UN Resolution 660.

Such a massacre of withdrawing Iraqi soldiers violates the Geneva Convention of 1949, common article 3, which outlaws the killing of soldiers who "are out of combat."

There are, in addition, strong indications that many of those killed were Palestinian and Kuwaiti civilians trying to escape the impending seige of Kuwait City and the return of Kuwaiti armed forces. No attempt was made by U.S. military command to distinguish between military personnel and civilians on the "highway of death." The whole intent of international law with regard to war is to prevent just this sort of indiscriminate and excessive use of force.

Photo courtesy of Cassandra Garner

"There are also indications that some of those bombed during the withdrawl were Palestinians and Iraqi civilians. According to Time magazine of March 18, 1991, not just military vehicles, but cars, buses and trucks were also hit. In many cases, cars were loaded with Palestinian families and all their possessions."

— Joyce Chediac
Report presented at the New York Commission hearing
May 11, 1991

"Shooting in a sheep pen"

The above photo of wreckage on the infamous "Highway of Death" was taken in March 1991, in southern Iraq. The road went from Kuwait to Safwan, at the Iraqi border, and on to Basra. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were fleeing desperately, many in civilian vehicles. They were obviously no military threat to anyone. And yet inhuman American forces gleefully massacred them all, joking that it was as easy as "shooting in a sheep pen."

On many occasions Iraqi soldiers tried to surrender to American forces. No matter. U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots were under orders to mass-murder every last person in cold blood.

What kind of sadistic, subhuman devils are in the dirty U.S. military?

Related pages

American/British Terrorism of the Iraqi people

Iraq's Poisoned Water:
The deliberate genocide of the Iraqi people by America and Britain

Bibliography:
American Sanctions Against the Iraqi People

Related site

WAR CRIMES
http://deoxy.org/wc/wc-index.htm

"A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq to the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal." By Ramsey Clark and others.

The Massacre of Withdrawing Soldiers on "The Highway of Death"
by Joyce Chediac
http://deoxy.org/wc/wc-death.htm

"I want to give testimony on what are called the "highways of death." These are the two Kuwaiti roadways, littered with remains of 2,000 mangled Iraqi military vehicles, and the charred and dismembered bodies of tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers, who were withdrawing from Kuwait on February 26th and 27th 1991 in compliance with UN resolutions.

"U.S. planes trapped the long convoys by disabling vehicles in the front, and at the rear, and then pounded the resulting traffic jams for hours. "It was like shooting fish in a barrel," said one U.S. pilot. The horror is still there to see."

Report presented at the New York Commission hearing, May 11, 1991.

Bibliography

Rogue State:
A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
by William Blum

Killing Hope:
U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since WWII
by William Blum

Bloody Hell:
The Price Soldiers Pay
by Daniel Hallock

Against Empire
by Michael Parenti, Ph.D.

The Sword and the Dollar:
Imperialism, Revolution and the Arms Race
by Michael Parenti, Ph.D.

Derailing Democracy:
The America the Media Don't Want You to See
by David McGowan

The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media:
Decoding Spin and Lies in Mainstream News
by Norman Solomon

Inventing Reality:
The Politics of News Media
by Michael Parenti, Ph.D.

War, Lies & Videotape:
How media monopoly stifles truth
edited by Lenora Foerstel; multiple authors