My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans’ use of violence is not proportionate and is over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They are not concerned about the Iraqi loss of life... It is trite, but American troops do shoot first and ask questions later.
– A senior British officer in Iraq28
[We will] use a sledgehammer to crush a walnut.
– U.S. Major General Charles H. Swannack, Jr.29
It is a war crime either to target protected persons and property or to conduct indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas. Yet it is well documented that U.S. forces routinely conduct indiscriminate attacks in populated areas, causing unnecessary and disproportionate civilian casualties. Numerous eyewitnesses have reported incidents in which U.S. forces kill and injure civilians through random fire during military operations or in response to attacks by resistance forces.30 The reported killing of over 40 people at a wedding party near Al Qaim,31 and over 600 people in Fallujah, half of them women and children, 32 appear to be particular egregious examples of indiscriminate killing. Even top commanders of British occupation forces in Iraq have condemned the unrestrained use of U.S. firepower.33
The Geneva Conventions also guarantee special protections to medical staff and facilities in order to ensure the functioning of health services even during war. These norms have been regularly violated by U.S. forces. There are widespread and consistent reports of U.S. attacks against well-marked medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals, including attacks by snipers situated near hospitals.34 These war crimes have prevented injured persons from accessing life-saving treatment.35
Legal Principles related to Unlawful Attacks
28 Sean Rayment, “US tactics condemned by British officers,” The Telegraph, April 11, 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/11/wtact11.xml
29 Major General Charles H. Swannack, Jr., Special Operational Briefing from Baghdad, November 18, 2003. http://www.cpa-iraq.org/transcripts/20031118a_Nov-18-Gen-Swannack-Briefing-post.htm.
30 Eyewitness testimony is available on the website of the World Tribunal for Iraq, New York session. http://www.worldtribunal-nyc.org.
31 Scheherezade Faramarzi, “U.S. Aircraft Reportedly Kills 40 Iraqis,” Associated Press, May 19, 2004. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack&printer=1.
32 Abdul Qader-Saadi, “Fallujah Death Toll for Week More than 600,” Associated Press, April 12, 2004.
33 Rayment, ibid.
34 Dahr Jamail, “Sarajevo on the Euphrates,” The Nation, April 12, 2004. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040426&s=jamail. Jo Wilding, “Getting aid past US snipers is impossible,” The Guardian, April 17, 2004.
35 Eyewitness testimony is available on the website of the World Tribunal for Iraq, New York session. http://www.worldtribunal-nyc.org.