Tal Afar; war crimes in Bush’s dystopia���������

Tal Afar; war crimes in Bush’s dystopia���������: "Local Iraqi journalist, Nasir Ali, summarized the goals of the siege saying, “Every time the US Army and Iraqi government want to destroy a specific city they claim it hosts Arab fighters and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”

Ali is correct, but there is a more sinister motive as well, the deliberate “preemptive” purging of Sunnis to roll back the mounting pressure from the resistance. The attack on Tal Afar was not a battle with terrorists but a clear attempt at ethnic cleansing.

Following the siege the Red Crescent reported that “170 people from Tal Afar had been made sick from “inhaling gases” and “curious poisons”; another indication that proscribed weapons were used on civilians.

James Cogan reports that, “The US led offensive has left hundreds of homes, shops, offices and mosques severely damaged. US and Iraqi troops have now rampaged through every home in Tal Afar searching for surviving insurgents or weapons caches. When residents are able to return to their houses, they will find their doors and widows kicked in, their furniture smashed, and their personal effects ruined or looted.”

Summarizing: Tal Afar was forcefully evacuated, ruthlessly bombarded, brazenly captured and laid to waste….but no sign of Al Qaida? As Colonel Reilly said, “They went into hiding”. "