United States forces invaded Fallujah in Iraq amid a storm of international criticism about severe violations of human rights and the Geneva Conventions. The reports are grim. Please contact your U.S. representative and senators and insist that our forces comply with the basic humanitarian requirements of international law. Our policy-makers need to know that the voters firmly support human rights for all people, not just for U.S. citizens.

At least 1,200 Iraqis have been reported killed in Fallujah. Although the U.S. has claimed that all were members of the insurgency, this has been called into question by many. A member of an Iraq relief committee, for example, reported seeing the bodies of two minors and a man with a prosthetic leg in the rubble of one building.

Many civilians are in need of medical and other aid, but fear to leave their homes. Meanwhile, the U.S. has denied the Iraqi Red Crescent access to the town. One hospital was reportedly raided by U.S. and Iraqi troops, severely interrupting the ongoing medical care and treatment of the patients, and detaining some of them. Interference with ambulances has also been reported.

Civilians attempting to flee Fallujah have also been forced to return to the embattled and dangerous city. Women and children in a group of 3,000 were permitted to leave by U.S. troops, but the men were allegedly forced to remain in Fallujah.

Action

Our national leaders need to hear from you. Please call your representatives in Washington, D.C., through the Capitol switchboard telephone, 202.224.3121, or send an immediate written message by e-mail or fax through our online Legislative Action Center. You also may use the online center to obtain the direct telephone number for your representatives.

Message 

-- I believe that fundamental human rights apply to all human beings, including the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. 

-- I am shocked and outraged by the ongoing human rights violations, including violations of the Geneva Conventions, which have been carried out by the U.S. in Fallujah this last week. 

-- I particularly protest all interference with medical care, and ambulances, let alone the raids of any hospitals or clinics and the arrest or detention of any patients. 

-- I further protest the U.S. refusal to grant entry to the Red Crescent society to Fallujah, as well as the refusal to permit civilians to leave the dangerous battle area when they tried to flee. 

-- The laws of ìcivilized nationsî prohibit these actions, and we demand that the United States remain within these norms. If President Bush and other leaders wish to claim that we are the ìmoral leadersî of the world, they must back up their words with their actions. 

-- Most importantly, these violations of international law do not keep us safe. They endanger us by sowing hatred against us throughout the world.

Background

The Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions were enacted and signed shortly after World War II, when memories of the Bataan ìDeath Marchî and the Gestapo interrogations methods were painfully clear in the minds of both our military and political leadership. They were designed to address and prevent the kinds of abuses which had occurred with regards to both civilian populations and prisoners of war. They were based upon harsh realities, not ìquaint or obsoleteî notions, and were passed with the goal of evolving the laws of war to a more reasoned and humanitarian level.

Between the Third and Fourth Conventions, all persons receive basic protections. Troops themselves become prisoners of war when captured and cannot be tortured or maltreated in any way, even for purposes of interrogation. All civilians are likewise protected, including saboteurs and others carrying out hostile acts against the occupying forces. If a crime is committed, the suspect may be brought to a fair trial but not maltreated in any way. Denial of medical care, blocking supplies, and interfering with hospitals, ambulances and clinics is forbidden outright. Withholding medical care to a wounded prisoner of war is also prohibited. So is forcing fleeing civilians back into a dangerous battlefield.

If we do not comply with the Geneva Conventions ourselves, we place our own service men and women in great danger, should they themselves become prisoners of war. Moreover, by increasing violence and abuses against civilians and ignoring international humanitarian law, we are creating a level of hatred and violence which can only endanger our own citizens for a long time to come.

In response to the war and continuing conflict in Iraq, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee created an Iraq Relief Fund to help ease the sufferings in that country. To read more and to contribute to the humanitarian aid effort for wear victims, visit Iraq relief fund provides aid to vulnerable populations.

Posted Nov. 18, 2004