IDF-style home demolitions in Iraq?

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IDF-style home demolitions in Iraq?
Have U.S. forces begun to adopt Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tactics in efforts to contain an anti-occupation insurgency in Iraq? That's what concerns Amnesty International (AI) after the international human rights organization received reports of home demolitions following attacks on coalition forces in Iraq.

The circumstances surrounding the demolition of these homes indicate that U.S. forces may be violating international humanitarian and human rights law, AI charges—including three articles of the Geneva Convention related to the treatment of noncombatants and their property.

Alistair Hodgett, a Washington-based spokesperson for AI, says his organization has formally requested a clarification from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the U.S. military policy regarding home demolitions—and has urged U.S. citizens to do the same—but has so far received no response from Rumsfeld's office.

AI says a number of such demolitions, described by U.S. military sources within Iraq as operations motivated by security concerns, appear instead to have been conducted as a form of collective punishment on families of individual Iraqis who were arrested during operations against coalition forces or suspected of assisting in them. Though a number of home demolitions clearly have been conducted by U.S. forces, Hodgett admits that AI "can't say definitively" why they are happening.

A U.S. Defense Department official strongly denied that the demolitions were intended as a form of retribution or collective punishment. That official said AI had been misled by press "sensationalizing" and "mischaracterized" of coalition actions in the field.

"There have been cases where units on the ground have destroyed facilities being used by Saddam loyalists and terrorists to stage attacks and build bombs, bombs, by the way, which have been used to kill both Iraqis and [coalition forces]. . . at times these facilities have been people's homes, they have been places where people were living." During those instances, the official said, coalition forces took care to prevent civilian casualties and remain "in accordance with international law."

"At the same time, coalition forces have a legitimate interest in denying terrorists the facilities they are using to stage attacks. When you deny them that sanctuary, you inhibit their ability to stage attacks." He added that the level of violence against both coalition forces and Iraqi civilians has already been reduced because of the demolitions and that he expected further reductions in the level of violence in Iraq in the coming year.

Hodgett says AI currently has no field workers in Iraq because of the security situation there and acknowledges that AI's concerns are based on limited in-country intelligence and reports from international media. That's why, he says, AI is requesting clarification on the matter from Rumsfeld's office.

"It's been an admitted practice that homes are being demolished," he says, "what remains in question are the circumstance around the home demolitions and the goals of such demolitions."

According to one AI report: "On November 10, 2003, U.S. soldiers reportedly arrived at the farmhouse of the Najim family near the town of Al-Mahmudiya and ordered all the people living there to leave within 30 minutes, after which F-16 warplanes reportedly bombed and destroyed the farmhouse. . . Amnesty International has also learned that at least 15 houses have been destroyed by U.S. forces since November 16th during military operations in Tikrit.

"U.S. military authorities confirmed that the bombing and destruction of the Najim family house was undertaken to send a message to anyone involved in military actions against Coalition forces. A U.S. military official from the 82nd Airborne Division, Major Lou Zeisman, is reported to have said: 'If you shoot at an American or Coalition Force member, you are going to be killed or you are going to be captured, and if we trace somebody back to a specific safe house, we are going to destroy that facility. We didn't destroy a house just because we were angry that someone was killed, we did it because the people there were linked to the attack and we are not going to tolerate it anymore.'"

If indeed, American forces are conducting retribution demolitions in Iraq, "there are obvious parallels to [IDF tactics in the West Bank and Gaza]." The Israeli Defense Force has long been criticized by AI and other human rights groups for its ongoing practice of tearing down the homes of the family members of Palestinian militants or suicide bombers.

Confirmation that U.S. forces have begun using IDF style tactics remains "hidden from direct sight," says Hodgett, but there have been reports of U.S. military visiting Israel to study IDF tactics in the guerrilla and urban warfare it wages against Palestinian militants. Other published reports say Israeli advisers trained U.S. special forces at Fort Bragg in "aggressive counter-insurgency operations" in Iraq, "including the use of assassination squads against guerilla leaders." According to the New York Times, U.S. forces have also begun to employ other tactics reminiscent of the Israeli occupation, enclose whole villages in razor wire and imprisoning the families of suspected Iraqi guerrillas.

The Defense Department official dismissed comparisons of IDF and coalition tactics as "pretty hyped" and denied that U.S. forces were receiving guidance from the IDF or elements of the IDF.

"I have no indication of any such training taking place," he said, though he acknowledged that coalition planners were certainly aware of IDF tactics. The U.S. military looks at situations and strategies employed around the world, he explained, to see "what could be applicable" to their experience in Iraq.—Kevin Clarke

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